60 cars are hijacked in South Africa per day – The most affected areas

The latest crime statistics released by the South African Police (SAPS) show that 5,438 carjackings took place across all nine provinces in the first quarter of the 2024/2025 period.

Averaged out over the monitored period, this means that roughly 60 cars were reportedly hijacked every single day in South Africa between April and June 2024.

However, this figure is actually lower than the same period in 2023, as there were 50 (0.9%) fewer cases.

Other vehicle-related crimes also showed a small but positive decrease in incidents, as truck hijackings were down to 429 reports – 14% less than last year.

The theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles, meanwhile, dropped by 5.2% to reach a total of 8,611 reports, and theft out of or from motor vehicles declined by 3.6% with a new total of 20,196 cases.

One major development was the dramatic decrease in cash-in-transit robberies, which went from 60 to 36 incidents—a 40% reduction.

Unfortunately, South Africa’s already sky-high rates of drunk driving continued to go up by 1.7%, as 14,179 people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Carjackings hotspots per province

Gauteng is by far the worst-affected province with regards to carjackings, as 2,605 cases were filed between April and June.

The top 10 police stations in Gauteng for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	4	Orange Farms	81	+ 21
2	7	Ivory Park	68	+ 15
3	8	Eldorado Park	64	+ 17
4	9	Pretoria West	58	+ 5
5	10	Germiston	56	+ 23
6	12	Loate	53	+ 11
7	15	Mamelodi East	50	+ 10
8	18	Ennerdale	44	+ 2
9	21	Jeppe	42	– 5
10	22	Tembisa	42	– 14

The Western Cape had the second highest number of carjackings with 877 reports.

The top 10 police stations in the Western Cape for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	1	Nyanga	98	+ 17
2	2	Harare	92	– 8
3	5	Philippi East	80	+ 2
4	6	Delft	72	+ 26
5	11	Khayelitsha	53	+ 14
6	13	Mfuleni	52	+ 15
7	14	Lingelethu West	51	0
8	19	Gugulethu	43	+ 16
9	45	Samora Machel	31	– 12
10	62	Kleinvlei	26	+ 9

KwaZulu-Natal had the third highest number of cases with 727 carjackings.

The top 10 police stations in KwaZulu-Natal for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	20	Newlands East	42	+ 35
2	25	Umlazi	40	– 15
3	33	Inanda	34	+ 10
4	35	Kwamashu East	34	+ 4
5	36	Ntuzuma	34	– 3
6	42	Bhekithemba	32	– 7
7	58	Durban Central	27	+ 5
8	76	Verulam	23	+ 4
9	80	Phoenix	22	+ 7
10	81	Pinetown	21	– 3

Outside the top three, the Eastern Cape had 413 reports over the monitored period.

The top 10 police stations in the Eastern Cape for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	3	Kwazakele	81	+ 43
2	16	New Brighton	49	+ 19
3	17	Motherwell	44	+ 21
4	66	Kwanobuhle	25	+ 5
5	58	Mthatha	25	– 6
6	73	Ikamvelihle	24	+ 3
7	75	Kwadwesi	23	+ 7
8	99	Swartkops	19	0
9	108	Madeira	17	– 7
10	121	Mount Road	14	+ 5

After the Eastern Cape was Mpumalanga, which had 330 carjacking attempts.

The top 10 police stations in Mpumalanga for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	37	Delmas	33	+ 16
2	38	Vosman	33	+ 7
3	41	Witbank	33	– 13
4	106	Kabokweni	18	– 6
5	117	Siyabuswa	15	+ 8
6	125	Hazyview	14	0
7	132	Kwamhlanga	13	+ 2
8	133	Masoyi	13	– 3
9	145	Calcutta	12	– 3
10	150	Nelspruit	11	+ 3

The smaller North West province had 186 incidents in the first quarter of the 2024-2025 period.

The top 10 police stations in North West for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	84	Hebron	21	+ 13
2	98	Boitekong	19	+ 3
3	104	Rustenburg	18	+ 1
4	110	Brits	16	+ 8
5	146	Mooinooi	12	– 3
6	158	Potchefstroom	10	+ 1
7	172	Tlhabane	9	+ 3
8	189	Mmabatho	8	+ 6
9	206	Phokeng	7	– 1
10	210	Mahikeng	6	+ 5

Limpopo was ranked lower than North West, with 135 hijacking attempts over three months.

The top 10 police stations in Limpopo for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	135	Thohoyandou	13	– 11
2	160	Musina	10	– 1
3	166	Malamulele	9	+ 7
4	179	Dennilton	9	-2
5	231	Levubu	5	+ 3
6	234	Maake	5	+ 2
7	252	Giyani	4	+ 3
8	255	Driekop	4	+ 2
9	262	Burgersfort	4	+ 1
10	265	Westernburg	4	+ 1

Second to last was the Free State, which was below 100 cases with 58 attempted hijackings.

The top 10 police stations in the Free State for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	167	Bloemspruit	9	+ 6
2	202	Park Road	7	+ 2
3	254	Phuthaditjhaba	4	+ 3
4	284	Kopanong	3	+ 3
5	290	Botshabelo	3	+ 2
6	304	Odendaalsrus	3	+ 1
7	320	Mangaung	3	– 3
8	323	Welkom	2	– 5
9	365	Thabong	2	0
10	381	Zamdela	2	– 3

Unsurprisingly, the sparsely populated Northern Cape had the fewest incidents, as only 7 people reported an attempted car robbery.

The top 10 police stations in the Northern Cape for carjackings were as follows:

Provincial position	RSA position	Station	Carjackings reported in Q1 2024/2025	Count difference
1	393	Barkly West	1	+ 1
2	422	Kathu	1	+ 1
3	425	Kimberley	1	+ 1
4	470	Wrenchville	1	+ 1
5	481	Kagisho	1	0
6	490	Mothibistad	1	0
7	527	Postmasburg	0	– 1
8	562	Aggeneys	0	0
9	575	Augrabies	0	0
10	590	Belmont	0	0

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