Lifestyle

One province in South Africa with more hijackings than all others combined

Staff Writer

 ·24 Feb 2026

The latest crime statistics published by the South African Police Service (SAPS) show that fewer hijackings occurred between October and December 2025 than in prior years, but incidents remain alarmingly high.

Nowhere else is this more evident than in Gauteng, where more hijackings were reported than in every other province in the country combined.

The SAPS reported 4,420 carjacking cases that were opened up over the period, equating to an average of 48 cars being hijacked every day.

This is 8.1% lower than the 4,807 cases reported the year prior (October to December 2024).

The decline in reported hijackings is not seen across all the provinces in South Africa, with the Free State and the North-West being outliers to the trend.

The Free State recorded a small uptick in eight cases reported between October and December 2025, of a very low base, while the North-West saw its numbers increase by 8.3%.

Maintaining its title as the hijacking capital of the country, Gauteng accounts for the highest number of cases, with 2,544 hijackings reported.

Even though cases dropped by 0.9%, Gauteng has more reported hijackings than the rest of the provinces combined.

Tracking with larger populations, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have the next highest numbers of cases, but are nowhere close to Gauteng.

At the precinct level, staying true to its title, the majority of the worst stations in the country are in Gauteng, accounting for 21 of the top 30.

The worst hijacking hotspot in the country is in Mamelodi East, in Tshwane, followed by Alexandra, in Johannesburg.

Gauteng’s other major metro, Ekurhuleni, also has its worst precinct in the top five, with Kempton Park taking third position. Pretoria West (Tshwane) and Jeppe (Johannesburg) fill out the top five.

Among non-Gauteng stations, Lingelethu West in the City of Cape Town is the worst-performing station in that province, while Umlazi in eThekwini is the worst-performing station in KwaZulu-Natal.

Other stations that make the top 30 in the country are the Vosman precinct in Mpumalanga and the Kwazakele precinct in the Eastern Cape.

The number of hijackings is higher than you think

While the latest police stats point to a decline in hijackings in the country, the reality is that the number is likely far higher.

The SAPS crime stats provide an authoritative view of criminal and police activity in the country, but they reflect only reported crimes.

Other measures, like the 2024/25 Victim of Crime Survey (VOCS), survey public experiences of crime, including how many people actually report the crimes they experience.

According to the VOCS, approximately 23% of all hijackings go unreported by the public.

Notably, this is higher than in other incidents of theft of personal property, where only 31% of crimes are reported.

In most cases, the reason for not reporting the crimes is a widely-held belief that the police won’t do anything about it, followed by cases where the police said they couldn’t do anything about it.

The VOCS also revealed that, counter to the police statistics, public experience of hijackings has risen by 25.9% between 2024 and 2025.

This reflects about 102,000 individuals who experienced a hijacking over the period.

The number of individuals aged 16 and older who experienced hijacking in the past five years has also risen to 340,000, up from 151,000 in 2020/21. Between 2024 and 2025, the jump was 18.5%.

These numbers directly contradict the picture of improvement presented by the crime data.

23.2% of hijackings are not reported

102,000 individuals experienced hijacking in the 2024/25 period

340,000 individuals experienced hijacking in the past five years