ContactDetails.co.za
South Africa Contact Numbers Report 2026
Fewer than 1 in 20 South African organisations give a free 0800 number as their main line. We analysed the published contact details of 3,457 organisations listed on ContactDetails.co.za, from banks and medical aids to municipalities and delivery apps. Sharecall numbers (0860 and 0861), where the caller pays, are four times more common as the main line than toll-free numbers. Banks and insurers use them most. Meanwhile 138 organisations, including Uber, Netflix and Amazon, publish no phone line for customers at all.
Every figure in this report comes from our own pages as they stood on 29 September 2026. Those pages record details read from each organisation’s own website or official channels; most were read or re-checked between July and September 2026.
Key findings
- Only 4.7% of organisations give a toll-free 0800 number as their main number, and only 20.6% publish an 0800 line anywhere.
- 19.1% give a sharecall 0860 or 0861 number as their main number, four times as many as lead with a free line. 35.5% publish one somewhere.
- 43.7% of insurers and medical aids, and 40.9% of banks and lenders, lead with a sharecall number.
- 138 organisations (4%) publish no phone number for ordinary customers.
- 44.2% of telecoms and internet providers publish a WhatsApp number, against 14.5% of all organisations and 6.8% of government bodies.
- 36% of our contact pages carry a scam or fraud warning.
How organisations publish their main number
This table counts the first number each organisation gives in the opening summary of its page, across 3,399 pages that could be classified this way.
| Main number type | What the caller pays | Organisations | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic landline (010–058) | Normal call rate | 1,274 | 37.5% |
| Sharecall 0860 / 0861 | Caller pays (local rate from a landline) | 648 | 19.1% |
| Toll-free 0800 | Free from a landline | 160 | 4.7% |
| VoIP 087 | Normal call rate | 156 | 4.6% |
| Cellphone number | Normal call rate | 126 | 3.7% |
| No number in the opening (email, app or web form first, or no number at all) | – | 1,032 | 30.4% |
Banks and insurers lead with numbers you pay for
Share of organisations in each sector whose main number is of each type. Sectors are ContactDetails.co.za’s own categories; only sectors with at least 60 organisations are shown.
| Sector | Organisations | Sharecall 0860/0861 | Toll-free 0800 | 087 | Landline | No number first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance & medical aid | 403 | 43.7% | 6.5% | 1.7% | 13.4% | 32.3% |
| Banking & finance | 418 | 40.9% | 6.2% | 8.6% | 14.8% | 22.7% |
| Retail | 280 | 26.8% | 4.6% | 7.9% | 24.3% | 34.3% |
| Business | 698 | 12.6% | 3.3% | 5.6% | 47.1% | 28.1% |
| Telecoms & internet | 118 | 11.9% | 3.4% | 11% | 21.2% | 34.7% |
| Healthcare | 246 | 11% | 0.8% | 1.6% | 61.8% | 18.3% |
| Automotive | 172 | 11.6% | 9.3% | 2.9% | 35.5% | 40.7% |
| Government | 400 | 7.8% | 7% | 1.3% | 62.5% | 20.5% |
| Travel & hospitality | 81 | 7.4% | 0% | 1.2% | 55.6% | 29.6% |
| Education | 205 | 5.9% | 7.8% | 3.4% | 42% | 38.5% |
| Transport & logistics | 123 | 4.1% | 0% | 4.1% | 40.7% | 45.5% |
| Mining & resources | 73 | 0% | 2.7% | 1.4% | 50.7% | 45.2% |
Insurers and medical aids are about seven times more likely to lead with a sharecall number than with a free one. Government mostly gives geographic landlines: 62.5% lead with an ordinary 012, 011 or 021-style number.
The brands South Africans can’t phone
138 of the 3,457 organisations publish no phone line for ordinary customers on their own websites. They send customers to web forms, live chat, email or an app instead. Examples, each checked against our page:
- Uber has no public phone number for riders, and Uber Eats has no customer service number or complaints email in South Africa.
