SA’s consumer watchdog goes hunting

Consumer Goods and Service Ombud (CGSO), South Africa’s independent dispute resolution body for consumer complaints, is fed up with foreign e-commerce vendors operating in the country.

The CGSO gets most of its complaints from South African users of foreign e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu, but is unable to take more action because the CGSO has zero jurisdiction on these platforms. 

The challenge: Temu and Shein do not really have a physical presence in South Africa, making enforcement of consumer protection laws a bit difficult. Temu launched local warehouse support in July 2025 for South Africans. However, this was done in agreement with third-party providers to let sellers manage their inventory locally and lower import fees. CGSO still can’t easily regulate them because Temu doesn’t have an official physical presence in the country.

Here’s why it matters: While Shein and Temu account for 37.1% of the country’s e-commerce market for local clothing, without CGSO oversight, South African consumers shopping on these platforms their own when things go wrong. If products are defective or billing issues arise, there’s no real, helpful local watchdog, just Temu or Shein’s customer service. Not the best situation for customers.

Zoom out: As foreign players continue eating into local market share and customer complaints keep rising, the South African regulators must rethink how to engage with these players to ensure regulatory compliance or simply accept that some players will keep operating beyond their reach.

Toyota. Xiaomi. Stellantis. Chery. What do these brands (if you're Nigerian, ignore the odd one out) have in common? They're pushing south in a bid to compete in South Africa’s mobility space. 

Toyota, the Japanese automobile giant, has decided to butt heads with these competitors and will launch three electric vehicle (EV) brands by 2026, 

Volvo leads EV sales locally, followed by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, while Chinese manufacturers are scaling aggressively as they look for new export bases. Toyota, dominant in hybrids with a 67% market share in 2024, is now extending that leverage into battery-electric vehicles (BEVs).

The timing matters. While South Africa’s EV market is growing thanks to all the attention, it is still limited by high tariffs, unpredictable power supply (side eye, Eskom), and a weak but developing charging infrastructure. Yet, the country is also one of Africa's largest auto manufacturing hubs.

With more international players expanding their business in the EV space, it could force the government to make favourable tax and duty considerations. Toyota and its peers are already lobbying the government for fiscally neutral incentives and a restructured rebate system to keep production relevant and imports affordable.

Competition will be uneven. Chinese makers will likely compete on price, Europeans will hold the luxury segment, and Toyota will lean on scale, brand trust, and future local production to stay in the fight. The winners will not be the quickest to market, but mobility brands that align with South Africa’s industrial and economic realities, as well as its policy direction.

Hindsight will be 2026.

Airtel and MTN want to make sure your cloud computing bill doesn’t give you a panic attack anymore. Nigeria’s telecom giants, MTN Nigeria and Airtel, are investing nearly $400 million to break into the cloud computing market. 

Their pitch is simple: Spend with us in naira and we will save you 15-20% of what those abroad guys are taking.

Telecom companies are tired of watching Nigerian businesses send all their money to Jeff Bezos. If done right, both telcos will be in a good position to capture a good chunk of the $600-850 million in annual cloud spending made by these businesses. 

ICYMI: Since the currency devaluation in 2023, the Naira to dollar exchange rate has tripled to about 1,533 Naira/$. This shift has squeezed Nigerian startups with rising dollar-priced costs. 

State of play: MTN has invested $120 million in its Tier 4 data center and plans to invest another $135 million in upgrades. Airtel has also spent $120 million so far to build a hyperscale data centre in Eko Atlantic designed for massive workloads like generative AI. 

These may seem like big bucks, but their eyes are set on one prize: the Nigerian cloud market, which will hit $3.28 billion by 2030. 

Zoom out: The telcos are betting that advantages like data sovereignty and naira-pricing will bring in cost-conscious startups. The real test remains whether they can match the reliability and scale of the global players.

In more South African news, Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest bank by assets, has closed down 24 automated teller machines (ATMs) in the first quarter of 2025, after a decline in foot traffic and usage recorded at stands.

Standard Bank has the largest ATM footprint in the country but has removed nearly 2,000 machines since 2020, cutting its network from 5,390 to 3,448. In 2024, in-branch transactions at the bank fell to 2.5 million while online transactions climbed 30% to 1.5 billion, further cementing Standard Bank’s conviction.

Here’s why it matters: Payments in South Africa are going digital, and banks are making that shift. In 2024, around 70% of South Africans made digital payments; this shift could be driving banks’ strategy. 

For example, Nedbank spent R1.65 billion ($94 million) last week to acquire iKhokha, a business payments platform, in a bid to deepen its presence in digital merchant services. Standard Bank, on its part, has been shrinking its ATM network since 2019 and redesigning branches to align with this changing behaviour.

ATM scams are also pushing customers away from cash, with several banks issuing warnings and guidelines in recent months. When you add the high cost of maintaining ATM hardware, banks have even more reason to double down on digital payments.

The big picture: Banks are opting for more digital presence. While two-thirds of South Africans still use cash, the country's banking industry is already aligning for a digital-heavy future. The competition ahead will rest on who can build a cash-lean payment ecosystem.