The Chairman of the Anti-Truck Hijacking Forum in South Africa has highlighted a number of key issues and emerging risks in the Boksburg and greater Johannesburg area that have surfaced at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, as well as from recent crime data. And it’s not a pretty picture.

In essence, the Madlanga Commission is probing allegations that organised criminal networks have infiltrated parts of law enforcement, including specialised metro police units and are actively facilitating serious crimes such as hijacking, kidnapping and cargo theft.

Evidence before the Commission points to a “truck-targeting operation” where rogue officers allegedly hijacked high-value loads and then sold the cargo back to the owners or their insurers, effectively turning law-enforcement resources into a criminal business model.

Testimony on an EMPD SWAT/specialised unit based in Ekurhuleni (which covers Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, etc.) alleges that members are implicated in murder, extortion, kidnapping, theft and hijacking, including:

• A case where a shop owner was kidnapped and his supply truck hijacked and abandoned in a remote area.
• A series of cases in which the same officers allegedly robbed premises in Meyerton and stole from a truck in Putfontein (Benoni) under false pretences, and;
• A specific incident where two of three officers hijacked a truck on the N12 and stole its load a critical freight route linking Johannesburg, Boksburg/Ekurhuleni and key industrial nodes.

A protected witness (“Witness D”) has testified that in high-value cargo cases, “police officers are part of the hijacking team”, confirming what industry has long suspected that some hijackings in the Gauteng logistics belt are facilitated or protected from inside the system.

Localised picture: Boksburg & Johannesburg area
Boksburg/Ekurhuleni sits in the centre of a high-risk logistics corridor tied to the N12, N17 and related arterials feeding into Johannesburg.

Boksburg North SAPS recently issued a warning about an increase in hijackings of company vehicles and trucks in their policing precinct, underscoring the operational risks facing freight companies in that immediate area.

Broader hijacking-hotspot analysis for Gauteng shows multiple high-risk stations in the Johannesburg/Ekurhuleni belt (including Boksburg North) featuring on provincial “top” lists for hijacking-type crimes, which aligns with what we are seeing on the ground in logistics.

National & provincial truck-hijacking trends (industry context)
National police statistics and industry analysis show that:

• Truck hijackings have risen in recent reporting periods one analysis of SAPS data shows a 5.3% increase (from 435 to 458 cases) over a comparable quarter, with Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KZN leading the trend. Delaying of the crime stats is also problematic as we cannot see what the current status is.
• Industry estimates suggest 30–35 truck hijackings per week nationally, with around 65% of these occurring in Gauteng confirming that our main economic hub is also the main theatre of operations for truck-hijacking syndicates.
• Fleet-crime data further indicates that business-owned vehicles are almost twice as likely to be hijacked as simply stolen, reflecting targeted attacks on commercial and logistics fleets.

Implications for industry
The Madlanga Commission is effectively confirming a pattern that freight operators have been flagging for years.

High-value freight routes through Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (including Boksburg and Benoni) are being systematically targeted, sometimes with the suspected involvement or protection of rogue law-enforcement elements.

This compromises confidence in the criminal-justice value chain at exactly the points where we most rely on police and prosecutorial integrity to protect cargo, drivers and critical supply chains.

For operators in and around Boksburg and Johannesburg this translates into:

• Elevated risk on key routes such as the N12, R21, N3 and industrial spines in Ekurhuleni;
• The need for enhanced vetting and control around escorts, recovery agents and any “law-enforcement linked” service providers;
• A stronger push for credible, multi-agency task teams with transparent oversight and proper industry engagement.

Editor’s Comment: The Chairman of the Anti-Truck Hijacking Forum has stated to FleetWatch that the Forum is taking all this into consideration and is formulating a number of strategies to counter the risks being faced by transporters as are being revealed in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. For obvious reasons, these will remain confidential at this time. However, while it is absolutely shocking to hear what is coming out of the Commission, it is good to know that there are a large number of people in our industry who are working tirelessly to make the roads safer for transporters and to counter the impact of criminals – whether they wear unforms or not. I say this because one can only shake one’s head in absolute despair at what we are hearing at the Inquiry – but there is hope. There are many good people out there – including many in police uniforms – who are fighting for the good of the trucking industry and the country. These are the people who need the full support of all.

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