 This study compares two independent soil moisture estimates over South Africa. The first estimate is a soil saturation index, SSI, provided by automated real-time computations of the top copy hydrological model, which is adapted to run as a collection of independent one kilometer cells with centers on a grid with a spatial resolution of 0.125 degrees, at three-hour intervals. The second set of estimates is the remotely sensed Ascot surface soil moisture product, which is temporarily filtered to yield a soil wetness index, SWI. Both sets of estimates use rainfall and evapotranspiration forcing data from the unified model, UM, and the South African Weather Service, SAWS. The results show that there is a good correspondence between the dynamic behavior of SWI and SSI for a significant portion of South Africa. This article was authored by S. Sinclair and G. G. S. P. Grom.