Telephone numbers in South Africa

South Africa switched to a closed numbering system effective 16 January 2007. At that time, it became mandatory to dial the full 10-digit telephone number, including the zero in the three-digit area code, for local calls (e.g., 011 must be dialed from within Johannesburg). Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. All telephone numbers are 9 digits long (but always prefixed by 0 for calls within South Africa), except for certain Telkom special services. When dialed from another country, the "0" is omitted and replaced with the appropriate international access code and the country code +27.

History
Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces.

Namibia
South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. However, the territory had already been allocated its own country code by the International Telecommunication Union, +264, in the late 1960s.

Following its independence, Namibia discontinued direct dialing from South Africa and replaced it with international dialing using the +264 country code. For example, for a call from South Africa to Windhoek, before and after 1992:


 * Before 1992: 061 xxx xxxx
 * After 1992: 09 26461 xxx xxxx
 * After January 2007: 00 26461 xxx xxxx

Lesotho
Calls to Lesotho could be made using the access code 050 instead of the international code +266; for example, to call Maseru from South Africa, subscribers would dial 0501.

Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
Calls to Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe could similarly be made using the regional codes 0192, 0194 and 0191, respectively, instead of the international codes +267, +268 and +263.

00
International access code effective from 16 October 2006 and mandatory from 16 January 2007.

01
The old Transvaal province, currently comprising Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and part of the North West:
 * 010: New overlay plan for Johannesburg
 * 011: Witwatersrand region around Johannesburg, currently code for the entirety of Greater Johannesburg
 * 012: Pretoria and surrounding towns (also includes Brits)
 * 013: Eastern Gauteng (Bronkhorstspruit) and Western and northern Mpumalanga: Middelburg, Witbank and Nelspruit
 * 014: Northern North West and Southwestern Limpopo: Rustenburg and Modimolle
 * 015: Northern and Eastern Limpopo: Polokwane
 * 016: Vaal Triangle: Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg, which constitutes an anomaly, since Sasolburg isn't the old Transvaal.
 * 017: Southern Mpumalanga: Ermelo
 * 018: Southern North West: Mahikeng, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp

02
Western and Northern Cape:
 * 021: Cape Town metropole and surrounds, including Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Gordon's Bay
 * 022: Boland and West Coast: Malmesbury
 * 023: Worcester and greater Karoo, including Beaufort West
 * 027: Namaqualand (Northern Cape): Vredendal, Calvinia, Clanwilliam, Springbok, Alexander Bay, Port Nolloth
 * 028: Southern region: Swellendam and Caledon / Hermanus region.

03
KwaZulu-Natal:
 * 031: Durban
 * 032: KZN North coast region: Verulam, Tongaat, Ballito and Stanger
 * 033: Pietermaritzburg and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
 * 034: Vryheid, Newcastle and Northern KZN
 * 035: Zululand region: St. Lucia, Richards Bay, Ulundi
 * 036: Drakensberg region: Ladysmith
 * 039: KwaZulu-Natal South Coast region: Port Shepstone and interior, and Eastern Pondoland (in Eastern Cape)

04
Eastern Cape and eastern parts of the Western Cape:
 * 040: Bhisho
 * 041: Gqeberha and Uitenhage
 * 042: Southern region: Humansdorp
 * 043: East London and surrounds
 * 044: Garden Route, including Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay and George
 * 045: Central region: Queenstown
 * 046: Southern region: Grahamstown, Bathurst, Port Alfred, Kenton-on-Sea
 * 047: Mthatha / most of previous Transkei
 * 048: Northern region: Steynsburg
 * 049: Western region: Graaff-Reinet

05
Free State and Northern Cape
 * 051: Central and southern region: Bloemfontein, and Aliwal North in E Cape
 * 053: Kimberley, eastern part of Northern Cape, far west of NW province
 * 054: Upington, Gordonia region
 * 056: Northern Free State: Kroonstad
 * 057: Northern Free State: Welkom (Goldfields region)
 * 058: Eastern Free State: Bethlehem

06 (Cellular)
Cellular


 * 0600: Cellular: Used by Liquid Telecommunications (South Africa)
 * 0601 - 0602: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 0603 - 0605: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0606 - 0609: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 061: Cellular: Used by Cell C
 * 062: Cellular: Used by Cell C
 * 0630 - 0635: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0636 - 0637: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0640: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0641 - 0645: Cellular: Used by Cell C
 * 0646 - 0649: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0650 - 0654: Cellular: Used by Cell C
 * 0655 - 0657: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0658 - 0659: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 066: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0670 - 0672: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA
 * 0673 - 0675: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0676 - 0679: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 0680 - 0685: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 0686 - 0689: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0690: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0691 - 0699: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

07 (Cellular)

 * 0710: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0711 - 0716: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0717 - 0719: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 072: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 073: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 074: Cellular: Used by Cell C
 * 0741: Cellular: Used by: Virgin Mobile as of June 2006 to September 2021
 * 075: Cellular: Used by Purple Mobile South Africa
 * 076: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 078: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 079: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

Cellular

 * 0810: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 0811 - 0815: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 0816: Cellular: Used by Rain
 * 0817: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 0818: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 0819: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
 * 082: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
 * 083: Cellular: Used by MTN
 * 084: Cellular: Used by Cell C

Special Services

 * 080: FreeCall, Toll-free, called party pays
 * 085: Cellular: USAL license holders - Vodacom and MTN have some prefixes out of this range for their USAL offerings
 * 086: Sharecall, MaxiCall and premium-rate services, calls can be routed to regional offices automatically
 * 0860: Sharecall Land line callers pay local call, called party pays long distance if applicable
 * 0861: MaxiCall caller always pay long distance for call even if routed to local office
 * 0862 - 9: Premium rate caller pays increasing rate linked to last digit
 * 0862, 0865, 0866, 08673, 08774, 08676: Fax to Email caller always pay increasing rate linked to last digits
 * 08622, 086294: Competition lines caller always pay premium rate
 * 08671 - 08674: Information services caller always pay increasing rate linked to last digit
 * 087: Value-added services (VoIP among others)
 * 088: Fax Divert, Pagers and Telkom CallAnswer voicemail
 * 089: Maxinet, for polls and radio call-in services

''Note that from 10 November 2006, mobile number portability was introduced in the cellular market. The cellular prefixes as above are therefore not strictly applicable anymore, although they remain mostly unchanged.''

09X XXX XXX (Premium-rate and machine-related numbers)

 * 090: Premium-rate services
 * 0902: Premium-rated adult services
 * 091: Premium-rate services
 * 092: Premium-rate services
 * 096: Machine-related services (14-digit numbers)
 * 097: Machine-related services (14-digit numbers)
 * 098: Machine-related services (14-digit numbers)

There are still some non-automated exchanges which use longer dialing codes, mostly for "farm lines" and remote areas with operator-assisted exchanges.

09X XXX XXXX numbers are no longer in use in South Africa.