CHAPTER ONE
After an increase in the number of kidnappings in recent years, South Africa has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world, as Mpho Lakaje reports from Johannesburg.
Lesego Tau was not scared at first when a stranger opened the back door of his gray Mercedes C-Class and climbed inside. He had parked outside a mall in Johannesburg and was more focused on texting his friend before going in to buy a few things for their meeting that evening.
''In my rearview mirror, I was looking and still thinking: This person will be very embarrassed when he finds out that he is in a car that is not his, he told the BBC, recounting the events of June last year.
But this was not an innocent mistake.
''Our eyes were locked and I realized what was going on.'' This was a kidnapping
Six months earlier, businessman Yasin Bhiku was arrested on the road to his home, near Johannesburg, immediately after returning from the mosque.
CCTV footage that has gone viral on social media shows Mr Bhiku, dressed in a blue T-shirt and black trousers, chatting calmly with a friend.
Two men are seen getting out of a car parked on the other side.
At first they walk towards him, but then they run after him after Mr Bhiku realizes what is happening and tries to run away.
injured and rescued by the police.
Ms Tau, who runs her own cleaning company in Pretoria, also tried to escape when she realized she was about to be kidnapped.
He said he tried to open his car door, but another man, dressed as a parking attendant in a hi-vis jacket, locked the door.
A man who was sitting in the back of the car was seen with a gun and ordered Mrs. Tau who was driving the car to get out of the shopping mall.
On the way, he was told to stop and another person jumped into his car.