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

Recent crime statistics released by the South African Police (SAPS) show that carjacking reports across all nine provinces increased by 365 incidents to a total of 5,973 in the third quarter of the 2023/2024 period.

The astronomical figure means that at least 65 vehicles were reported as hijacked in South Africa every single day between October and December 2023.

Mirroring carjackings, the majority of other vehicle-related crimes in South Africa also increased in Q3 2023/2024, according to the SAPS.

Theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles rose by 0.9% to 9,539 incidents, and theft out of or from a motor vehicle climbed by 0.5% to 22,288 reports.

An alarming statistic, the SAPS also caught 16,480 motorists who were driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs – a whopping 50.5% more than a year prior.

On the brighter side, truck hijackings decreased by 2.4% to 480 incidents, and cash-in-transit robberies dropped by 19% to 46 cases.

Carjackings hotspots per province

The vast majority of carjackings during October and December 2023 happened in Gauteng, with the province seeing a staggering 3,010 reports over this period.

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

In second in terms of carjackings per province, a massive distance away from first place, was the Western Cape at 856 reports.

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

Almost neck-and-neck with second, KwaZulu-Natal ranked third when it came to vehicle hijackings in the SAPS crime report at 834 incidents.

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

A big drop from the top three, there were 510 carjackings reported in the Eastern Cape in the last three months of 2023.

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

Mpumalanga was equally far away from fourth as fourth from third, with carjacking reports in this province coming in at 349 for the period under review.

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

Nearly 200 reports fewer, the quiet North West province experienced 62 occurrences of hijacking in Q3 2023/2024.

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

A mere six reports below North West, a total of 156 reports of hijackings came from Limpopo between October and December last year.

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

Second from the bottom, there were 85 instances in the Free State of owners being forcefully evicted from their cars by criminals.

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

The Northern Cape province registered the lowest amount of carjackings according to the SAPS, seeing just 11 instances of this crime over the period under review.

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