Explainer
Public Liability Insurance in South Africa (2026)
What public liability covers and leaves out, how to choose the limit your contract names, published prices, and three places to buy it, read at each insurer.
Someone has usually asked you for it. A landlord, a shopping centre, an event venue or a client wants proof of public liability cover, often with a limit written into the contract, before they will let you open or start work.
This guide covers what the cover pays for, what it leaves out, how to choose the limit, what it costs where a price is published, and the three ways I found to buy it. I use the same three insurers as examples all the way through: Bi-me, Miway and Santam. Between them they cover the three ways a small business buys this cover, online at a published price, as a combined liability policy, or added to a business policy, so you will already know where each one fits when you reach it. Everything here comes from the insurers' own pages, read this week, and none of it replaces reading your policy wording.
What public liability covers
Public liability pays what your business becomes legally liable for when a customer, supplier or member of the public is injured, or their property is damaged, because of your business. It also usually pays the legal costs of defending the claim. A client who trips on an unmarked step in your office, or a fire from your kitchen that spreads to the shop next door, are the kinds of events it exists for.
Bi-me publishes the most complete list I found of what a policy on its platform usually includes. The core is injury to any person and loss of or damage to their property. Beyond that, it lists nuisance and trespass claims, damage to a neighbour's property from a fire that spreads from yours, cross liability (where two parties insured on the same policy claim against each other), and liability from moving a vehicle to keep the business running.
Check whether the policy is claims-made
Bi-me says cover on its platform may be written on a claims-made basis: the policy pays claims first made against you while it is in force. If you cancel, or leave a gap before a new policy starts, a claim made later about work you did earlier may not be covered. Ask about the retroactive date before you switch insurers.
What it usually leaves out
The exclusions matter more than the inclusions, because they are where a claim fails. Bi-me's list of what is usually not included is worth reading slowly, starting with these.
Professional services and pure financial loss are excluded: if a client loses money because of your advice or design, with no injury or damage, that is professional indemnity. Fines, penalties and punitive damages, deliberate acts and defective design are excluded, and so is product recall, even where Product liabilityCover for claims that a product you made, sold, supplied or installed injured someone or damaged their property. It is often sold alongside public liability, and it is not the same as product recall, which is usually excluded.In this guideIf you sell or install anything, this is the part that answers a claim about what you supplied. Miway's Broadform liability includes it from the start, and even where it is added, product recall stays excluded. is added. Judgements in the United States or Canada are excluded, which matters if you export. And anything before the Retroactive dateThe earliest date of work a claims-made policy will cover. Work done before that date is excluded, even when the claim about it arrives while the policy is in force.In this guideBi-me's list excludes anything before the retroactive date if you had no public liability before, so an incident in the weeks before you first bought cover is not paid, even if the claim arrives afterwards. is excluded if you had no public liability cover before.
First, if your risk is financial loss from your advice, you need a different policy, and our professional indemnity guide explains it. Second, if you make, sell, repair or install anything, the extension below is probably the part of the policy you need most.
Product liability and defective workmanship
Public liability on its own covers what happens during your work. Product and defective workmanship liability cover what happens afterwards, because of something you sold, supplied, repaired or installed. A geyser that floods a ceiling a month after a plumber fitted it is the second kind of claim.
On Bi-me it is an optional extension to public liability. Miway includes it in Broadform liability alongside employers' liability. Santam lists products liability and defective workmanship as a separate option on its business liability cover. So the same words, "public liability", can describe three different sets of cover. When you compare quotes, compare what each one includes, not only the premium.
How much cover you need
If a contract names a limit, that is your minimum. A lease that asks for R5 million public liability is not satisfied by a R2.5 million certificate, however unlikely a large claim seems to you.
If nobody has named a figure, Bi-me suggests working from the worst realistic incident: who could be hurt or what could be damaged, and what their medical costs, lost income or repairs would be. A business that works on other people's property, or where the public comes in, carries more of that risk than one that does not. Miway sets the deductible you pay on a claim by the limit you choose, so wherever you buy, ask for quotes at two limits and compare both the premium and the deductible.
What it costs
Only one of the insurers I checked publishes a public liability price. Bi-me shows public liability from R258 a month, and says the price depends on your risk profile. That figure is a floor for the lowest-risk business at the lowest limit, not what a contractor or restaurant should budget.
Miway, Santam and King Price quote each business individually. What moves the price, across all of them, is the kind of work you do, where you do it, your turnover, the limit, the extensions you add and your claims history. The cost guide puts every published business insurance price in South Africa on one page.
Three ways to buy it
These are ordered by how quickly you can have a certificate in hand, not by which is better cover. That depends on your wording and your business.
If you are not sure which of these fits your work, or you would rather not read all three, answer the three questions below and they will point you to the liability cover your work usually calls for. Each route is explained in full straight after.
Not sure which cover is yours?
Three quick questions point you to your cover
Answer for your own business. This points to a type of cover, and names who sells it that way.
1What could go wrong because of your business?
2Where does the work happen?
3Do you employ people?
Before you answer
Public liability, for most businesses the public deals with
It pays when someone is injured or their property is damaged because of your business, and it is the cover landlords and venues ask for.
The trade-off: it does not cover a client's financial loss from your advice.
