Africa • ISO ZA
Verify South Africa companies via API
Know Your Customer Limited verifies South Africa companies live from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, returning company data, controlling parties, and registry documents, with AML screening and ongoing monitoring. Free sandbox available.
What the API returns for South Africa
When you create a KYB case for a South Africa company, Know Your Customer Limited retrieves data live from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. A single integration returns the company record, the controlling parties and individuals, the shareholders and beneficial owners, and the registry documents, with AML screening on the entity and its associated individuals built into the same case.
South Africa data and document availability
What the API makes available for South Africa companies:
| Category | Available |
|---|---|
| Company data | Entity Name, Entity Type, Entity Status, Registration Number, Address, Registration Date |
| Controlling entities & individuals | Name, Role, Identification Number |
| Shareholders & beneficial owners | Not available |
| Documents | Retrieved by default: Registry Extract Available on demand: None beyond the default set |
AML, sanctions, and PEP screening on the entity and its associated individuals, and ongoing live monitoring with change alerts, are available for South Africa as part of the same case.
How to verify a South Africa company via API
The following example shows the complete flow: authenticate, search the South Africa registry, create a KYB case, and retrieve company data and the ownership org-chart. All calls go to the sandbox base URL for testing.
The sandbox at https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev is free. Request access to get your client credentials.
# 1. Authenticate (OAuth2 client credentials)
curl -X POST https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev/connect/token \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials" \
-d "client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID" \
-d "client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" \
-d "scope=PublicApi"
# 2. Search the South Africa registry
curl -X POST https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev/v2/Companies/search \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name":"South Africa National Bank","codeiso31662":"ZA"}'
# 3. Create a KYB case
curl -X POST https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev/v2/Companies \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"rawname":"South Africa National Bank","codeiso31662":"ZA"}'
# 4. Retrieve company data and status
curl https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev/v2/Companies/CASE_ID \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
# 5. Get the beneficial ownership org-chart
curl https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev/v2/Companies/CASE_ID/org-chart \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
Replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID and YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET with your sandbox credentials, and CASE_ID with the caseCommonId returned in step 3.
Frequently asked questions about the South Africa KYB API
What company data can I verify in South Africa?
For a South Africa company, the API returns the company record read live from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission: the entity name, type, status, registration number, address, and registration date, along with the controlling parties, and the available registry documents. See the table above for the full South Africa availability.
Does the API return beneficial ownership (UBO) data for South Africa companies?
For South Africa, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission does not publish shareholder or beneficial-owner data, so the API returns the company record and the controlling parties and officers rather than a shareholder or beneficial-owner list. Where you need ownership for an entity in a jurisdiction that does publish it, the recursive org-chart (GET /v2/Companies/{caseCommonId}/org-chart) resolves it. See the UBO API.
Can I retrieve official registry documents for South Africa companies?
Yes. The default document set for South Africa includes Registry Extract, retrieved by default. List and download them with the documents endpoint (GET /v2/Companies/{caseCommonId}/documents).
Is there a free sandbox for testing South Africa company verification?
Yes. The Know Your Customer sandbox at https://api.knowyourcustomer.dev is a free, high-fidelity test environment. Request free sandbox access to start testing.
The Know Your Customer Limited API covers 147 jurisdictions worldwide, including South Africa. One integration, one set of credentials, one response schema across all markets. Browse all covered jurisdictions.
Related coverage: Angola • Botswana • Burkina Faso • Djibouti • Ethiopia • Kenya.
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