The country is also dealing with an unemployment rate at a 14-year high and the nation’s credit rating was recently downgraded.
The economic setback is piling pressure on president Jacob Zuma and his government. What are his plans to get South Africa back on a solid economic footing?
CGTN's The Heat talked to He Wenping, professor and director of African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences about the nation's economic status and what it could mean for its biggest trade partner, China.
