Full-scale task team cracks down on hijacking

The Road Freight Association (RFA) and the SA Police Service (SAPS) have now formed a task force to fight the scourge of truck hijacking – a crime that has been taking its toll on transport operators over the years. According to Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of the RFA, the two bodies – with the Federation of Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta) playing an observer role – have established a fullscale task team and set up an anti-hijacking line. “We have now re-established a strong relationship with the police,” he told FTW. “And, since last year, the figures we have indicate that hijackings are probably down about 40%. “However, don’t make too much of that figure, as a lot of hijackings went unreported to us in the beginning. But we’ve alerted all our members, and this report-in is now also improving.” But the big benefit of the task team is that cases of truck hijacking “don’t fall off the end of the pier anymore,” Kelly added, “but are now followed up”. A major problem, not just for the RFA but all other interested parties, is the sheer lack of firm and up-todate statistics on the crime. What is an historical fact is that where the trucks are travelling varies the risk level. Gauteng has been identified as the truck hijacking capital; Mpumalanga recorded the second worst record; KwaZulu-Natal ranks third; and Free State is not far behind. All these are the areas in which the largest numbers of trucks operate. But numbers, where they are obtainable, are pretty sketchy. And, like the famous “they” say, it’s difficult to fight an enemy unless you know about them. The Association of Marine Underwriters of SA (Amusa) has nothing exciting to report, according to chairman Hilton Adams of Munich Reinsurance. “It’s a high risk,” he said. “But people just won’t release figures. They all want to keep them to themselves.” But Amusa policy has stressed that the primary answer is that truckers must control that risk. Under this code of good practice, risk control must include such good habits as trucks having two drivers, and only stopping (the highest point of risk) at approved, and wellmanaged, truck stops. That, and armed guards for particularly high-value cargoes. Getting firm figures out of the police records is like getting blood out of a stone. There was an exciting promise made in 2010. Setting up a comprehensive database around truck hijackings and other related incidents was a major priority for the SA Police Service, said a Gauteng police spokesman. But this very quickly disappeared. All that FTW was able to unearth this time around was a September 19, 2013 report on National Crime Statistics from Nathi Mthethwa, who was Minister of Police from 2009–2014. And these, remember, are only the “reported incidents” according to SAPS. The stats showed that truck hijacking had increased by 59.5% over the five years from 2004/05 up to 2008/09 – at an average of 11.9% per annum. They then reduced by 34.4% over the period of four years from 2008/09 up to 2011/12 at an average of 8.6% per annum. The hijackings again increased by 14.9% during the financial year 2012/13. According to other figures from the report, a total of 10 409 truck hijackings in SA were reported to the police from 2003/04 up to and including 2012/13. In 2008/09 the hijacking figure peaked at 1 437. But, since then, the rate continued to drop, until it reached 821 in 2011/12 – the lowest it had been since 2003/04 when it was 901. But it picked up again in 2012/13 to 943. But the RFA and the SAPS are now trying to find some answers. “So yes, it is a big problem,” said Kelly, “but it’s one that we’re dealing with.”