South Africa’s most dangerous hijacking hotspot is not in the province you expect

Nearly 60% of all hijackings occur in Gauteng, yet the most high-risk area for motorists is located in a different province altogether.

That title goes to Delft in the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape, which recorded nearly 100 carjackings over a three-month period.

This is according to the South African Police Service’s latest national crime statistics for the first quarter of the 2026/2027 period, which recorded a total of 3,811 carjackings.

This means an average of 41 cars were hijacked every day for three months from April to June 2026.

Notably, more than half of all cases occurred in Gauteng, as 2,207 incidents were reported during this period, 57% of the national total.

In contrast, the second-worst-affected province was the Western Cape, which had a quarter of the cases at 548 hijackings.

These were the official carjacking stats for each province, as listed by the SAPS:

1. Gauteng – 2,207
2. Western Cape – 548
3. KwaZulu-Natal – 481
4. Eastern Cape – 195
5. Mpumalanga – 192
6. North West – 110
7. Limpopo – 46
8. Free State – 27
9. Northern Cape – 5

Unsurprisingly, the sparsely populated Northern Cape had the fewest cases, while Gauteng, which is home to the vast majority of South Africa’s vehicle parc, had the most.

On a more positive note, hijackings dropped by 18.2% year on year, dropping from 4,657 in 2025 to 3,811 in 2026.

However, it’s important to bear in mind that these stats only reflect cases reported to police stations, as it is estimated that 23% of hijackings go unreported, meaning the true figures will be higher.

Hijackings by police stations in South Africa

According to the SAPS, the most dangerous area for motorists is Delft in the Western Cape, which recorded 93 cases.

The Western Cape appears a few more times on the list of the top 30 police stations, including Lingelethu West, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha, and Nyanga.

KwaZulu-Natal appears twice with Umlazi ranking as the number one provincial carjacking hotspot, followed by Cato Manor.

Vosman was the most dangerous area in Mpumalanga, while New Brighton was the top hotspot in the Eastern Cape.

Mangaung was the worst area in Free State, even though it ranked only 192nd on the national chart. Similarly, Musina is the number one hijacking area in Limpopo but ranks only 166th nationwide.

The vast majority of South Africa’s carjacking hotspots were in Gauteng, which takes up 21 of the spots in the top 30: