{"id":852441,"date":"2026-02-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852441"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:24:46","slug":"close-to-100-businesses-shut-down-at-the-start-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/852441\/close-to-100-businesses-shut-down-at-the-start-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Close to 100 businesses in South Africa shut down at the start of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just under 100 businesses were liquidated in the first month of 2026, with Stats SA recording 96 closures in the first weeks of the new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest liquidation stats, these closures were centred on the finance, insurance, real estate, and business services sector, accounting for a quarter of the liquidations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by the trade, catering and accommodation sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the number of liquidations is down 9.4% compared to the start of 2025, though this is off a relatively low base (106 vs 96, ie, 10 fewer liquidations).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A more reflective measure is the three-month running change, where the number of liquidations between November 2025 and January 2026 was 0.6% lower than the same period in 2024\/25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers point to a better start to the year for businesses in the country, though the liquidation data is nuanced and only serves as one data point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most notably, liquidation doesn’t necessarily result from insolvency\u2014businesses can be liquidated voluntarily for transactional purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vast majority of liquidations tracked by Stats SA (circa 85%) are voluntary liquidations, initiated by the operations themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these might be related to solvency issues, this is not something the Stats SA data explicitly tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A more important measure to track in a troubled business environment is compulsory liquidation, which is often a court-ordered process initiated by shareholders, creditors, or other stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are more directly tied to solvency and operational issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For January 2026, voluntary liquidations are relatively flat year-on-year (86 in January 2026 vs 87 in January 2025), with only 10 being compulsory (compared to 19 a year ago).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could signal a better environment for businesses at the start of the year, which aligns with most economic data indicating improved sentiment in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Changes to data incoming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the compulsory vs voluntary nuance, the liquidation data is also complicated by the fact that newer processes are in place to save insolvent businesses, such as business rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lower number of businesses being liquidated in the data could reflect a better environment, or it could mean that there are simply fewer businesses to liquidate, or that more businesses are seeking alternative paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, since 2011, companies have been able to enter business rescue as an alternative to straight liquidation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business rescue is still a maturing process in South Africa, with more companies adopting the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, data for business rescue is provided by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stats SA collects administrative information on liquidations from CIPC and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), sourced from the Master\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While business rescue can still result in a company being liquidated or wound up, this information may not necessarily be reflected in the liquidation data, as outcomes differ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA, it is currently working with the CIPC on a revised version of the liquidation stats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s liquidation statistics have undergone significant changes in the past. Previously, the data tracked both liquidations and insolvencies; however, the latter was dropped following disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the data covers only liquidations, which provides a limited picture of the South African business landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just under 100 businesses were liquidated in the first month of 2026, with Stats SA recording 96 closures in the first weeks of the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":812517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[22135,1809],"class_list":["post-852441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-liquidations","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852464,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852441\/revisions\/852464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}