Between October 1 and December 31, 2021, a total of 2 605 kidnapping cases were reported to the police.
This was revealed by Police Minister General Bheki Cele when he published the quarterly crime data on Friday afternoon.
Only two provinces, he added, had seen a decline in abduction crime.
“Highjacking is the most common motive for this crime, followed by robbery and rape-related kidnappings.”
“In comparison to the same period last year, there have been 686 more occurrences of kidnapping.”
Cele said they had committed to improve their state of policing, through specialized policing and refocusing efforts and expertise in taking down organized crime syndicates.
“Over and above the CIT and kidnapping specialized units, the SAPS has also established specialized units to deal with organized crimes in KZN, Eastern Cape, and Gauteng.”
Earlier this week, Cele also announced that a national extortion team would be established and rolled out to all nine provinces.
He said that it would focus on extortion at economic, construction sites, and business premises.
“We are also decisively dealing with kidnapping syndicates, through specialized teams, especially in Gauteng where this crime is most prevalent,” said Cele.
He said in addition to the specialized units it was also encouraging that the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces boast fully functional murder and robbery units.
“Organized crime Investigation units are also on board in tackling murder and robberies, as well as taxi violence in KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape.”
He added that an Illicit mining task team was established in Free State, North West, and Gauteng.
“It will further be extended to Mpumalanga and Limpopo and the capacity of all illicit mining task teams will be enhanced.”
“It is envisaged that these teams will eventually evolve into specialized Units in the next two years.”
He said Cash in Transit Task teams have been established countrywide and were instrumental in the prevention and investigation of Cash In Transit heists.
“The aim is to graduate these task teams into fully functional specialized Units.”
Anti-Gang Units have been established in Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Gauteng respectively.
“These Units will be enhanced and reinforced in the three provinces and Drug Units will also be strengthened,” said Cele.