Being successful is now a dangerous business.
It seems that you either place your own life, or the lives of your loved ones in jeopardy by having too much money.
I am talking about the increasing number of kidnappings happening in our country.
A few short years ago, it was something I would read about happening mostly in South American countries.
Then suddenly we started seeing one or two happening here on our shores. And because it wasn’t dealt with decisively immediately, there has been a steady increase.
So much so that the human rights NGO Amnesty International has now called on our authorities to be transparent about the spate of kidnapping cases, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The group also highlighted its concern over the fact that children have now become targets, calling it an extremely disturbing new development.
They are of course referring to the four young Moti brothers who were kidnapped and held hostage for three weeks.
The boys, aged from seven to 15 were released last week, after the Moti family reportedly paid a cash ransom of R50 million, a report that the family has denied.
They are a prominent family in Polokwane, running a successful business buying and selling pre-owned, vintage and classic cars.
A week after the boys were returned to their family, a Grade-5 girl was kidnapped from outside her school, early in the morning.
There now seems to be a picture emerging of a dangerous new criminal enterprise involving well-organised and targeted kidnappings of business people and their children, for ransom.
I can’t even begin to imagine the trauma these children must go through while they are the hostages of dangerous armed men, who they know will kill them if things go wrong.
We all dream of being fabulously wealthy, or at least financially comfortable, and how we would spend such a windfall.
There has always been the ever-present threat of extortion from gangsters.
As was the case with 42-year-old Elsies River resident Lorretta Rubain. Two years ago, gangsters shot her dead in her council flat, after she refused to share money she got from an accident pay-out with them.
These are all real fears for those of us working extra jobs, or dabbling in entrepreneurial activities in the hope of making our lives more comfortable.
But I don’t think any of us factor in the need for bodyguards and additional security. And certainly none of us think of our children becoming targets of ruthless criminals, should that day ever come.
It feels terribly unfair that your hard work could be endangering the lives of the very people who you are doing it for to begin with; that the fruits of your labour could end up in the hands of criminals who choose not to do a day’s honest work.
People who will rather invest their energy and ingenuity into plotting against innocent, hard-working individuals and their families.
And the more of them who get away with it, the more these incidents will increase, until it is an epidemic that will discourage investment and drive business people out of the country to where their loved ones can be safe, which will further affect unemployment.
So at its core, this is an economic crime against the state with long-term and dire consequences.