Our data sources

Where ZarPostalCodes gets its postal codes and map positions, how we process them, and the limits you should know about.

ZarPostalCodes lists 20,920 suburbs and towns in 1,326 post office areas, using 3,988 distinct postal codes. Here is where that information comes from and how we put it together.

Postal codes

The list of suburbs, post office areas, street codes and PO Box codes follows the South African Post Office postal code listing, which we obtained through an open-source dataset. The Post Office list contains separate rows for street and PO Box codes, so we combine them into one record per suburb to show both codes side by side.

We keep suburb names as the Post Office lists them, tidied from capitals into normal case. That means you will see some older and Afrikaans names, such as Port Elizabeth or “Uit” for extension. Our search also recognises the newer names of renamed towns.

Map positions

Coordinates come from GeoNames, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. GeoNames places each postal code at the location of its post office or delivery area, not at the centre of each suburb. Where GeoNames had no position for a code, or placed it in the wrong part of the country, we used the position of the post office area or a neighbouring code instead.

Because of this, map pins are approximate. They show roughly where a suburb is and are not suitable for navigation.

Provinces

We assign each post office area to a province using its map position and the Post Office’s code blocks. Towns near provincial borders sometimes use a code from a neighbouring province’s block, which we explain in our guide to postal code ranges by province.

Maps

Map images are © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Corrections

Postal codes change rarely, but new suburbs are added and lists contain mistakes. If you find an error, please tell us with the suburb, town and the code you expected. We check every report.

ZarPostalCodes is not affiliated with the South African Post Office. For deliveries that must arrive, confirm the code with the Post Office or your courier.