Goats are a common ruminant in livestock husbandry systems in communal areas of southern Africa, but less so in peri-urban areas. While dynamics of goat farming in the former are relatively well-understood, little is known about it in peri-urban environments. We investigated the contribution of small-scale farming of goats to household livelihoods in rural and peri-urban areas in KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. We used a semi-structured questionnaire survey to elicit views of 115 respondents on the contribution of goats to household income at two rural (Kokstad, Msinga) and two peri-urban (Howick, Pietermaritzburg) locations. Goats contributed to household income as a source of cash and meat in various sociocultural contexts such as at weddings, funerals and festive period gatherings (e.g. Easter and Christmas), including payment for household needs and expenses including food, school fees and medico-cultural consultations. These findings were more pronounced in rural areas, where more goats were kept than in peri-urban areas, which also had smaller herds per household. Goats were a source of cash in numerous ways including sales of their skins after slaughter and use of skins through value addition to make household craft items such as stools that could be sold for cash. None of the farmers milked their goats. Goat famers also kept cattle (52%), sheep (23%) and chickens (67%). Goat ownership appeared to be more profitable in rural areas and contributed to a lesser extent as a source of income in peri-urban areas where goats were largely kept for sale. There is potential for increased value addition of goat products to increase returns from small-scale goat farming in rural and peri-urban settings. Artefacts and cultural symbols derived from goat products are pervasive amongst Zulu people, and represent an additional avenue of research into ‘hidden’ valuation of goats.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11250-023-03587-3.