Why SAPS 10111 call centres leave you hanging
Having efficient contact with the South African Police Service (SAPS) is seen as a crucial means to address crime – however, the country’s call centres are short-staffed and see a large number of calls made to them dropped.
This was outlined by a recent response given in parliament by the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to questions posed to him by Democratic Alliance’s Andrew Whitfield.
According to the information provided by the minister, on average, only 41.31% of SAPS emergency call center positions are filled.
Such staffing issues have contributed to the fact that since 2018/19, 14.9 million calls to 10111 were abandoned in 11 out of the country’s 19 centres.
10111 call centre posts
Looking at the 19 operational 10111 call centres across the country, the percentage of actual filled posts vs ideal posts are:
| Province | 10111 centre and % of posts filled | Current average |
| Mpumalanga | – Middleburg: 24.4% – White River: 28.2% – Secunda: 14.1% | 33.3% |
| Free State | – Welkom: 27.4% – Phuthaditjhaba: 37.9% – Mangaung: 39.3% | 34.2% |
| Eastern Cape | – Mount Road: 46.4% – Mthatha: 41.5% – Queenstown: 8.2% – East London: 40.8% | 35.5% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | – Richard Bay: 17% – Hilton: 25.7% – Durban Central: 65.9% – Port Shepstone: 27.6% | 36.8% |
| Gauteng | – Midrand: 51.4% | 51.4% |
| North West | – Mahikeng: 63.8% | 63.8% |
| Limpopo | – Polokwane: 64.9% | 64.9% |
| Northern Cape | – Kimberley: 68.9% | 68.9% |
| Western Cape | – Maitland: 86% | 86.0% |
| National | 41.3% |
Looking at the data, none of the call centres across the country meet its “ideal situation” of posts filled, which, according to Cele, “refers to the number of resources which the SAPS should ideally have to perform” their functions.
Looking at provincial averages, Mpumalanga has the lowest amount of posts filled, sitting at a third (33.33%) of the ideal target.
This contrasts with the Western Cape’s 86% of posts filled in its only call centre, Maitland. However, this is an 8% drop from the 94% it recorded in 2023.
The centre with the lowest percentage of posts filled is Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, at 8.2% of its ideal requirement. This is followed by Secunda in Mpumalanga, at 14.1%.
In hopes of improving the short-staffed call centres, Cele said that SAPS is in the process of finalising a revised Fixed Establishment in the budget, which “will absorb 535 additional entry level constables,” allocated to 10111 call centres.
Abandoned calls
Abandoned calls are either not answered by an agent, the caller hangs up before an agent answers, or the call has ultimately been disconnected.
The understaffing of 10111 call centres and multiple system failures led to 26.2% of calls (14.9 million out of 56.99 million) to 11 SAPS centres being abandoned since 2018.
Important to note that the data provided is incomplete and thus skewed, as eight centers do not have information due to non-operational telephone management systems that record calls.
The centres which do not have abandoned call data, which ultimately greatly skews the results, are:
- Eastern Cape (Mthatha and Queenstown);
- Free State (Phuthaditjhaba and Mangaung);
- KwaZulu-Natal (Richards Bay);
- Mpumalanga (Secunda).
The provinces which have no data at all on abandoned calls are Limpopo and the Northern Cape.
Of the data that has been provided, the call centres with abandoned calls making up over half of the calls logged between 2018/19 – 2023/24 are:
- Welkom (Free State) – 64.6%
- Mahikeng (North West) – 52.2%
| Province | 10111 call centres | Calls abandoned | Total calls | % abandoned |
| Free State | Welkom | 49 854 | 77 207 | 64.6% |
| North West | Mahikeng | 278 201 | 532 892 | 52.2% |
| Gauteng | Midrand | 7 959 745 | 26 797 429 | 29.7% |
| Western Cape | Maitland | 2 151 768 | 8 252 459 | 26.1% |
| KwaZulu-Natal | Durban, Hilton and Port Shepstone | 2 247 461 | 10 100 685 | 22.3% |
| Eastern Cape | Port Elizabeth and East London | 1 066 526 | 5 253 318 | 20.3% |
| Mpumalanga | Nelspruit and Middleburg | 1 152 966 | 5 979 143 | 19.3% |
| Limpopo | No data provided | |||
| Northern Cape | No data provided | |||
| Total | 11/19 10111 centres | 14 906 511 | 56 993 133 | 26.2% |
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