Gauteng still has the most incidents of hijacking, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, according to the latest information from vehicle tracking companies.
Gauteng still has the most incidents of hijacking, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, according to the latest information from vehicle tracking companies.
reported on Wednesday that a spokesman for vehicle tracking company Matrix, Les Ireland, said Gauteng had the highest incidents because it is the biggest metropolitan area. He said the fact that Gauteng was closer to the SA borders than large cities like Durban and Cape Town made it easier to smuggle cars or trucks out of the country and into neighbouring countries.
According to Matrix’s data, 73 per cent of hijackings of its clients took place in Gauteng and 15 per cent in KwaZulu-Natal. According to Tracker’s data, 66 per cent of its clients were hijacked in Gauteng, 20 per cent in KwaZulu-Natal and five per cent in Mpumalanga.
Both Tracker and Matrix reported that light delivery vehicles were hijacked most often, followed by saloons. Minibus and heavy delivery vehicles were tied in third place. The companies said that older model vehicles were hijacked often as the syndicates sometimes needed these vehicles for parts.
No particular make of vehicle seems to be specially targeted by all hijackers. Ireland said his data showed that some syndicates specialised in a particular make of vehicle and preferred to stick to their territory, but there did not appear to be any make of vehicle that was not targeted.
“Unlike bank robbers, who tend to travel from Johannesburg to Durban to commit a robbery, we find that hijackers tend to stay within their areas and their field of expertise,” he told .
