Overview
- Political risk is being priced down. South Africa has received upgrades from both Fitch and S&P Global across 2025 and 2026, and it left the FATF grey list in October 2025.
- There has been no load shedding since 15 May 2025. Eskom came through the 2026 winter without a single blackout.
- The talent pool is senior. A South African chartered accountant can join the ICAEW without sitting further exams.
- English is the language of business. South Africa scores 602 on the EF English Proficiency Index, placing 13th globally and top of the African rankings.
- With an Employer of Record, South African labour law is the EOR’s responsibility. Veridian Global is the legal employer, so the obligations and any dispute sit with us.
- Our view: most objections we hear from UK founders are about five years out of date. The risk that deserves attention is how you employ people, and that gets far less airtime than where.
We took the five objections that come up most often on first calls with UK founders and finance directors, then tested each one against an official or primary source. Where the evidence runs out, we say so.
In most conversations with prospective Veridian Global clients, a primary focus is assessing the stability of the South African business environment. These concerns are frequently driven by narratives in the mainstream media, particularly regarding the reliability of the national power grid and the historical impact of load shedding.
1. “South Africa is too politically unstable”
The agencies paid to price political risk have been upgrading South Africa. S&P Global raised the sovereign rating in November 2025, the first upgrade by any major agency in more than 16 years. Fitch followed with a one-notch upgrade on 5 June 2026, and Moody’s moved its outlook from stable to positive on 22 May 2026.
The coalition Government of National Unity was formed in June 2024 after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years. Moody’s sees limited risk of a policy reversal from the coming electoral cycle, though it notes the cycle could test reform momentum.
The caveat: all three agencies still rate South Africa two notches below investment grade, and nobody should pretend its social challenges are solved. For a UK company the practical exposure is small, because hiring through an EOR South Africa partner means no premises, no local entity and no capital tied up in the country.
2. “Load shedding will keep my team offline”
South Africa has not had load shedding since 15 May 2025. Eskom confirmed a full year without it on 15 May 2026, the first such year since 2018. By early September 2026 the run had reached 476 consecutive days, covering the whole winter peak, with 6,220MW held in cold reserve.
The caveat: Eskom still applies localised load reduction in specific high-risk areas affected by illegal connections and meter tampering. It describes this as a temporary measure to protect the network while generation capacity continues to exceed demand. That is a different problem from a national supply shortfall.
For roles where even an hour offline is a problem, teams can work from fully equipped facilities with dedicated IT support through our integrated workspace and technology solutions.
Internal records from Veridian Global confirm that power disruptions have not resulted in any lost client work days in South Africa’s major cities during the previous 12 months.
3. “South Africa is only good for low-level work”
South African professional qualifications are accepted at face value by UK institutions. Members of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants can join the ICAEW under a reciprocal membership agreement. The same arrangement applies to bodies in Ireland, Canada, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, which is the company South Africa keeps.
The roles UK companies build here reflect that depth: software engineering, sales, marketing and HR. We have helped UK organisations offshore 42 key functions, which have grown into 189 employees across multiple business units.
Demand is following the talent. South African remote job opportunities rose 28% year on year in the first half of 2026, which we unpacked in why remote roles in SA are continuing to rise.
4. “There will be a language and culture gap”
English is the working language of South African business, and the scores show it. South Africa scores 602 on the EF English Proficiency Index, inside the “very high” band that starts at 600. By job function, South African test takers score 646 in legal, 639 in operations, 631 in accounting and finance, and 630 in both IT and marketing.
Several million South Africans also speak English as a first language. The accent is clear and easy on a UK ear, the working day sits only one to two hours ahead of the UK, and professional norms in law, finance and governance grew from British roots.
International experience is common too. Recruitment firms report a 70% surge in enquiries from South Africans abroad who want to return home, which keeps adding people who have already worked in markets like yours. More in why South Africa’s reverse immigration is rising.
5. “Hiring there exposes my UK company to South African labour law”
With an Employer of Record, the EOR is the legal employer, so South African employment obligations sit with the EOR and not with your UK company. Veridian Global issues the contract, runs payroll and carries the statutory duties. If a dispute reaches the CCMA, we run the process and the UK client never becomes a party to it.
That matters because the law is protective. There is no at-will employment in South Africa, and protection against unfair dismissal starts on day one. We set out exactly how exits work in what happens when a South African hire doesn’t work out.
The caveat: an EOR removes the employment law exposure, but it does not make every risk vanish. Permanent establishment risk is decided by what your South African staff do and who employs them, which we cover in our permanent establishment risk case studies. The bigger exposure is the route many UK firms take by default, which is contractors. Run yours through the contractor misclassification checklist.
Our position
Four of these five objections describe the South Africa of 2021 to 2023. The fifth is a fair concern with a structural fix.
If we were advising a UK founder today, we would spend less time on the headlines and more on the employment model, because that is where the avoidable problems sit. The companies we support now save approximately £3.4m, with up to 60% cost reduction and a 90% employee retention rate. You can model your own numbers on the EOR cost calculator.
FAQs
Is load shedding over in South Africa?
Nationally, there has been none since 15 May 2025. Localised load reduction continues in some high-risk areas.
Is South Africa stable enough to offshore to?
Two of the three major rating agencies have upgraded the country in the past 12 months, and the third has moved to a positive outlook. It remains below investment grade.
Do South Africans speak fluent English?
Yes. South Africa ranks 13th globally on the EF English Proficiency Index, and English is the language of business, law and higher education.
Am I liable under South African labour law if I use an EOR?
The EOR is the legal employer and carries those obligations. You direct the day-to-day work.
Next step
New to the model? Start with what an EOR actually is. Need to convince a board? Read the founder’s guide to making the internal case for offshoring. Ready to talk? Contact us.