The South African Police Service has received 172,721 completed applications for 5,500 police trainee posts, according to a statement SAnews carried on 26 October.
That is about 31 applicants for every post. The portal went live on 21 October 2026. The drive ends on Friday, 13 November 2026.
The police service gave these figures for the position as of Saturday, 24 October:
- more than 300,000 profile registrations in total, with 156,131 recorded in the first 24 hours after the portal opened;
- more than 232,000 applicants who had completed profile verification;
- over 190,000 who had started an application;
- 172,721 applications completed and submitted.
Women submitted more than 95,000 of the applications and men more than 76,000, the statement said.
Gauteng leads the provinces at 49,518 applications, about 29% of the total. KwaZulu-Natal is next at 33,661 and the Eastern Cape third at 17,441, while the Northern Cape is lowest at 4,177. The nine provincial figures add up to the national 172,721.
Source: South African Police Service statement, published by SAnews on 26 October 2026. Chart: Rand Desk
The statement warned that heavy traffic could slow the eRecruitment portal. It also said the portal “remains operational”, and that the service’s technology division and its partners were working around the clock to keep it running.
The service said people whose applications went through need do nothing more, and that only those who never got an acknowledgement email should try again. It asked people to stop repeating attempts, which strain the system further, and to use the portal outside peak hours where they can.
The service told applicants to rely only on its official communication channels for recruitment information.
The jobs market behind the numbers
Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of 2026 put the official unemployment rate at 33.6%, up from 33.2% a year earlier and 32.7% in the first quarter. The number of unemployed people rose by 345,000 in the quarter to 8.5 million.
The 172,721 completed applications, set against the survey’s count, are equal to about 2% of the 8.5 million people Stats SA counts as unemployed. Applicants need not be unemployed, and the police statement does not say how many are.
The statement does not give the minimum requirements for the posts, the pay on offer or the date on which successful applicants will start training. It gives no breakdown by age.
Earlier this month the IMF raised its unemployment forecast for 2026 to 33.2%. A separate story looks at informal trade and jobs in eThekwini. The police service gave no date for announcing who has been shortlisted.
Applications close on Friday, 13 November 2026.
