After a surge in the number of abductions in recent years, South Africa has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world, as Mpho Lakaje reports from Johannesburg. Lesego Tau did not panic at first when a stranger opened the back door of her grey Mercedes C-Class and climbed in. She had parked outside a shopping mall in Johannesburg and was focused on texting a friend before going in to grab a few items for a get-together that evening. "In my rear view mirror, I was looking and still thinking: 'This person is going to be so embarrassed when they realise they are in the wrong car'," she told the AFP, recounting the events of last June. But this was not an innocent mistake. "Our gazes locked and I realised what was happening." This was a kidnapping. Six months earlier, businessman Yasin Bhiku was grabbed in the driveway of his home, near Johannesburg, just after returning from the mosque. CCTV footage that was widely seen on social media shows Mr Bhiku dressed in a blue T-shirt and black trousers calmly chatting to a friend. Two men can be seen getting out of the car parked opposite. At first they stroll towards him, but then rush at him after Mr Bhiku realises what is going on and tries to flee. He was overpowered and forced into the vehicle at gunpoint. The businessman was later found unharmed and rescued by the police. Ms Tau, who runs her own cleaning company in Pretoria, also tried to flee once she had figured out that she was about to be abducted. She said she tried opening the door of her car, but another man, dressed as a parking attendant in a hi-vis jacket, blocked the door. The man in the back seat showed that he had a gun and ordered Ms Tau to drive out of the shopping complex. Along the way, she was told to stop and someone else jumped into her car.