{"id":876692,"date":"2026-09-22T16:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876692"},"modified":"2026-09-22T16:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:14:50","slug":"over-1000-businesses-in-south-africa-go-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/876692\/over-1000-businesses-in-south-africa-go-under\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,000 businesses in South Africa go under"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa has recorded a further 114 insolvencies in August 2026, taking the total number of insolvent businesses this year to 1,010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest data from Stats SA showed a 20% month-on-month drop in insolvencies, with 143 recorded in July 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data point to declines across the board, with insolvencies down 44% from August 2025 and 17.3% year-to-date (versus January to August 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over a three-month running period (June to August), insolvencies are also down 38%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest data indicate a decline in insolvencies, with South Africa’s liquidation data showing a similar trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liquidations in July (the latest available data) also decreased, even though businesses surpassed the 1,600 mark in closures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insolvency refers to an individual or partnership business that is unable to pay its debts and is placed under final sequestration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While related to liquidations\u2014in that insolvency could be a cause or reason for liquidating a business\u2014they are not congruent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liquidation refers to the winding-up of the affairs of a company or close corporation when liabilities exceed assets. This can be done on a voluntary basis or by an order of the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voluntary liquidations, especially, could be part of standard business activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this distinction, insolvencies are more reflective of struggling businesses and are more closely aligned to the broader business environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has been without this data for years, after Stats SA stopped tracking the numbers in April 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 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

Stats SA recorded 239 liquidations in July 2026<\/strong><\/a>, and will publish the latest data for August 2026 on Wednesday, 30 September 2026.<\/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 August (July)<\/td>TBA (1,601)<\/td>1,010<\/strong> (896)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Source: Stats SA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not out of the woods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As has been highlighted with every data release, interpreting the liquidation and insolvency numbers can be difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A low number of closures could point to a better business environment, or to fewer businesses around to suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the South African context, with stagnant economic growth, high levels of unemployment, and an onerous business environment driven by red tape and government policy, it may be the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to credit risk group Coface, the two variables can be analysed together as indicators of broader economic conditions in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s prognosis is not good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With interest rates increasing, we can also expect insolvencies to increase in the coming quarters,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to recent research from Coface, business insolvencies increased by 12% in early 2026 globally, driven largely by a 22% increase in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompted the group to revise its global insolvency forecast upward to 6% growth in 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The global rise is being fuelled by geopolitical tensions, elevated financing costs, persistent inflationary pressures and weaker economic activity, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African businesses are operating in the same global environment, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While local liquidation and insolvency trends have improved in recent months, companies will feel the impact of deteriorating economic conditions in the coming months, as the impact of price pressures and interest rate hikes generally materialise with a lag,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Coface, sectors most vulnerable to insolvency globally include construction, chemicals and textiles, while high borrowing costs continue to place pressure on highly leveraged businesses and SMEs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa has recorded a further 114 insolvencies in August 2026, taking the total number of insolvent businesses this year to 1,010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":822798,"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":"2102401125068488982","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2213131279507271","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18092987483652631","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[3793,25871,3729,1809],"class_list":["post-876692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-coface","tag-insolvencies","tag-liquidation","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876692","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=876692"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876702,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876692\/revisions\/876702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}