Latest news with #AtlasSecurity
News24
16 hours ago
- News24
‘Wonderful' and ‘loved by all' - 65-year-old woman reported kidnapped in Gqeberha
Andre Snyman eblockwatch/Facebook Lindsay Knowlden, 65, was reported as kidnapped on Saturday. She and her husband were apparently accosted outside a market in Markman. Police said an investigation was under way. A desperate search for a 65-year-old Gqeberha woman, described as 'wonderful' and 'loved by all', was underway on Saturday, after she was reported kidnapped. Atlas Security was at the scene at the Nelson Mandela Bay Fresh Produce Market in Markman, north of the city, early on Saturday morning. According to information provided to the private security company, Lindsay Knowlden and her husband were accosted by armed men in the underground parking lot after arriving for work. He was assaulted with a firearm and suffered a laceration to his eye, while she was bundled into a silver Polo and then driven away. The couple's son, Gregory Knowlden, was overcome with emotion on Saturday afternoon. 'She's a wonderful, friendly, genuinely caring person. Loved by all,' he said of his mother. He explained that his father was an agent at the market, and that his mother worked for him. 'They were both there to go to work,' he said. Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said an investigation was 'actively underway'. He said no ransom demand had been received as of yet and appealed to the public 'for any information related to this incident'. It comes on the back of a spate of kidnappings for ransom in recent months, with the Eastern Cape an apparent hotspot. Last week, an EFF councillor, Kholeka Mpupha, appeared in the Dimbaza Magistrate's Court in connection with the abduction of a 42-year-old hardware outlet owner.
Daily Maverick
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Nelson Mandela Bay metro asks council to urgently approve millions for security firm looking after substations
If the company is not paid, the substations are at risk of being left unguarded and, therefore, vulnerable to vandalism, which could cause costly power outages Nelson Mandela Bay's acting city manager, Ted Pillay, has asked for an urgent decision by council to approve the reallocation of more than R20-million from the current year's budget to pay the security firm guarding some of the city's major substations. According to council documents, the urgent payment will avoid the security firm's withdrawal, and leaving the city's substations vulnerable to theft and vandalism. In a metro where cable theft is rife, Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) now owes its security service provider R21-million, according to a report before council. A payment of R7-million was made last week to avoid the substations being abandoned by guards. The matter is expected to be heard on Wednesday, 18 June, after it was deferred because not all councillors had seen the documents. Adopt-a-substation Wayne Hart, from Atlas Security, said that while his organisation is not the security provider owed millions by the municipality, Atlas does guard crucial substations in several parts of the city as part of the Business Chamber's Adopt-a-Substation programme. As part of this programme, businesses fund private security to protect substations against attacks. Highlighting the importance of security at these substations, Hart said the company protects the large substation at Struandale. Part of its plan involves stationing guards and security vehicles there 24/7. 'This initiative was launched two years ago, and to date we haven't had one single incident. Before our involvement that substation was a target and would often knock half of the industrial areas out,' he said. He added that his company also monitors alarms at other substations and responds accordingly. Other security measures employed under the Adopt-a-Substation initiative include perimeter fencing and the installation of hi-tech security cameras monitored around the clock. Letter to the Presidency In a letter written to the Presidency, several government departments and Eskom in late 2024, the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, Denise van Huyssteen, requested that the government declare the two substations at Chatty in NMB as national key points. She also asked that the government consider sending in the army to protect the infrastructure. In her letter Van Huyssteen highlighted that in 2023 there had been several incidents of cable theft at the municipal substation, and the fence and alarms were tampered with to gain access. It is estimated that damage to the crucial Chatty substations could lead to power outages of several weeks in NMB. In the past 12 months, there have been several reported instances of vandalism at substations in the metro leaving residents without power. Major risk In its 2025 integrated development report, vandalism is highlighted as one of the major risks facing the city. The report also states that the metro's electricity department will have to be subsidised by municipal rates to remain viable. Opposition parties have repeatedly argued in council that the electricity department would bankrupt the city if a successful turnaround plan was not implemented. 'We have not seen a turnaround plan yet,' said Werner Senekal, a Democratic Alliance member in the council . In its application to the National Energy Regulator for tariff increases, the metro said vandalism and cable theft are two of the factors hampering an efficient electricity service in NMB. DM
