South Africa recorded 987 maternal deaths in 2023, with 58% assessed as potentially preventable within the health system, according to the National Department of Health’s Saving Mothers report. The corrected in-facility maternal mortality ratio of 111.7 per 100,000 live births places South Africa far above the Sustainable Development Goal target of below 70.
The National Committee for Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths identified non-pregnancy-related infections, medical and surgical conditions, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and obstetric haemorrhage as the leading causes of maternal death. “The percentage of MDs assessed to be potentially preventable within the health system was 58 per cent,” the committee stated in the report.
As first reported by the Mail & Guardian, the evidence points to a persistent systems failure rather than a lack of medical knowledge or policy framework. A peer-reviewed 2026 article by Rakale et al. in the African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine found that COVID-19 reversed earlier progress, with the national institutional maternal mortality ratio rising by 49.9% during the pandemic and remaining above the 2019 baseline afterward.
Jeanette Hunter, delivering a Department of Health keynote address at the District Health Barometer 2024/25 launch, confirmed the upward trend has continued. “The in-facility maternal mortality ratio has risen from 101 per 100 000 live births in 2023/24 to 105 in 2024/25,” Hunter said.
Only 14 of South Africa’s 52 health districts met the SDG target of below 70 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to District Health Barometer launch material. The Free State recorded the highest provincial mortality rate, with its Lejweleputswa district identified as the worst-performing nationally.
A Sunday Times report on 27 August 2026 revealed that 103 women died from ectopic pregnancy-related causes during the 2020–2023 reporting period. Of those, 82% involved suboptimal care and 45% were considered clearly avoidable, according to the report.
“Many deaths could potentially have been prevented through earlier diagnosis and timely intervention,” Dr Maria Mmaphefo Maluleka said, as cited in the Sunday Times report. The finding echoes the broader pattern across all causes: women are dying not because the medical knowledge is absent, but because care is delayed, fragmented, and unevenly resourced.
These figures are confirmed against official Department of Health reports and peer-reviewed publications independently reviewed by Cape Flats News. No Western Cape district-level breakdown for 2024/25 has been independently verified yet, and Cape Flats News journalist Nadia Adams will seek the provincial data from the Western Cape Department of Health by 15 September 2026.