‘Deeply appreciated': Khayelitsha residents welcome crackdown on hijacking syndicates

News24

10-05-2025

A person was arrested during an operation to shut down a hijacking syndicate in Cape Town.
The operation comes amid a reported surge in hijackings of municipal vehicles.
Khayelitsha residents have welcomed the crackdown on 'thugs' hijacking people to extort morning from them.
Khayelitsha residents, who have seen a noticeable increase in hijacking syndicates operating in the area, have welcomed a joint crackdown operation by the local police and City of Cape Town law enforcement.
The alleged syndicates target people mostly in Harare, Makhaza, Lingelethu, SiteB and Mfuleni areas.
Earlier this week, an alleged hijacking syndicate was busted amid a surge in hijackings of municipal vehicles.
The City of Cape Town said its law enforcement agencies and the police shut down a syndicate operating in Lingelethu West during an operation on Wednesday.
The operation comes amid a surge in the hijacking of municipal vehicles in Cape Town and only weeks after the City announced that it was looking to bolster its security services for municipal employees.
Over the last financial year, the City has recorded a marked increase in the hijackings of municipal vehicles. Between July 2024 and April 2025, 113 City vehicles were hijacked, which increased from 57 vehicles during the previous financial year.
Some residents who spoke to News24 said the criminals have long been using the area as their 'meeting spot' and target municipal workers who are called to the area for service delivery complaints.
While most of the residents said they didn't know the identities of the syndicate members, some have alleged that they are foreign nationals working with criminals in the area to extort money from people.
'It's an easy way for them to make money. They especially target the small local spaza shops, municipal workers and the security guards that escort the workers to the area,' said a resident who asked to remain anonymous for her safety.
She said most of the private security guards that escort government workers to the area have firearms on them, which the criminals are after.
She said the hijackers 'don't care what time of the day it is' and often operate without masks because the 'weapons they have are their protection'.
Another resident, who wanted to be identified only as 'Sipho', said hijackings in the area had been a common occurrence 'for years', adding he believed the police only acted when someone was killed.
Sipho said:
These are dangerous criminals. They don't care for your life. If they see you live a lifestyle that indicates you are loaded with money, they will come for you and milk you dry
He said the recent clampdown on the syndicates 'highlights the need for safety in our communities'.
Khayelitsha Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson Phindile George said hijacking remained a challenge in the community.
'We welcome efforts by the SAPS (South African Police Service) and law enforcement to clamp down on hijacking syndicates as this scares away services to the community of Khayelitsha.
'In particular, essential service gets delayed as they now have to be escorted by police, [who are] already under severe strain,' said George.
George said what was even more concerning was that ambulances were also being targeted.
'For every traumatised essential service personnel, it means that they would be taken off work for trauma counselling, which hinders service delivery,' said George.
George said residents had welcomed all efforts by law enforcement agencies to combat crime in townships and ensure residents' safety and the operation of all community services.
'We call upon local government to ensure that they ramp up the CCTV camera systems and deploy licence plate reading cameras to ensure that there is a quicker track-and-trace mechanism on reported hijacked and stolen vehicles in the community.
'We also call upon the municipality to service all existing cameras in the area so they are in working condition. This would also assist in building capacity and bolster the local crime-fighting efforts,' said George.
Lingelethu CPF chairperson Lunga Guza said they welcomed the intervention by law enforcement agencies.
'We welcome any intervention that will generally help reduce crime in one of the areas affected by the hijackings; one could even say it has become the norm in the area,' said Guza.
He said the police had worked tirelessly to shut the syndicates down.
'To us as residents, it's fantastic. The more these criminals get caught and arrested, the less fear the community lives in,' said Guza.
'We are very happy that the City of Cape Town has also realised that this is a pandemic, especially in our precinct. These are people's lives we are dealing with that hijackers think nothing of.
'So more help by the government is deeply appreciated,' said Guza.
According to the CPF, it's not just government workers coming under attack by criminals, but almost every vehicle in the precinct.
'It should not just be government vehicles prioritised, but every citizen's vehicle should be protected from the hands of hijackers.
'We must protect people's lives,' said Guza.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said City officials embarked on a joint intelligence-driven operation with the police and raided a property in Town Two where they uncovered a stash of items presumably used in hijackings and also recovered a vehicle that was reported stolen in Muizenberg last year.
'Over the last financial year, the City has recorded a marked increase in the hijackings of municipal vehicles. In the period between July 2024 to April 2025, a total of 113 City vehicles have been hijacked, which increased from 57 vehicles during the previous financial year,' said Smith.
Of the 133 vehicles hijacked in recent months, the City has been able to recover 42.
Smith said statistics showed that the urban waste and water and sanitation directorates were most affected, and in most of these incidents, City officials were held at gunpoint.
Western Cape police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, said several premises were searched during Wednesday's operation in Lingelethu.
Police found three homemade rifles, three homemade handguns, vehicle keys, radios, one silver Renault Duster stolen in Muizenberg in March 2024, a Toyota Quantum engine stolen in Khayelitsha in July 2021, and vehicle wheels.
'A 28-year-old male suspect who was sought on a Lingelethu-West SAPS murder case was arrested,' said Van Wyk.
Police said the joint operation was a 'culmination of a few weeks of planning' with the City to prevent carjackings and clampdown on those involved or suspected of being involved in these crimes.