OSINT of South Africa

This post is part of UNISHKA Research Service’s ongoing OSINT series. If you’re interested in learning more, subscribe to our Substack and follow us on social media to stay in the loop. You can also visit our website to explore all the toolkits we’ve created so far: www.unishka.com/osint-world-series.

We regularly share country-specific OSINT toolkits, along with case studies, investigative tips, and real-world examples to support open-source investigations. Our goal is to provide journalists, analysts, and engaged citizens with actionable resources and insights.

If we’ve missed any good sources, just drop us a comment or send an email to abawer@unishka.com — we’ll make sure to add them to the toolkit!

Entry #49 OSINT World Series

Open Data Portals

• South Africa Open Data - Covers economic, demographic, and development indicators.

• openAFRICA - One of the largest independent open data repositories in Africa.

• Statistics South Africa

• City of Cape Town Open Data Portal

• Energy Datasets - South Africa

• SAEON Data Portal

• GeoLayers South Africa Dataset Hub

• Open Data South Africa Toolkit

• Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) provides detailed results for audits conducted on on all government departments, public entities, municipalities and public institutions.

• The Bioenergy Atlas for South Africa collects data related to bioenergy resources and energy sector infrastructure across South Africa.

• The DataFirst Open Data portal gives researchers access to high-quality disaggregated data (microdata) from studies conducted in African countries.

• The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) publishes data on election results, voting stations and party lists which can be downloaded or accessed via an API.

• Municipal Money is a website for citizens to view their local government spending and financial performance, and to compare municipalities.

• PMG provides information on parliamentary committee proceedings in the form of detailed, unofficial minutes, documents and sound recordings of the meeting.

• SAAQIS provides near real-time air quality data from over 70 monitoring stations, as well as key legislation and subnational air quality management plans.

• Vulekamali contains national and provincial budget data and budget process information from National Treasury (NT) and related data contributed by third parties.

• Youth Explorer provides visual insights and easy-to-access to data about young people's education, economic opportunities, family and living environment, and health.

• World Bank Data South Africa

Company Registries

• (Guide) How to Check Company Registration in South Africa

• The CIPC eServices website enables public users to search the name, registration number and directors of all registered companies in South Africa, and to register and manage their own business activities.

• SARS (South African Revenue Service) - VAT/vendor verification

• Open Gazettes South Africa is the biggest freely available collection of Government Gazette in the country and makes the original PDFs documents easy to search and browse online.

• Brabys - Directory-style business search

• Yellosa / Yellow Pages SA

• Business Directory Yep Mall - South Africa

• SARS VAT Vendor Search

• Business Directory South Africa

• OpenSanctions - Contains 5,367 entities connected with South Africa. This may include sanctioned entities, politically-exposed persons (PEPs), and their close associates, or entities involved in criminal activity.

• Business Directory - BizCommunity South Africa

People Search

• The People’s Assembly website provides information about elected representatives and the institutions they serve, including positions held, committee attendance and private interests.

• OpenSanctions - Contains 5,367 entities connected with South Africa. This may include sanctioned entities, politically-exposed persons (PEPs), and their close associates, or entities involved in criminal activity.

• PersonLookup - South Africa

• FamilySearch - South Africa

• The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (NARSSA)

• Deeds Office Person Search

• South African Death Records

• Tel-No.net ZA: A free unknown number query service that may show if a number has been reported as spam or scam.

• ReverseCaller South Africa: Lets you check numbers and view spam reviews shared by the community.

Land, Maps and Geospetial Data

• Property Search South Africa

• Property & Deeds Information For South Africa - MyDeedsSearch

• South Africa GeoPortal

• Get Deeds Registry information

• Interactive Old Maps of South Africa

• CDNGI Geospatial Portal has a comprehensive mix of spatial data

• City of Cape Town Map

• A list of judgements concerning land claims cases referred by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights (CRLR) office or directly from claimants or affected land owners.

• Spatial, land and infrastructure data resources - Open Africa Data Toolkit

Vehicle, Flight & Vessel Tracking

• VIN Check South Africa - FirstCheck

• Database of stolen vehicles

• Vessels Database - VesselFinder

• Marine traffic in South Africa

• Port of Cape Town

• Airports in South Africa

• Live South African Airways Flight Status

Legal and Court Data

• A digital page that shows which cases are being heard, where, and when

• Open By-laws makes the By-laws in municipalities available in an easy-to-access and searchable format by extracting By-law text from PDF documents.

• SAFLII publishes free public access to court judgments across South Africa

• Courts in South Africa

• The official website of the South African Judiciary

• Constitutional Court - This court has the final say on major legal and constitutional issues in South Africa.

• Land Claims Court

• Supreme Court of Appeal

• Court Judgments - LawLibrary

• National Archive - Search Court Data

• Court Cases Archive - Fisa.net

Tenders

• Tenders of The National Department of Health - South Africa

• E-Tenders - Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa

• Online Tenders South Africa

• EasyTenders South Africa

Media Landscape

State-Owned Media

• SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation)

  • TV: SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3

  • Radio: Ukhozi FM, Metro FM, SAFM, etc.

• GCIS (Government Communication and Information System)

  • Publishes official government news and statements

Independent / Private Media

• Media24 (Naspers)

• TimesLIVE

• The Independent Media

• eNCA

• Newzroom Afrika

Investigative Journalism

• Daily Maverick

• amaBhungane

• GroundUp

• Viewfinder

• ANCIR - The South Africa-based ANCIR seeks to strengthen and help sustain African investigative journalism.

• MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism

• The Wits Centre for Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand

• The Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalism

Other Toolkits

• Durban / eThekwini Open Data (ODZA / SCODA)

• Open Data South Africa Toolkit

• OSINT South Africa - StartMe Page

Miscellaneous

• Transparency International South Africa

• WikiLeaks - South Africa

Want more tools? Check out our full collection of OSINT resources here: https://unishka.com/resources/

If we’ve missed any good sources, just drop us a comment or send an email to abawer@unishka.com — we’ll make sure to add them to the toolkit!