Pretoria:The South African Police Service (SAPS) has experienced an overwhelming response to its online recruitment drive, receiving more than 300,000 profile registrations for 5,500 police trainee positions.

According to South African Government News Agency, the recruitment portal, which opened on 21 October 2026, saw 156,131 profile registrations nationwide within the first 24 hours. As of Saturday, over 232,000 applicants have completed profile verification, and more than 190,000 have started their applications. A total of 172,721 applications have been completed and submitted for the available posts.

Female applicants have submitted over 95,000 applications, while male applicants have submitted more than 76,000. Gauteng has recorded the highest number of applications, with 49,518, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 33,661, and the Eastern Cape with 17,441. Other provinces such as Limpopo, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State, North West, and Northern Cape have also contributed to the total number of applications.

The applications received are broken down by racial group as follows African applicants account for 160,000; Coloured applicants, 11,000; Indian applicants, 600; and White applicants, 150. SAPS has acknowledged the high volume of traffic on the eRecruitment portal and is actively working to manage the increased demand in collaboration with their technology partners.

Applicants are advised that the portal remains operational and that successfully submitted applications are valid. SAPS urges applicants to be patient with the system and avoid multiple registration attempts, which can add pressure to the system. Reapplication should only be considered if an acknowledgement email has not been received. The recruitment drive will conclude on Friday, 13 November 2026, and applicants are encouraged to submit their applications before the closing date.