The South African women's national ice hockey team has participated in International Ice Hockey Federation events since the 1999 IIHF Women's World Championship. At their first World Championship in 1999, the team were unable to qualify for the B World Championship held the next year. In the following year, they were again unable to qualify for the B World Championship and were relegated several times over the following years, competing at the 2008 IIHF Women's World Championship in Division IV, the fifth World Championship level in women's ice hockey. As Divisions III to V saw no match play at the 2009 World Championship and there was no IIHF World Women's Championship in 2010 because of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, South Africa played their first World Championships match in three years in 2011, competing in Division IV.