{"id":97843,"date":"2026-04-28T13:17:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:33:32","slug":"business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe","title":{"rendered":"Business Challenges in South Africa Increasingly Severe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Doing business in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult as organisations face a rapidly expanding and constantly changing regulatory environment, with rising compliance burdens and complex legislation.<\/p>\n

Sabinet explained that, over the past two decades, the regulatory environment affecting South African organisations has grown significantly.<\/p>\n

Labour legislation, environmental compliance, procurement rules, financial reporting requirements, and sector-specific regulations all place serious compliance obligations on businesses.<\/p>\n

At the same time, regulatory change is constant. New policies are introduced, existing legislation is amended, and municipal by-laws evolve to address local governance needs.<\/p>\n

For organisations operating across multiple provinces or municipalities, tracking these changes can be particularly challenging.<\/p>\n

The result is that compliance is now both a legal issue and a business management challenge that affects multiple functions within an organisation, Sabinet said.<\/p>\n

During President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA), he acknowledged that small businesses face \u201ca multitude of regulations, by-laws, licensing requirements and bureaucratic hurdles\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to these challenges, he noted that the final Business Licensing Bill, which aims to replace the long-standing Businesses Act of 1991, must make it easier to start and run a business.<\/p>\n

Simon Dippenaar & Associates explained that the current system gives municipalities wide discretion to set their own licensing rules.<\/p>\n

This tends to result in significant inconsistencies in requirements, costs and processing times across different regions.<\/p>\n

This decentralised approach has created a fragmented regulatory environment that can be burdensome for businesses, particularly those operating in multiple municipalities.<\/p>\n

The proposed Bill seeks to introduce a single, unified national framework that will standardise which businesses require licences, how applications are processed, and the grounds for granting, refusing or revoking licences.<\/p>\n

It also proposes a centralised digital licensing platform to streamline applications, improve efficiency, and allow real-time tracking by both businesses and regulators.<\/p>\n

While municipalities will still play a role, their functions will shift largely to administration rather than legislation.<\/p>\n

The Bill further aims to standardise enforcement mechanisms, including inspections, compliance notices and penalties, while improving transparency and reducing inconsistent decision-making.<\/p>\n

If implemented, the reforms are expected to reduce administrative burdens, improve business predictability, and strengthen regulatory oversight through enhanced digital monitoring.<\/p>\n

Pushback against the Business Licensing Bill<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all small and medium enterprises have to contend with a multitude of regulations, by-laws, licensing requirements and bureaucratic hurdles,\u201d Ramaphosa said during the SONA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take seriously the public comments on the draft Business Licensing Bill and will ensure that the final Bill makes it easier, not harder, to start and run a small business in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Bill seeks to make it easier to do business in South Africa, some have argued that it may have the opposite effect. This includes DA Spokesperson for Small Business Development, Henro Kruger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DA agrees that excessive red tape is holding back entrepreneurs and costing South Africa jobs,\u201d Kruger said. \u201cSmall and medium enterprises remain the strongest drivers of growth and employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYet, the current draft of the Business Licensing Bill risks adding more permits, more queues and more bureaucracy for people simply trying to earn a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands, Kruger said the Bill duplicates existing regulatory processes, grants wide discretionary powers over who must be licensed, and places additional administrative pressure on municipalities.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that this approach risks undermining the very small businesses the President says he wants to support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe draft Bill assumes that South Africans trying to run their business must get yet another license, and that this will somehow make their lives easier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere licenses are genuinely needed, these already exist, whether for food safety, fire compliance or workplace health standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kruger explained that adding another piece of paper and more hours standing in line to get it will hurt small business owners far more than it will help them.<\/p>\n

He said the DA\u2019s support for any final version of the Bill will depend on whether it significantly reduces red tape, removes duplication, and genuinely makes it easier for entrepreneurs and informal traders to do business.<\/p>\n

Compliance is becoming more challenging everywhere<\/b><\/p>\n

South African businesses are not the only ones struggling due to rising compliance and regulatory burdens. In fact, organisations worldwide are reporting similar challenges.<\/p>\n

In the 2025 PwC Global Compliance Survey, 85% of respondents stated that compliance requirements have become more complex over the last three years. This was a trend felt consistently across industries.<\/p>\n

Those in the financial services (90%), industrials and services (86%), consumer markets (83%), health industries (84%), and TMT (81%) sectors all experienced the impact of rising regulation.<\/p>\n

Half of survey respondents have a global remit and must navigate different laws and regulations across multiple jurisdictions, which amplifies compliance complexity.<\/p>\n

Companies in mature jurisdictions and with strong, centralised compliance functions may find it easier to set minimum standards.<\/p>\n

However, PwC said many still struggle with how to implement and monitor them consistently across their organisation.<\/p>\n

The majority of respondents (77%) stated that their company had been negatively impacted to some or a great extent in five or more areas that can drive growth.<\/p>\n

Most businesses reported that increased complexity has negatively affected aspects such as their resource capacity, ability to launch new products and services, market expansion, and profitability, to name a few.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Doing business in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult as organisations face a rapidly expanding and constantly changing regulatory environment, with rising compliance burdens and complex legislation. Sabinet explained that, over the past two decades, the regulatory environment affecting South African organisations has grown significantly. Labour legislation, environmental compliance, procurement rules, financial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":97842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-97843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nBusiness Challenges in South Africa Increasingly Severe - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Doing business in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult as organisations face a rapidly expanding and constant ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Challenges in South Africa Increasingly Severe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Doing business in South Africa is becoming increasingly difficult as organisations face a rapidly expanding and constant ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T13:17:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T13:33:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1777370589.527603.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Business Challenges in South Africa Increasingly Severe\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T13:17:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T13:33:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\"},\"wordCount\":882,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1777370589.527603.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/business-challenges-in-south-africa-increasingly-severe\",\"name\":\"Business Challenges in South Africa Increasingly Severe - 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