By: Natasha Archary

Stats SA has shared that more than 1 200 businesses have had to shut down operations in 2023.
Gareth Cremen Partner at Cox Yeats says despite the high numbers, they are still lower than those of 2022.
The data was collated from administrative information on liquidations from Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
“We know that there is a global economic downturn, we’ve seen reports of bond holders and the concerns from Chinese property markets and potential collapses in the markets and the negative effects it has on America and so forth.
We don’t know yet what the ripple effect is on the South African market yet, but in terms of which times of the year you see more liquidations happening, generally you find December has the lowest liquidations.
In February/March you see an increase in liquidations, and then usually in August/September you see the general signs that a business is failing.”
Gareth says there are no hard and fast rules as to when a company collapses.
Stats SA notes that the total number of liquidations decreased by 8.2% in September 2023 compared to September 2022.
The third quarter of 2022, the number of businesses that closed declined by 11% in the third quarter of 2023. The first nine months of 2023 also had a 13% drop when compared to the first nine months of the previous year.
These industries were most affected by liquidations in 2023:
- Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing
- Mining and quarrying
- Manufacturing
- Electricity, gas and water
- Construction
- Trade
- Catering and accomodation
- Transport, storage and communication
- Financing, insurance, real estate and business services
- Community, social, personal services
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
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