Over 180,000 Applications for 5,500 SAPS Openings in 48 Hours

• Almost 200,000 young South Africans applied for the South African Police Service's latest vacancies for trainees
• The police launched their first online application portal and invited thousands to apply
• South Africans criticized the number of vacancies made available and called for more vacancies

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues, including health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests, and immigration in South Africa, during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

JOHANNESBURG—South Africans were concerned that the South African Police Service (SAPS) only opened over 5,500 posts for their next trainee intake. This was after SAPS launched its first online application process.

SAPS launches online applications

According to SAPS, over 185,000 people applied to join the police force online. The police launched its online platform on 30 June 2025, where young people who were eligible to join the police force were invited to apply for the next intake.

Most of the applications came from Gauteng, with over 53,000 applications. KwaZulu-Natal followed with 30,000, and the least number of applications came from the Northern Cape with 4,000. A majority of the applicants were female. The closing date for the application is 18 July 2025.

In 2024, the police announced that 4500 rescuirts started training in April, and 5,500 started their training in January 2025. The recruits were selected out of more than one million applications for the 2024/2025 recruitment process.

Senzo Mchunu, the Minister of Police, said in July 2024 that the police would recruit 10,000 additional members over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. He said the aim was part of a broader effort to improve police visibility, responsiveness, and public trust.

South Africans are not happy

Many netizens commenting on @SAPoliceService's X account 24 hours after the website was officially launched complained that there were not enough vacancies to alleviate the country's high levels of unemployment.

View the X tweet here:

Tebogo Koma said:

"Just put a for sale tag on those SAPS trainee posters, because we know y'all will sell the posts."

Maso Nqawe said:

"In 24 hours, 68,000 young people applied for 5,500 posts, and the closing date is July 18, 2025? The government needs to do better. These are young people that StatsSA is telling us have given up on searching for jobs."

Hsbile said:

"SAPS created this electronic system so that they monitor the numbers and hire only 5,000 people, leaving the rest out, instead of hiring everyone and deploying them to the streets for a safer South Africa."

Mapheto Tsietsi said:

"Increase the number of trainees by another 4500/5000."

Lebalang said:

"I feel like crying. Many of us are looking for jobs. This is sad."

Pablo2815 said:

"Unemployment crisis."

SAPS officer who allgedly raped trainee granted bail

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the SAPS officer who allegedly raped a trainee in Tshwane, Gauteng was given R8,000 bail. The incident happened in May 2025.

The officer allegedly threatened the trainee with a letter of misconduct for failing to salute him if she did not sleep with him. Another victim came forward with a similar charge.

Source: Briefly News