The economy grew at a faster pace in the fourth quarter than economists had predicted after manufacturing and mining rebounded from a series of strikes.
Gross domestic product increased by an annualised 4.1% compared with the previous quarter, when it expanded by a revised 2.1%, Statistics SA said yesterday.
The median estimate of 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey had been 3.8%.
The economy grew by 1.5% for the whole of last year, the slowest pace since the 2009 recession.
"This is the first quarter that most of the industries actually went back to normal production," Gerhardt Bouwer, executive manager of national accounts at StatsSA told reporters.
"Hopefully we can maintain this trend."
Manufacturing, which makes up 13% of the economy, expanded for the first time in four quarters, increasing by an annualised 9.5%. Mining surged 15.2%.
Growth might come under pressure again after power blackouts since last month disrupted factory output.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene is to revise his 2.5% GDP growth forecast for this year when he delivers his national budget in parliament today.
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