If you want the full list of South African magazines in one place, sorted so you can actually use it, this is it. We've grouped the major titles by publisher and by interest, so you can see at a glance who prints what, and why reading widely means reading across all of them.
This South African magazines list is organised by the four publishing houses that produce most local titles, with a quick category index, the multilingual titles, and the practical bit nobody else covers: how to actually read across this list without four separate subscriptions.
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South African Magazines by Publisher
Most South African magazines come from four publishing houses, and knowing which title sits where explains why a single subscription never covers everything you want. Here is the list, grouped by publisher.
Media24 (Naspers group)
The largest publisher, home to the biggest sellers: Huisgenoot, YOU, Sarie, DRUM, True Love, Tuis, Glamour SA, Weg! / go!, Sarie Kos, Garden & Home and Cosmopolitan SA. Strong across family, women's interest and travel.
Caxton Magazines
Bona, Essentials, Living & Loving, Farmer's Weekly, Food & Home Entertaining, Rooi Rose and a broad home-and-garden range. Caxton owns much of the practical home, food and multilingual general-interest space.
Associated Magazines
The premium end: Marie Claire, House & Leisure, Condé Nast House & Garden and GQ South Africa. Fashion, design and men's lifestyle at the high quality tier.
Independents and specialists
VISI, Brainstorm, CIO South Africa, Compleat Golfer, Bicycling SA, Men's Health SA, SA Rugby, CAR Magazine, Kruger Magazine, Future SA, JSE Magazine and Go!. The specialist layer where the most focused titles live.
The List by Category
If you think in interests rather than publishers, here is the same list reorganised by what you want to read.
- Family and general interest: Huisgenoot, YOU, Bona, DRUM, Tuis.
- Women's interest: Glamour SA, True Love, FAIRLADY, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan SA, Rooi Rose, Sarie.
- Men's interest: GQ South Africa, Men's Health SA.
- Home, decor and food: VISI, House & Leisure, Condé Nast House & Garden, Garden & Home, Food & Home Entertaining, Sarie Kos.
- Travel and outdoors: Weg! / go!, Getaway, Kruger Magazine, Compleat Golfer, Bicycling SA.
- Business and special interest: Financial Mail, Brainstorm, CIO South Africa, CAR Magazine, SA Rugby, Farmer's Weekly, Future SA, JSE Magazine.
Which South African Magazines Are Multilingual?
South Africa has eleven official languages, and the magazine list reflects more than English and Afrikaans. Bona, published by Caxton, appears in English, Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho, reaching around 3.6 million readers across four official languages, which makes it the single most multilingual title on the list. The Afrikaans titles include Huisgenoot, Sarie, Sarie Kos, Rooi Rose, Tuis and Weg!, while True Love speaks specifically to Black South African women in English.
A list that represents the country properly is not two languages deep. It carries titles across this range, which is part of why a curated selection beats grabbing whatever is at the till.
How Long Is the Full List?
The full list of actively published South African magazines runs to well over fifty consumer titles once you include the independents and specialist publications, and that is before digital-only and trade titles. DLT Monthly works with more than fifty titles across all four publishing houses, which is effectively the readable core of this list available through one service.
The Wikipedia list of South African magazines is longer still, but much of it is historical or defunct. For titles you can actually subscribe to and read today, the working list is the fifty-plus current consumer magazines grouped above.
How to Read Across the Whole List
This is the part the list itself doesn't solve. The titles you'd pick from this list almost never come from one publisher, so any single subscription leaves gaps. Want Huisgenoot, Marie Claire, VISI and Bona? That's four titles across four publishing houses, which means four separate accounts, four invoices and four delivery dates if you do it the direct way.
DLT Monthly is South Africa's only multi-publisher magazine subscription service, built for exactly this problem. One monthly account pulls titles from Media24, Caxton, Associated Magazines and the independents into a single pack. The Mag Mix option is five magazines a month for six months; the Signature Collection runs to 58 magazines a year for readers, households or waiting rooms that want more.
Read across the whole list, not one publisher's slice of it. See my subscription options
Frequently Asked Questions
How many magazines are published in South Africa?
There are well over fifty actively published consumer magazines in South Africa across the four major publishing houses and the independents, not counting digital-only and trade titles. DLT Monthly works with more than fifty current titles.
Who are the main magazine publishers in South Africa?
The four main publishers are Media24 (Huisgenoot, YOU, Sarie, DRUM), Caxton (Bona, Farmer's Weekly, Essentials), Associated Magazines (Marie Claire, House & Leisure, GQ) and a layer of independents (VISI, Brainstorm, CAR Magazine).
What is the most multilingual South African magazine?
Bona is the most multilingual major title, published in English, Zulu, Xhosa and Sotho with around 3.6 million readers across four official languages.
Can I subscribe to a mix of titles from this list?
Yes. A multi-publisher subscription service such as DLT Monthly lets you read titles from different publishing houses on one monthly account, instead of holding a separate subscription per publisher.
The Whole List, One Subscription
A list of South African magazines is only useful if you can actually read across it, and that is the gap DLT Monthly was built to close. Instead of four publisher accounts to cover one good reading mix, it puts titles from every major house into a single monthly pack, for homes and for the businesses whose waiting rooms deserve the full list, not one slice of it.
Turn the whole list into one monthly delivery. Every major publisher, your choice of titles, fresh each month. Start my magazine subscription