John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station

South African Police Station, Johannesburg

Coordinates: -26.2060, 28.0320
Updated: 20 Jul 2026

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John Vorster Square Police Station, was officially opened on the 23 August 1968 by John Vorster, the then prime minister of the Republic of South Africa. It was a 10 storey, blue coloured cement building. Floors 9 and 10 were occupied by the Security Branch while the detainees’ cells were on the lower floors of the building. During the Apartheid era, this Police Station, was notoriously known as a site of interrogation, torture and abuse of the Apartheid resistance fighters by the South African Security Police. (Where many people were held and tortured, and afterwards died while in custody.) In September 1997 it was renamed: "Johannesburg Central Police Station" and still functions as a Police Station, serving the Johannesburg region.

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John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station

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Last updated · 20 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2022, May 16). John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/P-0151629

South African History Online (2022) 'John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station', South African History Online, 16 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/P-0151629 (Accessed: 31 July 2026).

South African History Online, John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/P-0151629, (accessed 31 July 2026).

"John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station." South African History Online, 16 May 2022, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/P-0151629. Accessed 31 July 2026.

South African History Online. "John Vorster Square Police Station or Johannesburg Central Police Station." South African History Online. May 16, 2022. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/P-0151629.