SAPS has started the e-recruitment process for 5 500 aspiring police officers to join its ranks.
The South African Police Service’s (SAPS’s) e-recruitment system is live.
Announced in June, the portal’s launch is part of the national police service’s shift from archaic paper-based applications, marking a first for the organisation.
The portal also features a QR code for applicants to download SAPS vacancies.
For this latest recruitment round, the SAPS is looking for 5 500 aspiring police officers to join its ranks. It is targeting men and women aged 18 to 35 for entry-level police trainee posts for the 2025/26 financial year.
SAPS expects the shift to a digital platform to reduce paperwork, curb corruption and nepotism, and prevent lost applications. It adds that it will enhance fairness, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and improve the integrity and speed of the recruitment process.
It indicates it will implement a targeted recruitment process to identify and consider applicants with specific skills and/or qualifications, such as graduates in law, policing, criminology, law enforcement, forensic investigation and information technology, for placement in specialised environments, such as the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, detective and forensic services, as well as crime intelligence.
“To ensure SAPS enlists disciplined, energetic, intelligent, physically and mentally fit individuals, dedicated to serving their country through policing, applicants will be subjected to a rigorous selection process, which entails psychometric, integrity, physical fitness assessments and fingerprint/vetting screening, as well as medical evaluations,” says SAPS.
Successful recruits will undergo a nine-month training course at SAPS academies nationwide and receive a monthly stipend of R4 500. Their training will commence in January and February 2026.
“In the last three years, the SAPS Project 10 000, an initiative led by president Cyril Ramaphosa to bolster crime prevention efforts, has led to the recruitment and training of 30 393 young people, between the ages of 18 and 35, as fully-fledged police officers.
“There are currently 5 500 young people in SAPS academies, who are training to become fully-fledged police officers. Some will graduate in August, while the rest will graduate in December.”
SAPS has stressed that the application process is free of charge, adding that no positions within the organisation are for sale.
Applications must be submitted exclusively through the portal, with online applications closing on 18 July.
