SOUTH AFRICA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Jonathan Ripley-Evans, Fiorella Noriega Del Valle, Veronica Connolly and Kyle Melville, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer 4th Floor, Rosebank Towers 15 Biermann Avenue Rosebank 2196 Gauteng South Africa Tel: +27 010 500 2690 Email: Jonathan.ripley-evans@hsfkramer.com Web: www.hsfkramer.com/locations/south-africa
South Africa: Emerging as Africa’s Arbitration Powerhouse Introduction South Africa is increasingly being recognised as a serious contender for the seat of choice on the African continent. Drawing on a well-established domestic arbitration regime, the country is transitioning towards an international framework capable of competing on the global stage. The convergence of legislative reform, institutional development, pro-arbitration judicial treatment and a deepening legal culture has positioned South Africa as a prominent jurisdiction for international arbitration. The broader African arbitration landscape tells a more complex story. Although the number of arbitration institutions across the continent has grown consider - ably, approaching 100 in total, many continue to face difficulties in attracting international referrals because they lack established track records, consistent pro - cedural standards and sustained market confidence. In that environment, innovation alone is not enough: where institutional reforms are not accompanied by reliability and predictability, they may compound rath - er than resolve fragmentation in the African arbitral market. By contrast, South Africa has charted a more deliber - ate course. Institutions such as the Arbitration Founda - tion of Southern Africa (AFSA) have prioritised regional consolidation and steady, consistent development over proliferation for its own sake. AFSA’s revised international arbitration rules reflect that philosophy, incorporating progressive procedural elements while
remaining anchored in internationally accepted prin - ciples of best practice. The result is a framework that balances modernisation with reliability and continues to strengthen South Africa’s reputation as a credible seat for international arbitration. South Africa’s emergence as an arbitration cen - tre rests on a distinctive combination of factors: a mature domestic arbitration culture, modern interna - tional legislation, credible institutional development and increasingly arbitration-supportive courts. Those strengths do not eliminate residual challenges, but they make South Africa one of the few African juris - dictions presently capable of offering both regional legitimacy and internationally recognisable arbitral reliability. The Global Context: Growing Demand and Rising Prominence The demand for arbitration involving African parties continues to grow. According to the London Court of International Arbitration’s 2024 Casework Report, the proportion of arbitrations involving African parties has continued to increase, with notable growth from parties hailing from Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Sierra Leone. Similarly, the International Chamber of Com - merce (ICC) reported that, in 2025, 147 African parties (from sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa combined) accounted for 5.8% of the total party population, drawn from a wide-ranging 34 African countries. However, despite that growth, much of this activ - ity remains administered by non-African institutions, governed by non-African laws, presided over by non-
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