This points to a type of cover from how you answer, and names who sells it that way, from each insurer's own site on 24 September 2026. It is general information, not advice: read the policy wording, or speak to a licensed broker, before you buy.
1. Bi-me - buy online, at a published price
Bi-me is the fastest route to a certificate I found. You get quotes online from more than one insurer, buy without paperwork, and choose one of five limits. It is a licensed platform rather than an insurer, and depending on the quote, its public and product liability is underwritten by Discovery Insure or iTOO.
1Fastest to a certificate
Bi-me Public Liability
Why it's first
Bi-me publishes a starting price, compares more than one insurer and sells at five limits online.
- LimitsR1m, R2.5m, R5m, R7.5m, R10m
- ExtensionsProducts and workmanship, legal defence, retroactive cover
- UnderwritersDiscovery Insure or iTOO
- LicenceFSP 51534
- Sells toa business that needs a certificate without waiting for a call
- Check in your quotewhether the wording is claims-made, and the retroactive date
you'll go to bi-me.co.za
Best for: a business that needs public liability on its own, at a named limit, this week. If you also need your building, stock or vehicles covered, the next two sell those on the same policy.
2. Miway Broadform liability - four liabilities in one
Miway's Broadform liability includes public, product, employers' and defective workmanship liability together, and extends cover to other premises while you are working there. That makes it the one to ask about if your people work at clients' homes or sites. You leave your number and Miway calls you to quote.
2Most included
Miway Broadform Liability
Why it's on this list
Miway's Broadform liability includes product, employers' and defective workmanship liability, and covers work away from your premises.
- IncludesPublic, product, employers', defective workmanship
- Away from premisesIncluded
- DeductibleSet by the limit you choose
- LicenceFSP 33970
- Sells tocontractors and service businesses working on clients' premises
- Check in your quotethe limits available, and the deductible at each
you'll go to www.miway.co.za
Best for: a business with staff who install, repair or clean at other people's premises, and that wants product and workmanship claims covered from the start.
3. Santam business liability - added to your business policy
Santam sells liability as cover you add to a Santam business policy, so your premises, contents and liability sit on one schedule. It is arranged through an intermediary or a call-back, and Santam lists broadform general liability, products and defective workmanship, employers liability and occupation-specific professional indemnity among the options.
3One schedule
Santam Business Liability
Why it's on this list
Santam adds liability to an existing business policy and offers industry versions for hospitality, agri and education.
- How you buyIntermediary or call-back
- OptionsBroadform, products, employers', niche PI, cyber
- Industry versionsAgri, hospitality, guesthouse, education, religious
- LicenceFSP 3416
- Sells toa business that wants liability and property cover on one policy
- Check in your quotewhich liability options it includes
you'll go to www.santam.co.za
Best for: an established business with premises and contents to insure, that would rather have one insurer and one schedule than a separate liability policy.
How to get a certificate quickly
Copy the exact requirement
Note the limit, whether product liability must be included, and any party the certificate must name, such as the landlord or the centre's management company.
Describe your work accurately
The quote depends on what you actually do. Leaving out work at heights, food handling or work at clients' premises can give an insurer grounds to decline a claim later.
Get at least two quotes on the same limit
Compare the premium, the deductible and the extensions included. An online quote is the fastest way to a first number.
Read the exclusions before you pay
Check that your main activity is not in them, and whether the wording is claims-made.
Send the certificate, and diarise the renewal
A certificate is valid only while the policy is. A lapse can breach your lease as well as leave you uninsured.
If the requirement names a limit you cannot find online, a broker can usually place it.
The bottom line
Buy the limit your contract names, from the route that gets you covered in time. For public liability on its own, Bi-me is the quickest and the only one with a published starting price. If your work happens at other people's premises, or you sell or install anything, make sure product and workmanship liability is included, which Miway's Broadform liability does from the start.
Whichever you choose, read the exclusions against what you actually do. A cheap policy that excludes your main activity is the most expensive one you can buy.
If you skipped ahead, the three questions at the start of the list point you to the liability cover your work usually calls for.
Questions people actually ask
How much is public liability insurance in South Africa?
Bi-me publishes public liability from R258 a month, depending on your risk profile, on 17 September 2026.Most other insurers, including Miway, Santam and King Price, quote each business individually. The price depends on your type of work, turnover, the limit and your claims history.
Is public liability insurance compulsory in South Africa?
No general law requires every business to have it, but leases, shopping centres, event venues, municipalities and clients often require it by contract, usually with a minimum limit.If a contract names a limit, that is the cover you need.
What is the difference between public liability and professional indemnity?
Public liability covers injury to people and damage to their property caused by your business.Professional indemnity covers a client's financial loss caused by your advice, design or professional service. Public liability policies usually exclude professional services and pure financial loss.
How much public liability cover do I need?
At least the limit any lease or contract names.Bi-me sells R1 million, R2.5 million, R5 million, R7.5 million and R10 million limits. Without a contract figure, work from the worst realistic incident your business could cause and what it would cost the injured party.
Does public liability cover my own staff?
Not usually. Injury to your employees is employers' liability, which works alongside COIDA.Miway's Broadform liability includes employers' liability, and Santam and King Price list it as a business liability option.
Can I get public liability insurance online?
Yes. Bi-me sells public and product liability online with quotes from more than one insurer, on 17 September 2026.Miway and Santam arrange it through a call-back or an intermediary.
