A new analysis of Google reviews has revealed South Africa’s best and worst-rated Home Affairs offices, with four KwaZulu-Natal offices featuring among the 10 lowest-rated in the country.
The Home Affairs office in eMakhazeni, Mpumalanga, came out on top, with an average rating of 4.56 stars from 147 reviews.
At the other end of the table, the Secunda Home Affairs office had the lowest rating, averaging just 1.90 stars from 148 reviews.
The figures come from SEO experts at SEO Backlinks, who analysed Google Maps listings for Home Affairs offices across South Africa.
The 10 best Home Affairs offices
| Rank | Home Affairs office | Province | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | eMakhazeni | Mpumalanga | 4.56 | 147 |
| 2 | Bredasdorp | Western Cape | 4.27 | 194 |
| 3 | Nedbank Sandton | Gauteng | 4.13 | 111 |
| 4 | Standard Bank, Simmonds Street | Gauteng | 4.12 | 168 |
| 5 | Ndwedwe | KwaZulu-Natal | 4.09 | 129 |
| 6 | Grabouw | Western Cape | 3.95 | 434 |
| 7 | Galeshewe | Northern Cape | 3.91 | 139 |
| 8 | Epping | Western Cape | 3.86 | 311 |
| 9 | Ceres | Western Cape | 3.80 | 101 |
| 10 | Bronkhorstspruit | Gauteng | 3.73 | 320 |
The Western Cape performed particularly well, with four offices in the national top 10. These were Bredasdorp, Grabouw, Epping and Ceres.
KwaZulu-Natal also had one office in the top 10, with Ndwedwe recording an impressive 4.09-star average.
The 10 worst Home Affairs offices
| Rank | Home Affairs office | Province | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Secunda | Mpumalanga | 1.90 | 148 |
| 2 | Alberton | Gauteng | 1.95 | 534 |
| 3 | Pietermaritzburg | KwaZulu-Natal | 1.95 | 258 |
| 4 | Humansdorp | Eastern Cape | 1.95 | 131 |
| 5 | Sasolburg | Free State | 1.99 | 112 |
| 6 | Pinetown | KwaZulu-Natal | 2.00 | 273 |
| 7 | Pavilion, Westville | KwaZulu-Natal | 2.01 | 181 |
| 8 | Prospecton | KwaZulu-Natal | 2.08 | 244 |
| 9 | Vredenburg | Western Cape | 2.08 | 143 |
| 10 | Middelburg | Mpumalanga | 2.14 | 154 |
KwaZulu-Natal’s poor performance stood out in the study. The province had four offices in the national bottom 10: Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown, Pavilion in Westville and Prospecton.
The province’s performance becomes even more noticeable when the offices are considered as a group. Among the three provinces with at least 10 offices included in the ranking, KwaZulu-Natal had the lowest average rating.
| Province | Offices ranked | Average rating |
|---|---|---|
| Gauteng | 30 | 3.01 |
| Western Cape | 23 | 3.01 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 14 | 2.71 |
The national average across all 82 ranked offices was 2.90 stars. Gauteng and the Western Cape both averaged 3.01 stars, while KZN came in at 2.71.
How the ranking was calculated
The analysis used the DataForSEO Business Listings database to pull Google Maps listings for Department of Home Affairs offices across South Africa on 5 October 2026.
The researchers initially identified 442 listings.
Closed offices, duplicate listings and businesses that were not Home Affairs offices were excluded. Home Affairs desks operating inside bank branches were retained.
The final ranking included 82 offices with at least 100 Google reviews, covering 26 477 reviews in total.
Rather than simply using the rounded rating displayed by Google, the researchers calculated each office’s exact average using its one-, two-, three-, four- and five-star review counts.
Where offices had exactly the same average, the one with the larger proportion of one-star reviews was ranked lower.
The rankings reflect Google reviewer sentiment and do not necessarily represent official service-performance data from the Department of Home Affairs.