Criminals can’t keep their hands off government vehicles in major South African province

The Eastern Cape province is currently battling criminals who only have eyes for government vehicles.

Last week, it emerged that a syndicate stripped 16 waste collection trucks owned by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of critical parts.

These 16 trucks were located at various municipal depots with active security guards, and the attacks were carried out over several weeks in March.

They targeted vehicles that were no longer in service due to the metro’s failure to repair and maintain them, suggesting the crime was carefully orchestrated.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality launched an investigation after discovering the thefts, however, nearly a month later, it told EWN that it still does not know how they happened.

“We will install cameras there and beef up the management of resources at fleet management and accountability of staff,” said Babalwa Lobishe, Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor.

“There are loose ends in terms of management and accountability on the losses that we incurred in that particular unit.”

The thefts are the latest in a string of attacks on Eastern Cape government-owned vehicles.

In February 2025, the provincial Department of Transport revealed that at least nine government cars were stolen in the province in the first seven weeks of the year.

Over the course of 2024, a staggering 55 government vehicles were targeted in the region, 48 of which were hijacked.

“That means that is an average of one vehicle either being hijacked or stolen in the province [a week], and that is very, very disturbing,” said Unathi Binqose, spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Transport Department.

Most incidents took place in the OR Tambo District around Libode, Mthatha, Ngcobo, Ngqeleni, and Qumbu.

The targeted cars included Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max bakkies, which form the bulk of the Eeastern Cape government fleet, as well as minibus taxis.

As of February the Eastern Cape authorities managed to recover 26 of the 55 stolen vehicles, however, the rest remained unaccounted for at the time.

Service delivery takes a hit

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said that government officials have grown scared to travel to areas where many of these state vehicles were thieved.

Additionally, he said that the continued targeting of state vehicles is affecting service delivery in the province.

Mabuyane thus called on law enforcement to act decisively against the crime and to ensure that all perpetrators are brought to book.

“We are grateful that the Premier of the province has also called this out and condemned it,” said the Transport Department’s Binqose.

“It made it into his State of the Province Address, so it shows that is something that we are now beginning to pay a bit more attention to.”

In addition, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality vowed to henceforth only buy garbage trucks that are still covered under maintenance or service plans.

The trucks that were stripped were already out of service for as much as five years due to the metro’s inability to properly maintain them.

This has not only led to backlogs in refuse removal in certain regions, but also to heightened theft of government property.

“We now must buy trucks with a motor plan because if we heavily rely on our fleet management, a lot of things happen over that value chain,” said Mayor Lobishe.

“Each new car must have its own motor plan so that we don’t have cars that are waiting for our own mechanics forever and end up being part of crime.”