The Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS) is an expansion of the Victims of Crime Survey (VOCS). It collects information on social crimes, exclusion, perceptions about constitutional rights, access to justice, corruption, level of satisfaction with the performance of Government, the incidence of criminal victimisation and the circumstances surrounding victimisation from a victim’s perspective.

To help inform decision-making, we must build an accurate picture of our diverse and changing population. Asking you questions allows us to gather a range of information to produce the statistics needed to help shape tomorrow. Your responses will provide information not available from any other sources, so do not miss the chance to have your say.

A Survey Officer will contact you to arrange a suitable time to conduct the interview. During the interview we will ask questions on various themes including community cohesion; experience of household crime; trust in government; experience of corruption, etc.

Data collection happens continuously, and selected households could be contacted in any month of the year for a once-off interview. Households have been scientifically selected to take part in the survey, and cannot be replaced.

Legally, Section 17 of the Statistics Act guarantees the confidentiality of your information, and Section 18 deals with the penalties that will be imposed on a Stats SA official who divulges any official information not authorised to do so. The data we collect is used for statistical purposes only and no-one can access any data we collect from your household on an individual level.

Quick fact

The GPSJS supplements existing administrative data, such as the crime statistics published by the South African Police Services (SAPS).

Information collected

Household income sources and economic activities; citizen interaction/community cohesion; experience of household and individual crime; general health and functioning; ICT; government’s performance and effectiveness; experience of corruption; general individual perceptions

Related surveys

VOCS (discontinued)