One in ten South African police stations are ‘uninhabitable’

Roughly one in every ten police stations in South Africa is classified as uninhabitable, painting a bleak picture of the country’s policing standards.

This information was revealed in a written reply by Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, who responded to a question by Rise Mzansi Member of Parliament (MP) Makashule Gana.

Cachalia revealed that 118 of the country’s 1,165 police stations “have been found to be uninhabitable and/or not conducive for a productive working environment”.

Of these police stations, the largest portion is located in the North West at 23, followed by Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal at 18.

Gana, who is a member of Parliament’s portfolio committee on police, points out that these are provinces plagued by illegal mining, sexual offences, stock theft, and housebreaking.

The Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga each have 14 stations deemed uninhabitable, while Gauteng has nine, and the Western Cape and Free State each have five.

“The story behind these numbers points to a South African Police Service (SAPS) that is unable to effectively keep the people of South Africa safe,” Gana said.

“These conditions also undermine the working rights of the country’s almost 190,000 SAPS personnel.” This is made up of 155,231 SAPS Act employees and 32,450 Public Service Act employees.

Despite these figures, the South African Police Service has spent only just over 10% of its total amount budgeted for structural upgrades for the current financial year.

According to Cachalia, R34.7 million of the R305.8 million budget had been spent as of 21 October 2025.

However, Gana said that his party is encouraged by the 35 projects set to be completed by the end of the year, which include seven new police stations, planned maintenance at three stations, and repairs to 25 cells.

He said that he will conduct an oversight visit to the SAPS head office in Pretoria and highlight the need for properly maintained and resourced police stations.

Police numbers plunge

Not only are some police stations uninhabitable, but many are facing severe personnel shortages, especially those in crime hotspots.

Cachalia recently revealed that only seven of the police stations in South Africa’s top 35 contact crime hotspots are at or above 100% police officer capacity.

The minister highlighted that while the actual number of staff at each station may not be reported, the percentage of the granted number of members can.

At a national level, there is only one police officer for every 422 people. This is nearly double the United Nations’ recommended ratio of 1:220.

The Western Cape has eight of the top 35 stations. Of these, only one has seen an increase in staff capacity over the past five years – Harare. This increased from 104% in 2020/21 to 123% in 2024/25.

On the other hand, Nyanga, which is the police precinct with one of the highest murder rates in the country, saw its capacity drop from 105% to 83%.

According to the Institute for Security Studies, the area had a murder rate of 157 per 100,000 people for the 2023/24 year.

However, Nyanga is not the only police department to drop below its granted capacity. Only the Mitchells Plain and Cape Town Central departments were not at capacity in 2020/21, at 91% and 88% respectively.

A similar trend has been observed in KwaZulu-Natal, where only one of the seven police stations in areas considered high-risk for contact crimes has seen an increase in capacity.

This was the Empangeni Police Station, which saw an increase in capacity from 97% in 2020/21 to 103% in 2024/25.

Half of the police departments in the top 35 are in Gauteng. Only three of these have had police officers join to bring staffing numbers closer to the desired amount.

These are the Akasia, Moroka, and Randfontein police departments, with the latest rates sitting at 100%, 86%, and 87% respectively.

This makes Akasia only one of two on the Gauteng list to be at or above capacity, with the Temba Police Station being the other.