{"id":872205,"date":"2026-08-26T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872205"},"modified":"2026-08-26T15:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:08:22","slug":"over-1600-businesses-shut-down-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/872205\/over-1600-businesses-shut-down-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,600 businesses shut down in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1,601 businesses have been liquidated in South Africa in 2026, but the total number of liquidations is down year-on-year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA’s latest data, the total number of liquidations decreased by 23.2% from 311 in July 2025 to 239 in July 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liquidations of companies decreased by 44 cases, while the liquidations of close corporations dropped by 28 cases during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of liquidations decreased by 13.9% to 710 in the three months ended July 2026, compared to 825 in the three months ended July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 4.9% decrease, from 1,684 to 1,601, in the number of liquidations was recorded in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the first seven months of 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 239 liquidations in July, 208 were voluntary while 31 were compulsory, which is a broader reflection of business stress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voluntary liquidations, however, can often be a sign of business operations and are not always indicative of business struggles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the first seven months of the year, 1,438 voluntary liquidations have taken place, with 163 having been compulsory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of the unclassified companies, the hardest-hit industries in July were Financing, insurance, real estate, and business services, which recorded 41 liquidations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has also been the most affected classified industry, with 226 liquidations since the start of the year. Trade, catering, and accommodation saw the second-most, at 173. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: Stats SA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Other data highlights the stress <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While liquidation refers to the winding up of the affairs of a company or close corporation, another indicator of financial stress is insolvency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insolvency refers to an individual or partnership business that cannot pay its debts and is placed under final sequestration. While related to liquidations, they are not congruent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insolvencies better reflect a struggling business and are closely aligned with the broader economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent data from Stats SA showed that 143 insolvencies were recorded in July 2026, taking the total number of insolvent businesses to just under 900. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a 134% climb in insolvencies between June and July 2026, even if the number is down 15.5% year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-to-date, insolvencies are down 11.8%, while the three-month rate (May to July 2026 vs the same period in 2025) is down 25%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has only recently started to receive the insolvency data from Stats SA, with the monthly release of the figures halted in April 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although data on liquidations continued, data on insolvencies were delayed following a cyber incident at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total insolvencies for 2023, 2024 and 2025 were extremely high, peaking in 2024, reflecting the incredibly difficult operating environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 was a year characterised by load shedding, with rolling power cuts up to stage 6 becoming a new reality for many. The year recorded 1,883 insolvencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 2024 saw significant improvements in load shedding and the formation of the Government of National Unity, economic growth remained weak, with 2,105 insolvencies recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year<\/th>Liquidations<\/th>Insolvencies<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
2023<\/td>2,501<\/td>1,883<\/td><\/tr>
2024<\/td>2,626<\/td>2,105<\/td><\/tr>
2025<\/td>2,904<\/td>1,606<\/td><\/tr>
2026 to date <\/td>1,601<\/td>896 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest data from Stats SA shows that 1,601 businesses were liquidated in the first seven months of the year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":859243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2092605745288077660","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2187272662093133","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18329060929275066","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[1809],"class_list":["post-872205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872205","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872205"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872218,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872205\/revisions\/872218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}