South Africans get new power to block unwanted spam calls and messages

By Thapelo Molefe

South Africans will now have a government-backed way to say “no more” to unwanted sales calls, SMSes and emails, with the launch of the National Opt-Out Registry aimed at curbing the country’s growing spam problem.

The registry, launched by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau on Wednesday, allows consumers to block specific direct marketers or an entire industry from contacting them.

The move comes as millions of South Africans continue to receive unwanted calls, with figures presented by Tau showing the scale of the problem.

According to Truecaller’s 2026 South Africa Spam Report, South Africans received an estimated 17.47 billion spam calls between January and June 2026, an increase of 25.2% compared with the same period last year.

Spam SMSes increased by 58.9% to 3.71 billion during the first six months of the year.

Tau said the figures reflected a problem that consumers experienced every day.