- Bolt publishes no phone number for either of its support centres.
- Netflix has no phone number or email address for cancelling.
- Amazon has no public phone number, so a call from “Amazon” deserves suspicion.
- Zara South Africa handles customer service through webchat.
- Facebook and TikTok publish no phone number or phone escalation line for South African users.
- Openserve publishes no customer contact number or call centre.
- Aramex publishes no customer support number, hotline or live chat line on its South African website.
- Bash has no customer service phone number for online orders, including Foschini, Sportscene and The FIX.
- FASTA, Hoopla Loans and Luno list no phone line.
- Red Bull South Africa and Binance send customers to an online help centre.
Transport and logistics had the highest share of organisations with no phone number (10.6%). Only 2.1% of all organisations (72) offer a web form alone, with no phone number and no email address.
WhatsApp: telecoms lead, government lags
| Sector | Publish a WhatsApp number |
|---|---|
| Telecoms & internet | 44.2% |
| Retail | 23.6% |
| Insurance & medical aid | 16.9% |
| Transport & logistics | 15.4% |
| Banking & finance | 15.1% |
| Business | 12.2% |
| Government | 6.8% |
| Healthcare | 4.9% |
| All organisations | 14.5% |
Email is still widespread: 72.4% of organisations publish at least one email address.
Scam warnings are now part of the contact page
36% of our pages (1,245) carry a scam or fraud warning next to the contact details: official fraud lines, reminders that the organisation will never ask for a PIN or OTP, or warnings about fake numbers. Where a brand publishes no phone line at all, a caller claiming to be from that brand is a warning sign in itself.
What this means when you call
- 0800 numbers are free from a Telkom landline; from a cellphone, check with your network, as some charge.
- 0860 and 0861 numbers are not free. From a landline they cost about the same as a local call; from a cellphone you pay your normal rate.
- Look for a free option first. Many banks and insurers have an 0800 fraud line or a call-me-back service even when their main number is 0860.
- If a company does not publish a phone number, it will not phone you. Hang up on anyone claiming to call from such a company.
- Get numbers from the organisation’s own website or app, never from search adverts or social media comments. See how we verify contact details.
Download the data
The sector table is available as a CSV file: contactdetails-sa-contact-numbers-2026.csv. You are welcome to use it with credit to ContactDetails.co.za.
Methodology
- Sample: 3,457 national and regional organisation pages on ContactDetails.co.za with at least 150 words. Branch lists and directory index pages were excluded.
- Source of details: each page records details read from the organisation’s own website or official channels. 40% carry a dated source note from July to September 2026; 3.4% state that a detail could not be verified.
- Number types were identified by prefix: 0800 toll-free; 0860/0861 sharecall; 087 VoIP; 06x, 07x and 08x cellphone; 010 to 058 geographic landline.
- Main number is the first number in the page’s opening summary (3,399 pages could be classified this way).
- No phone number means the page states the organisation publishes no phone line for customers. Named examples were checked individually.
- Limitations: this analyses published contact details, not call quality or actual call charges. Organisations can add or remove numbers at any time.
Frequently asked questions
Is an 0860 number free to call?
No. 0860 and 0861 numbers are sharecall or maxicall numbers: the caller pays. Only 0800 numbers are toll-free.
How many South African organisations have a toll-free number?
In our analysis of 3,457 organisations, 20.6% publish an 0800 number somewhere on their contact pages, but only 4.7% give it as their main number.
Which big companies have no customer phone number in South Africa?
Uber, Uber Eats, Bolt, Amazon, Zara, Facebook, TikTok, Openserve and Aramex are among the organisations that publish no customer phone line in South Africa, according to their own websites as read for our pages.
Can I use this data?
Yes. Please credit ContactDetails.co.za and link to this page. Journalists can contact us through our contact page for more detail or a sector breakdown.
Sources
ContactDetails.co.za organisation pages, as published on 29 September 2026. Each organisation page lists its own official sources.