52 cars are hijacked in South Africa per day – The hotspots

The South African Police Services have published the new crime statistics for the third quarter of the 2024/2025 period, showing that 4,807 hijackings took place across all nine provinces.

This means that roughly 52 cars were taken on average every day between October and December 2024.

While this figure is alarmingly high, the good news is that this is actually a significant 19.5% year-on-year decrease from the same period in 2023, translating to 1,166 fewer cases.

The same is true of truck hijackings, which dropped by 67 reports (14%) from the year before.

Similarly, the theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles was 18.3% lower, while theft out of or from motor vehicles declined by 12.9%.

Cash-in-transit heists were lower, too, with 17 fewer incidents.

Unfortunately, the number of drunk driving incidents went up over the same period, with police arresting 1,853 (11.2%) more people for driving while under the influence, leading to a new total of 18,333.

Carjacking hotspots per province

Gauteng experienced by far the most hijackings with 2,567 reported cases:

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

The Western Cape was the second hardest hit with 694 incidents.

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

KwaZulu-Natal had the third-highest number of cases at 599.

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

The Eastern Cape then experienced 414 reported hijackings.

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

The rest of the provinces had significantly less cases, with Mpumalanga receiving 263 reports.

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

This was followed by North West with 133 hijackings.

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

Limpopo only received a total of 93 reports.

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

The Free State had the second lowest number of incidents with 35 cases.

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

The Northern Cape had the fewest hijacking attempts with only 9 cases.

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