Despite vehicle-related crimes, including car thefts and hijackings, declining in South Africa for some time, two provinces, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, are still plagued by the majority of incidents.
This is according to Tracker’s latest vehicle crime statistics for January to June 2026, which found that the two provinces account for nearly all vehicle crime incidents.
It also found that business-owned vehicles remain at greater risk of vehicle crime and are 17% more likely to be targeted than personally owned vehicles, down from 48% a year ago.
Nationally, these crimes targeting business vehicles remain heavily skewed toward hijacking, while crime involving personal vehicles leans towards theft.
Business vehicles are almost twice as likely to be hijacked as stolen, while personal vehicle crime leans toward theft, with theft accounting for 55% of incidents compared to 45% for hijackings.
That said, the vehicle tracking and recovery company continues to identify regional pockets where hijacking is more dominant
“In the Eastern Cape, consumer hijackings are twice as prevalent as thefts, while hijackings exceed thefts by 42% in the Western Cape. Mpumalanga also recorded more consumer hijackings than thefts,” it noted.
“In the Eastern Cape, business hijackings are almost five times more prevalent than thefts, while in Mpumalanga they are more than eight times as prevalent.”
Tracker’s data noted an even national split between theft and hijacking, marking a notable shift from recent years when hijackings became the dominant crime as vehicle usage returned to normal after the COVID-19 lockdown period.
“The data shows that vehicle crime continues to evolve, which means motorists and businesses need to evolve their response too,” said Chief Operating Officer at Tracker, Duma Ngcobo.
“Understanding where, when and how these crimes occur is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk.”
Unlikely hijacking hotspots
While nearly 60% of all hijackings in South Africa take place in Gauteng, and many more occur in KwaZulu-Natal, the country’s highest-risk area for motorists can be found in the Western Cape.
According to the South African Police Service’s latest national crime statistics for the first quarter of 2026/2027, this title belongs to Delft in the Western Cape.
This suburb in the City of Cape Town recorded nearly 100 carjackings over three months, while South Africa recorded 3,811 carjackings in the same period.
That is an average of 41 cars hijacked every day from April to June 2026, with more than half of all cases occurring in Gauteng, as 2,207 incidents were reported during this period, 57% of the national total.
Below is a list of every province’s hijacking and vehicle theft statistics, according to South African police records:
- Gauteng – 2,207
- Western Cape – 548
- KwaZulu-Natal – 481
- Eastern Cape – 195
- Mpumalanga – 192
- North West – 110
- Limpopo – 46
- Free State – 27
- Northern Cape – 5
The vast majority of South Africa’s carjacking hotspots were in Gauteng, which takes up 6 of the spots in the top 10:
| South African Position | Provincial Position | Police Station | Province | Hijackings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Delft | Western Cape | 93 |
| 2 | 1 | Ivory Park | Gauteng | 68 |
| 3 | 2 | Alexandra | Gauteng | 62 |
| 4 | 3 | Kempton Park | Gauteng | 54 |
| 5 | 2 | Lingelethu West | Western Cape | 54 |
| 6 | 1 | Umlazi | KwaZulu-Natal | 53 |
| 7 | 4 | Mamelodi East | Gauteng | 52 |
| 8 | 1 | Vosman | Mpumalanga | 50 |
| 9 | 5 | Eldorado Park | Gauteng | 47 |
| 10 | 6 | Lenasia | Gauteng | 45 |
Hijackings dropped 18.2% year on year, falling from 4,657 in 2025 to 3,811 in 2026, but it must be noted that these figures reflect only cases reported to police stations.
In South Africa, it is estimated that 23% of hijackings go unreported, meaning the true figures will be higher.
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