While South African politics are under pressure ahead of November’s local elections, the UAE and Türkiye posted broad-based category gains.
This is according to Context, which released findings from its July META Monthly briefing – covering distribution trends across META.
“Our session pointed to a region moving at different speeds,” says Erol Kuseyri, regional manager for the Middle East, Türkiye at Context. “Türkiye and the UAE showed strong upward momentum across IT distribution categories in Q2 2026 – with server computing and disk storage above index for the UAE, while most categories were performing above index for Türkiye. In Saudi Arabia, standout areas were networking systems and desktop computing.”
South Africa told a more mixed story.
Distribution revenue for the country appears flat against the regional 2025 index, however, it is key to note that it is performing better than the previous two years. Most individual categories, including mobile computing, software and licensing, and data centre networking and security, were above index through H1 2026.
On the ground in South Africa, Context’s briefing noted a political picture defined less by policy wins than by accountability gaps.
Xenophobic pressure on undocumented migrants continues. Every major party was described as focused on self-enrichment rather than delivery, with local elections set for November expected to test that.
Economically, GDP growth is projected at 1,2% for 2026 and 1,6% for 2027, with inflation forecast at 3,9% and 3,6% respectively. Fuel prices have moved on the back of the Middle East conflict, feeding through to the cost of basic goods.
The industry picture across Africa was more upbeat.
Gitex Kenya AI Everything closed out successfully. Morocco has edged past South Africa as the continent’s leading industrialised economy, largely on vehicle exports. Gabon opened its first Tier 3 data centre, and Lesotho announced plans for its first AI data centre.
Within South Africa specifically, Starlink’s approval remains stalled, while Huawei continues expanding its retail footprint. Amazon satellite services may actually go live sooner than Starlink using a local partner.