Survey reveals South Africans are turning to mashonisas for survival
The number of people who rely on loan sharks has more than doubled from 15% in the 2025 survey.
South Africans are increasingly turning to informal lenders, known as mashonisas or loan sharks, to cope with the country's worsening cost-of-living crisis, according to a recent survey by short-term lender Wonga. The survey, which polled 4,872 South Africans, found that 41% of respondents use credit every month for essential expenses like groceries, transport, and electricity.
Moreover, 32% of respondents had borrowed from informal lenders at least once in the past year. Tina Manyanya, Wonga's spokesperson, expressed concern over the dangerous cycle of debt reliance and over-indebtedness that this trend fosters. The survey revealed a significant increase in the proportion of people relying on mashonisas, which had more than doubled from 15% in the 2025 survey.
Manyanya attributed this to limited access to formal credit products, with 68% of respondents being declined for formal credit at some point, often due to a low credit score. The survey also highlighted that 85% of those who borrowed from mashonisas cited their low credit score as the reason. Despite the widespread reliance on credit, 51% of respondents still reported not having immediate access to savings equivalent to one month's salary.
René Moonsamy, chairperson of the National Debt Counselling Association, warned that many people end up overspending and going into debt because they struggle to make it through the month. Household debt has been rising, reaching 62.2% of disposable income in Q1 2026, up from 61.8% the previous quarter. According to a recent DebtBusters survey, 53% of consumers now spend more than 40% of their take-home pay on debt repayments, up from 48% the previous year.
This points to a deeper issue: income growth not keeping pace with expense growth, rather than mere lifestyle overspending. Many people are turning to retirement savings to cover daily expenses, but this can create an underlying cash-flow problem if used for regular living costs. Moonsamy emphasized that credit should not become part of monthly income, as people are increasingly borrowing to make ends meet, leading to an unsustainable financial situation.
Written by urgent.news from The Citizen's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
