Truck hijacks up 24% in South Africa
New data from the South African Police Service (SAPS) for crimes during the 12 months to 31 March 2022 reveals a 24.1% year-over-year increase in cases of truck hijackings and an 11% rise in the number of cash-in-transit robberies.
The 465 hijackings in the fourth quarter of SAPS’ reporting year took the 12-month total to 1,734 incidents and represented the highest three-month total of 2021/22.
Gauteng province continued to be the epicentre of criminal attacks on trucks, accounting for over 60% of all truck hijackings in South Africa. The 1,042 incidents compared to 775 in the previous year, a change of +34.4%. Mpumalanga was the other province to see a significant increase, up by more than 89% over 2020/2021 to 201 crimes.
Six provinces reported a rise in hijackings overall – also including Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and North West, while, of the three to see a decline in attacks, Western Cape saw the biggest fall, with incidents down 50% to 86.
The 210 cash-in-transit robberies in 2021/22 compared to 190 in the previous year. Once again, Gauteng suffered the highest rate of incidents, with 68 in total over 12 months. Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were the second and third most targeted provinces, with 33 and 32 crimes respectively. CIT attacks were recorded all nine South African provinces.
At TAPA EMEA’s ‘Resilience@Risk’ conference in Amsterdam, regional lead, Andre Du Venage, was asked if the cargo crime situation in South Africa was out of control?
“It’s not out of control for those companies that have bought into the TAPA system. They are doing very well and have been way in front because they understand the environment and what to do,” he said.
South Africa, Andre added, is dealing with all the same risks as countries in Europe; increased ‘cost of living’ pressures, rising fuel prices and subsequent fuel thefts, illegal migration, international Organised Crime Groups, cross-border crime, port backlogs, container shortages, driver shortages, cybercrime, and protests and activism. Truck hijackings, he said, are a rising problem and arguably even higher than official police statistics because these do not include hijacks of smaller cargo delivery vans. As well as a need for clearer and more consistent communication about what can be done to counter rising crime, companies need to closely monitor their own personnel. “In South Africa, insider threat is rife. Companies that are ‘getting it right’ are those that are able to control this particular risk,” he said
