Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a major outage on Monday that left many South African users unable to reach everyday sites and apps.
Local technology site MyBroadband reported that platforms from Standard Bank to Snapchat and gaming services such as Roblox and Fortnite showed errors for users across the country.
AWS said it saw significant error rates for requests to the DynamoDB API in its US-EAST-1 region and that DNS resolution of the DynamoDB endpoint appears to be a likely cause.
Engineers engaged immediately and are working on several parallel recovery paths while investigating the root cause. Updates are appearing on the AWS Health Dashboard. (AWS Health)
Reports of service problems began spiking on outage trackers and social media from about 8:45am on Monday, 20 October 2025, according to MyBroadband and monitoring sites that track global incidents.
Downdetector showed a sharp rise in reports as users posted about interrupted banking, stalled work calls and paused game sessions.
People caught in the disruption described the frustration of sudden interruptions.
One user wrote on X that a game session and a work meeting both failed to reconnect, leaving them unsure which services would recover first.
Those immediate experiences underline how much daily life now depends on a small number of cloud endpoints. (The Verge)
The outage affected a wide set of services that rely on AWS infrastructure, including content delivery, computer and database features like Xero, Simple Pay and Canva and Standard Bank.
Organisations and consumers are advised to follow the AWS Health Dashboard.
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