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Now you see it: CCTV footage shows a Toyota RunX being stolen from outside a gated complex in a northern suburb.
Ten minutes 49 seconds. That’s all it takes for three car thieves to steal a blue Toyota RunX in a Joburg northern suburb.
It’s 5.19:01am.
The RunX is parked outside the front gate of a block of flats.
A man wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans approaches. He kneels and reaches under the car to cut the alarm.
A second man wearing a green T-shirt and a pair of jeans approaches the complex’s gate, pretending to ring the bell. He holds a tool behind his back.
A third man wearing a blue T-shirt and shorts hangs around.
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To anyone passing, it appears they are having car trouble.
At 5.22:19am, a jogger runs past.
Seconds later, one of the men goes to the driver’s door and shoves the tool into the driver’s door lock.
He struggles for 12 or so seconds. The door won’t budge. His accomplice comes to help, but it doesn’t work.
They abort the plan. Instead one goes to the back door and removes the triangular window. Fifteen seconds later the doors are open.
Two get in. The third stands guard.
It’s 5.23:12am.
For about six minutes the two battle to start it.
In the meantime, several cars pass, another jogger runs by and a man walks past the car.
Still the men struggle on.
Then the car shudders to life.
By 5.29:53am the RunX is gone.
This sequence is from security camera footage on December 31.
This RunX is one of about 60 000 vehicles that will be stolen this year – a projection from last year’s crime statistics.
While crime statistics over the past 17 years show a 50percent drop in car theft, 64 504 cars were stolen across SA last year.
Of these, at least 15 percent – or 10 112 cars – were stolen in 37 suburbs around Joburg, from Johannesburg Central to the Sandton police precinct in the north and from Cleveland in the east to Honeydew and Douglasdale in the west.
In the same areas, 1653 cars were hijacked.
Sandton police reduced car theft by 239 – from 733 to 494 in 2010/2011.
Community police forum chair Wendy Vorster-Robertson attributes this to visible policing.
“We don’t have too many incidents. Carjacking is mostly happening in the Buccleuch area. Most of the stuff is going to Tembisa. Car theft is still a hotspot at certain high-end malls in the area,” said Vorster-Robertson.
In Parkview, the number of car thefts increased last year by 94, from 335 in 2010 to 429.
Statistics show a small decline in car thefts in Moroka and Dobsonville in Soweto, but an increase in Kliptown, where the police say they dealt with 101 cases last year – up from the 67 recorded in 2010.
Gareth Crocker, spokesman for car-tracking company Tracker, said they had noticed thieves targeted cars parked on the fringes of shopping centre parking lots.
“But increasingly, large crowd events like school sports days and music concerts are being targeted, given the informal nature of parking structures at these events.”
Servaas du Plessis, CEO of insurance assessing and verification company Censao, said while both vehicle theft and hijacking were down, there was an increase in the stealing of double-cab bakkies, 4x4s and SUVs.
Duplicated keys, popular in the past to steal cars, were out. The new trend was for thieves to bring their own computer boxes with them, installing them on the scene within a minute. - The Star
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Stephen M, wrote
@Rick, I was almost the victim of a hijacking (quick reactions saved me) - for my wife's GWM Florid! Don't be fooled into thinking nobody wants your car.
napo, wrote
The journalist is in on it! If the journalist was not benefiting from the ugly situation. They would expose the real names of the criminals. Also, it seems to me if the surveillance camera does not help quickly respond to seemingly criminal acts as and when they happen so they can be curbed, then there is no point having it! Unless its there to help the journalists with their reporting instead of saving the honest law abiding citizen from misery orand or death.
Anonymous, wrote
500 car stolen in Sandton. That's a lot! 40 per month. Hardly "we don't have too many incidents". Granted its lower than previous years, but there's still a long way to go. Thinking of it as "not too many incidents" is not acceptable. Time to pension her off and get someone with greater urgency and commitment?
Anonymous, wrote
One of the best ways to keep your sales figures up is by increasing the number of people that have to replace stolen vehicles! 'nuff said!
Rick, wrote
Gone are the days I feel safe driving a BMW, Merc, VW or any Toyota. Our cars now consist of a Fiat Multipla, a Renault Logan, a Kia Cerato and a Daihatsu Sirion! No self respecting thief or Gangsta would be seen dead in any of these cars! And I sleep sound knowing we wont be targeted for these cars!
Huck, wrote
I bet if you checked these guys backgrounds, they would have minimum schooling. There is all this money and time spent trying to keep the edge on these guys, and they are proving very resourceful, they learn, adapt, adopt new technology. What you have here is wasted human capital, these guys could be applying themeselves in more useful ways. The challenge for SA is for those guys to utilise their brains for the greater good of the country and reap the rewards of that - a big challenge I know.
Anonymous, wrote
Drive a Daewoo and you'll have no worries, park it wherever and whenever...who will ever steal or hijack a Daewoo...?
Anonymous, wrote
Goodman, wrote
Graham F, wrote
Why was the CCTV not being monitored to prevent the crime???????????? Pointless having it otherwise.
Anonymous, wrote
That's nothing. I've seen with my own eyes thieves stealing a car in front of my flat in less than 2 minutes.
Anonymous, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
A jogger and several cars passed and nobody found this scenario in the land of crime just a little bit suspicious???
javas, wrote
most of these cars stolen here are crossing the border, government must ensure that border posts are well mannered and the communities must help by reporting any form of crime they see
Alf, wrote
This is enough to make you panick if you own a Toyota and a RunX in particular. Yes, car highjacking, like burglary and robbery are crimes that are sustained by people who buy stolen goods.In the meantime, i will buy no-hot cars (Peugeot, KIA, Citroen) until Toyota and VW beef up the security of their cars.
Anon, wrote
The government reaps the benefits from the 60000 cars been stolen. The VAT alone that one has to pay to replace these cars must be in the billions
Arlene, wrote
Tshepo, wrote
kcm, wrote
Scary hey, but I blame the people who create the demand. People must cut the demand by not buying stolen cars and you will see the rate of carjackings will go down. If you don't afford a car in the meantime, wait your time will come rather than buying a car for R3000.
BEN, wrote
They took mine in less than this time, while I was inside a funeral, sitting less than 8 meters away inside.
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