Crime statistics for 2022 are out in South Africa and it paints a scary picture of public safety or the lack thereof. While ministers enjoy the protection of blue light brigades, hijacking for everyone else has increased by a whopping 14%. Here is where is hot and where is not.
The data provided by the South African Police Service last week tells a grim story of crime, murder, rape and other grievous atrocities commited on a daily basis to people residing within our borders. Of those on the increase is hijacking, showing a 14% increase from the year before.
That means the 5 146 hijackings reported over the same time-period in 2021 has increased to 5 866 in 2022. The statistics also show that from Q4 in 2021 to Q1 in 2022, hijacking was up by 8,6%. Mpumalanga was the only province to experience a decrease from the same period last year, down by 23,4% from 394 cases to only 302.
During Q1, Gauteng recorded 3 113 hijackings while the third placed Western Cape comes in with 754 reported incidents with the Nyanga, Phillipi East and Harare stations taking the top three spots.
Related: Watch local Mercedes GLA driver thwart would-be hijackers!
The statistics also detail that the most common type of vehicle to be hijacked are sedans, hatchbacks and coupes while tally 2 771 of the overall number. Bakkies and panel vans only constitute 1 691 reports.
Bheki Cele, Minister of Police of South Africa has come under fire for his antiquated modus operandi and controversial statements regarding rape recently and opposition political parties lament the shocking crime statistcs in South Africa as a result of a broken system with him at the helm.
While the minister doesn’t seem to have an immediate solution to remedy the rise in hijackings, there are a few key actions South African drivers can do to prevent becoming one of these traumatic statistics. Here are some guidelines provided by Arrive Alive – video included in the link.
