The police are refusing to act against a circumcision school that allegedly kidnapped boys without their parents’ consent, demanding R1 200 each for their return, a 30-year-old mother told Sapa on Tuesday.
”I feel let down by the police, who are forcing me to take the law into my own hands after my son was kidnapped for circumcision and I had to pay for his release,” said Junior Disebo Pokako of Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni.
She claimed her 14-year-old son was kidnapped with a group of other boys by unknown men in Etwatwa in July, and allegedly taken to Mashego’s circumcision school, in Mpumalanga, without her consent.
”I was away in Lesotho for the weekend, when I returned home to be told that my son had been kidnapped a day before and taken to a circumcision school.
”I immediately went to the Etwatwa police station to open a case of kidnapping, but I was turned away and referred to social workers,” Pokako said.
A social worker told her this was a matter to be handled by the police and accompanied her to the Etwatwa police station to open a case.
”A case of kidnapping was opened, but the policeman who managed it did not seem keen to assist,” she said.
Instead, he arranged a meeting of the parents of kidnapped children with the circumcision school operator.
”At the meeting some parents were convinced to drop charges and pay the R1 200 money asked from them to get their children back,” Pokako said.
However, she refused to drop the charges.
She initially also refused to pay for her son’s return because she never gave consent for her son to be taken to a circumcision school.
She gave in when the schools reopened, her son missed some classes, and she was allegedly threatened that he would be used as a slave if she did not pay.
”I feel let down by the police because the inspector seemed to be siding with the school and the whole thing looked like a money-making scheme, and I want my money back,” she said.
”I do not even know if the school is registered. I want to see the school operator arrested.”
She alleged that the policeman who managed her case told her shortly after it was opened that police could not arrest the school operator and fetch the children without a court order.
”My son is back home, but he is no longer the same. He used to understand that he needs to be home by 7pm to do his homework, but now he comes home at 10pm,” she said.
Constable Timothy Masilela confirmed that a case of kidnapping had been opened at Etwatwa police station.
However, he said the police would not act until receiving the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision on whether to proceed with the case.
Masilela said the rest of Pokako’s allegations would be investigated and responded to at a later stage. — Sapa