The worst hijacking areas in South Africa in 2017

The South African police service has released its crime statistics for 2017, showing a major increase in the number of carjackings taking place in the country.

According to the SAPS’ data, carjackings increased 14.5% between 2016 and 2017, taking the crime rate to its worst levels in a decade.

The data captured at police stations across the country recorded 16,717 carjackings between April 2016 and March 2017, roughly 46 cars stolen per day on SA streets.

Crime information portal, crimestatssa.com has broken down the SAPS even further, revealing the specific areas where these crimes are most common.

As has always been the case, hijacking is most common in South Africa’s most populated province, Gauteng, followed by other built up provinces such as KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape.

Gauteng remains the biggest hotspot for carjackings, with as many as 8,610 incidents reported, up 16.9%, followed by 3,029 incidents in KwaZulau-Natal, up 21.5%.

Worst carjacking areas

Nyanga in the Western Cape has retained its title as South Africa’s worst carjacking area, topping the list again in 2017; Booysens in Joburg also maintained its second place rank. Pinetown tied with Jeppe in third.

New entries to the ‘worst 10’ list for carjackings include Rietgat in Gauteng, Ivory Park, Delft, and Harare (Western Cape).

Truck hijacking

Alberton in Gauteng climbed to the top of the list of the worst precincts for truck hijackings, with former number one, Heidelberg, dropping to fifth.

New entries into the ‘worst 10’ include Witbank, Lyttelton (Centurion) and Zonkizizwe.

Vehicle theft

Berea in KZN has moved up the list to be the worst vehicle theft spot in South Africa, followed by Brooklyn, Pretoria, and Durban central – pushing former number one, Honeydew, down to fourth.

New areas in the 2017 ‘worst 10’ include Lyttelton and Wierdabrug (Centurion), and Vanderbijlpark.

Read: Carjacking in South Africa at its worst level in a decade