It is found in Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Natal spurfowl was described in 1833 by the Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith and given the binomial name Francolinus natalensis.

He noted that the species inhabited brushwood thickets in the vicinity of Natal, in the east of South Africa.

[2] The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832.

[5] The Natal spurfowl is considered as monotypic: the proposed subspecies neavei is not recognised.