{"id":854978,"date":"2026-03-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=854978"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:31:19","slug":"another-135-companies-close-down-in-south-africa-as-disaster-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/854978\/another-135-companies-close-down-in-south-africa-as-disaster-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Another 135 companies close down in South Africa as disaster looms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liquidations in South Africa rose sharply in February 2026, rising 40% month-on-month, with warnings that worse may lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest liquidation statistics from Stats SA, the country recorded 135 closures in February 2026, up from 96 in the first month of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, liquidations were down 3.6% from February 2025, while the year-to-date figures were 6.1% lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a three-month rolling count, liquidations from December 2025 to February 2026 (331) were 1.5% lower than the total from December 2024 to February 2025 (336).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking from the usual trend, most liquidations were recorded in the trade, catering and accommodation sector in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, the finance, insurance, real estate, and business services sector accounts for the most liquidations, but it fell to second place in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The liquidation data published by Stats SA is nuanced and only serves as one data point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, liquidation doesn\u2019t 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 February 2026, voluntary liquidations are relatively flat year-on-year (127 in February 2026 vs 126 in February 2025), with only 8 being compulsory (compared to 14 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 in January and February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the end of February marked a dramatic and decidedly negative shift for South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trouble ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the latest numbers point to a better start to the year for businesses in the country, this does not account for the massive market disruption that occurred at the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 February, the United States and Israel initiated a war against Iran in the Middle East, which has thrown global markets into chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With oil prices, in particular, skyrocketing and shipping disrupted, businesses in South Africa now face escalating energy costs, which will undoubtedly add severe strain to operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists have warned that the looming energy price blow will also ripple through the entire economy\u2014impacting industry, businesses, and consumers\u2014shrinking the country’s growth prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to independent economist Elize Kruger, petrol and diesel prices are expected to increase by R6.67\/l and R11.22\/l, respectively, in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, power utility Eskom will be hiking tariffs by 8.8%, adding to the tenfold increase in electricity prices since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, in turn, is expected to drive inflation higher to around 4.5%\u2014far outside the South African Reserve Bank’s target of 3% and its 1% tolerance band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, interest rate hikes could be on the cards in a few months\u2019 time, and the country’s economic growth in 2026 has been drawn down to 1.1% from 1.6% previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) chief executive Busi Mavuso noted that the mining sector will be significantly affected, with diesel-dependent road and rail transport costs rising and operating costs at the mines increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Various companies in the mining and smelting industry are already mulling shutdowns and operational closures, with thousands of jobs at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses operating on thin margins or on the edge of solvency may soon find themselves in dire straits, with costs expected to surge over the next few months\u2014even if the war ends soon, as some hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The short-term pain is real, and businesses are feeling it. But this crisis will pass,” Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What matters is whether we use it to build resilience or simply endure it. The government must move quickly on fuel levy relief. Businesses must accelerate contingency planning and supply diversification.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liquidations in South Africa rose sharply in February 2026, rising 40% month-on-month, with warnings that worse may lie ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":818533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[15351,17507,21705,22135,1809],"class_list":["post-854978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-blsa","tag-busi-mavuso","tag-elize-kruger","tag-liquidations","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854978","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=854978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854981,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854978\/revisions\/854981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}