‘They said they would not kill us’: Maggie Skhosana speaks out after kidnapping

The Nkangala district municipal manager Maggie Skhosana and her personal driver were kidnapped outside the gates of the municipality in the early hours of Thursday morning.

• Nkangala municipal manager, Maggie Skhosana, and her driver Gugu Mtsweni were kept in a room in an unknown house where they were fed and assisted when they needed the bathroom. 
• Skhosana, who spoke out for the first time after the kidnapping, said it was devastating not knowing who could have kidnapped them and why. 
• The two women are now reunited with their families. 

“We kept the faith because they told us they would not kill us.”

These were the words of Nkangala municipal manager Maggie Skhosana in an interview with the SABC news after her kidnapping last week Thursday.

Skhosana and her driver, Gugu Mtsweni, have returned home safely after being kidnapped outside the Middelburg municipal offices by men in a white Ford Fiesta with blue lights.

Her abandoned car was later discovered in a Middelburg mine, a few kilometres outside of town.

The two women were discovered on the side of the road in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, on Wednesday, a week after the incident that shocked the country.

Skhosana told the SABC they couldn’t see their kidnappers’ faces because they were wearing SAPS-branded cloth masks.

Gugu Mtsweni and her employer, Nkangala District Municipality Municipal Manager Maggie Skhosana were kidnapped oustide the municipality’s offices.

Supplied.

Her initial thoughts were that the men wanted to rob them.

“We realised it was bigger than we thought it was. It was devastating and traumatic to realise that other people were in control of our lives, and we did not know what would happen,” she said.

Skhosana said she and her driver were driven in different cars. She was in her car with one of the kidnappers while Mtsweni was forced into the kidnappers’ Ford Fiesta.

When her vehicle got onto a gravel road, she was dragged into the kidnappers’ car and her car was abandoned, with her wheelchair inside.

The women were instructed to keep their heads down as they drove to an unknown location, where they were kept for seven days.

“We were in a room. We were not allowed to go anywhere but sit in the room. We would be assisted from time to time to go to the bathroom. [They] provided us breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” 

She said:

As days went by, many questioned the motive behind the kidnapping.

News24 visited the town on Wednesday and interviewed the Nkangala District Municipality mayor on the possible motives behind the kidnapping.

Mayor Leah Mabuza said she was anxious and was waiting for answers from the police.

Mabuza did say that Skhosana was involved in a massive project expected to be implemented in conjunction with the National Department of Water and Sanitation, and, at first, the municipality speculated the kidnapping could have been because of the project.

The project was to ensure that Dr JS Moroka, Thembisile Municipality, and Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality residents were receiving water, Mabuza said. But despite the project’s magnitude, the mayor ruled it out as a possible motive.

“The municipal manager has not indicated if there were any threats that she received [pertaining to] the project,” Mabuza said.

The mayor said Nkangala municipality had been working on several projects, and such an incident had never occurred before.

Speaking to eNCA, Skhosana said she tried to question the kidnappers on why they had been abducted, but she didn’t get a response.

She said investigations would reveal the reasons behind the abduction.

READ | Kidnapped municipal manager: Private eye claims a R5m ransom demand was made

Money Vos, of Mike Bolhuis’ Specialised Security Services, had previously told News24 that the alleged kidnappers had demanded a R5 million ransom from the family.

Vos added that the syndicate behind the abduction were well-known for hijackings, kidnappings and cash-in-transit heists.

Skhosana told eNCA that she would not comment on the ransom.

When eNCA asked, Skhosana said to ask the family because they handled the negotiation.

On Thursday, News24 reached out to a spokesperson for the Skhosana family, Mandla Ngwenya, about the ransom, but he denied any knowledge about it.

“We, as a family, never liaised with the person who narrated the story of the ransom and we would like to distance ourselves from the story of the ransom,” said Ngwenya. 

He said the family just wanted to welcome Skhosana and Mtsweni back home.

“Our focus was to ensure that the two ladies were safe and unharmed,” he said.