The City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate says its newly formed anti-hijacking unit (AHU) has recovered at least 141 vehicles and made 37 arrests since its inception in mid-November 2025.

In the last five months, the unit, comprising Metro Police and Law Enforcement officers in Area East, has covered focus areas which include Khayelitsha, Macassar, Strand and surrounds.

According to Safety and Security chief JP Smith, the establishment of the unit was an effort to curb hijacking of City-owned vehicles, which had become a challenge.

” – although [the unit’s] actions have been beneficial to vehicle owners across the board, as the statistics show,” says Smith

In one of the latest incidents on Wednesday, the unit reportedly recovered a City-owned light delivery vehicle that had been hijacked in Khayelitsha.

Of the vehicles recovered, 11 have been City of Cape Town official vehicles, three belonging to other government entities, three goods vehicles and 124 private vehicles.

According to Smith, the unit also works closely with the City’s vehicle-tracking service provider, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and other stakeholders.

As a result, the SAPS in Makhaza reported a reduction of 66% in hijackings in the last quarter, and they have reportedly credited the work of the AHU for that achievement.

“Their work, in partnership with SAPS, highlights the scale of the problem – and just in one area in our city – but it also shows what is possible through collaboration, will and the sharing of information and resources,”

Smith added that City officers respond to incidents of hijacking, but they have a limited scope in uncovering what drives these incidents. The scale of these cases however siuggests the involvement of organised networks, which requires effective intervention by the criminal justice system.

“Anything less will simply see us caught in a constant loop and never fully addressing this challenge.”