Across much of the African continent, a car is far more than a means of transport: it is a work tool, a family investment and, all too often, a target. Vehicle theft and armed hijacking — known simply as hijacking — are among the most frequent and most violent crimes in the major cities, from Johannesburg to Lagos, from Nairobi to Maputo.
The good news is that the overwhelming majority of these crimes follow recognisable patterns. And there are concrete layers of protection — behavioural, physical and technological — that drastically reduce the risk and, when the worst happens, greatly increase the chances of recovering the vehicle.
The true scale of the problem
South Africa, which keeps the most detailed records in the region, gives a measure of the challenge. In the 2023/24 year alone, the South African Police Service (SAPS) recorded 22,735 vehicle hijackings — an average of around 62 per day. More than half were concentrated in a single province, Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.
And it is not a "clean" crime: in more than 60% of cases the victim was injured and in almost 70% a weapon was used. Although the scale varies from country to country, the pattern repeats across many African urban centres — mid-range cars and SUVs are preferred targets, and armed robbery coexists with the silent theft of parked vehicles.
How attackers operate
Knowing the method is the first step in prevention. The most common are:
- Hijacking while stopped — at traffic lights, intersections or when entering and leaving home, when the driver is immobilised and vulnerable.
- Following you home (follow-home) — they follow the victim from a shopping centre or a bank and strike at the front door of the home.
- Staged breakdown or accident — they create a situation that forces the driver to stop.
- Signal jamming (jamming) — they block the remote so the car does not lock, leaving it open and without an alarm.
- Theft of a parked vehicle — using key cloning, towing or signal jammers.
The three layers of protection
No single measure is enough. Effective protection combines three mutually reinforcing layers.
1. Behaviour
- Vary your routes and times; avoid becoming predictable.
- Keep your distance from the car in front so you have room to manoeuvre.
- When you reach home, watch the street before opening the gate and do not sit waiting for it to open.
- Be wary of sudden breakdowns and of anyone approaching a stopped car.
2. Physical barriers
- Steering or gearbox locks and fuel cut-offs.
- Security film on the windows.
- A locked garage whenever possible.
3. GPS tracking
This is the layer that changes the game — and the only one that keeps working for you after the vehicle is taken.
Why GPS makes the difference
A tracker acts at two critical moments:
- Before — it works as a deterrent and lets you create geofences (alerts when the vehicle leaves a defined area), detect unauthorised movement and, on some models, cut the fuel remotely.
- After — in the event of theft, real-time location allows the centre and the authorities to act in the minutes that truly count. The first hours are decisive: it is in that window that most vehicles are recovered, before they are stripped down or cross a border.
The secret lies in discretion: a well-hidden device keeps transmitting even after the attacker has switched off the visible alarm.
The first minutes after a theft
- Your life comes first. Never resist an armed robbery — a car can be replaced, a life cannot.
- Contact the tracking centre immediately. The sooner you do, the greater the chance of recovery.
- Report it to the authorities and register the incident.
- Share the real-time location with the police, through the centre.
- Notify your insurer.
How Iberian Secure protects your vehicle
At Iberian Secure we combine discreet GPS trackers, a monitoring centre and response protocols designed for the African reality. More than selling a device, we design a layer of protection tailored to your risk — whether a family car, a company fleet or a goods transport vehicle.
The first step is simple: a no-obligation Risk Assessment, in which we identify your vulnerabilities and propose the right solution.
Data source: South African Police Service (SAPS), crime statistics for 2023/24.
