Sisyphus fasciculatus is largely restricted to shaded situations and partially shaded in forest and dense woodland. It is therefore likely to be threatened by clearance of vegetation offering strong shade as supported by unpublished results from Itala Game Reserve in South Africa. However, as it has an extent of occurrence well in excess of 20,000 km² and is protected in a number of game reserves where it can be abundant, it is currently assessed as being of Least Concern.

This species was described from “Caffraria interiore”, an inexact region often considered to be centred on the modern South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the adjoining part of the Eastern Cape. It occupies a range in the warm, moist, lower-lying areas in the northeast of KwaZulu-Natal and at lower elevations along the moist eastern escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, South Africa (Schoolmeesters 2011).

This species can be locally abundant, but only in largely shaded localities.

This species has been recorded entirely on finer grained soils, particularly in shaded localities ranging from riverine and lower hillside forest to dense partially shaded savanna woodland (Australian CSIRO 1970-1986, unpublished records). In the reclaimed farmland that is Ithala Game Reserve in South Africa, it was recorded in hillside forest at 879 m (100 individuals per pig dung-baited trap) and also in lower numbers to pig dung (71.1 individuals per trap) at lower altitude in three areas of thinned out woodland that included degraded Combretum woodland and shrubland where some shaded patches remained (Chown et al. unpublished data, Davis et al. 2020). It was absent from the intervening grassland area at intermediate altitude that had been cleared of woodland. Overall, it was trapped in good numbers to pig (71.1 individuals per trap) and cattle dung (55 individuals per trap) but only in low numbers to horse dung (11.7 individuals per trap). At Mariepskop on the eastern escarpment of Mpumalanga, it was trapped in low numbers in forest at 900 m (total 7 individuals) and 1,000 m (total 14 individuals) but not at 1,500 m or above (R. Stirneman unpublished data).

This species occurs in the lower margins of Northern Mistbelt Forest (FOz 4), Scarp Forest patches (FOz 5) (Forest Biome), and dense woodland along the moister western edge of the Lowveld (SVl) (Savanna Biome) where it abuts onto the Grassland and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biomes (Davis et al. 2020)

Some environmental characteristics for 31 locality records are as follows: elevation 48-2,005 m; mean annual rainfall 712-1,022 mm; mean annual temperature 12.51-22.0 °C (Davis et al. 2020).

As this species is associated with shaded vegetation types on finer-grained soils, it is likely to be threatened by the loss of forest and dense woodland across its fairly restricted range. This is strongly suggested by its abundance in densely wooded lowland and upland localities in the reclaimed farmland of Itala Game Reserve, and its absence from grassland at intervening altitudes that had probably been cleared of woodland (S. L. Chown et al. unpublished data). In KwaZulu-Natal, much of the dense vegetation has been converted to croplands and tree plantations. Fire has also dramatically altered the vegetation across the entire range of this species resulting in the destruction of forests (Low and Rebelo 1998).

There is no use or trade information available for this species.

There are no species-specific conservation actions in place. For an accurate assessment of the extinction risk to this species, it is necessary to survey the shaded forest and woodland habitats along the lower altitude parts of the eastern escarpment from KwaZulu-Natal to Limpopo Provinces in relation to the degree of clearance of dense shaded vegetation. However, the species is currently protected in more densely vegetated parts of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and Ithala game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as other points along the escarpment, where it can be locally abundant (Australian CSIRO 1970-1986, unpublished records; S. L. Chown et al. unpublished data).