By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Western Cape government has estimated the cost of the damage caused by the severe weather that affected the province last month at R9bn.
The preliminary figures were presented during a special provincial cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday.
Informal settlements and low-lying areas were hardest hit, with thousands of residents displaced.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said that the cost of damage from last month’s severe weather systems, which swept through the province, was now estimated at just over R9 billion.
“Our province has had to endure many disasters. But the last two weather events were the worst in recent memory. While our government and other stakeholders have been working incredibly hard in responding to this disaster, we have a lot of hard work still ahead of us,” the Premier said.
Winde said: “The scale of the damage exceeds provincial departments’ budgets and delivery capacity. Additional funding will have to be sought from national government.”
The Premier emphasized that the province must “build back stronger” to handle future climate-related disasters, a strategy that will inherently cost more. He stressed the need to convince national government and other entities to budget differently to adequately handle such impacts.
To secure emergency funding, the Western Cape Department of Local Government is currently coordinating a consolidated submission to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the National Disaster Management Centre.
Additionally, the provincial Minister of Local Government is corresponding with his national counterpart, impacted provincial departments are engaging their national counterparts, and Winde will be corresponding directly with the President.
Meanwhile Southern Africa has experienced increasingly destructive floods, droughts and severe weather events in recent years.
Researchers from World Weather Attribution found that climate change contributed to an increase in the intensity of extreme rainfall events that caused deadly flooding across parts of southern Africa during the 2025/26 summer season.
Their analysis found that extreme rainfall events are now around 40% more intense than they would have been in a pre-industrial climate.
When disasters strike, poorer communities often suffer the greatest losses because homes are more likely to be located in flood-prone areas, on unstable slopes or in informal settlements where infrastructure is limited. This is especially alarming as South Africa’s unemployment rate averaged 32.4% in 2025, limiting many households’ ability to adapt to environmental shocks.
At the same time, climate-related droughts continue to threaten livelihoods and food security. Earlier this year, parts of the Western Cape experienced one of the worst droughts, showing just how climate extremes are becoming more frequent and less predictable.