R417 million national disaster for South Africa
The National Treasury has allocated R213.4 million to 41 municipalities in South Africa for disaster response measures following multiple National Disasters being classified over the past year.
The funding allocation is from the 2026/27 budget.
Another R203.8 million has been gazetted in the 2025/26 budget specifically to address flood intervention measures resulting from the disasters, bringing the total adjusted allocation in the latest notice to R417.2 million.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), submitted a letter to the National Treasury requesting funds.
The R213.4 million is to be transferred from the unallocated adjusted portion of the Municipal Disaster Response Grant (MDRG) for 2026/27.
The 41 municipalities receiving the funds are in six affected provinces, namely, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State, North West and Northern Cape.
The table below outlines the 2026/27 allocations:
| Province | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Western Cape | R71.4 million |
| Eastern Cape | R51 million |
| Free State | R17 million |
| Mpumalanga | R18 million |
| North-West | R29 million |
| Northern Cape | R27 million |
| National Total | R213.4 million |
According to the National Treasury, the submission from COGTA also proposed the gazetting of an amount of R203.8 million against the total amount of R395 million from the Municipal Disaster Response Grant (MDRG) for the 2025/26 financial year.
This allocation is for flood intervention measures in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces following floods between December 2025 and January 2026.
South Africa classified several national disasters over the past year, mainly related to heavy rains and flooding that hit multiple provinces.
The latest disaster was classified in May 2026, following widespread floods and severe weather across the country.
This classification followed an initial national disaster classification on 10 May 2026, which came after adverse conditions in six provinces that hit that month.
The Western Cape, North West, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga were hammered by heavy rainfall, flooding, thunderstorms, damaging winds and snowfall.
In addition to damage to property, infrastructure, and the environment, these provinces experienced disruptions to essential services and loss of life.
The 2025/26 allocation would address widespread flooding that affected Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and the North West at the start of the year.
These floods resulted in a loss of life, significant damage to infrastructure and property, environmental degradation, displacement of communities, disruption to schooling and agricultural activities.
The Kruger National Park was also forced to close during this time.
South Africa has also classified other disasters, specifically related to drought conditions that hit inland cities earlier this year, as well as gender-based violence, which was classified as a disaster in November 2025.
A full breakdown of the allocation of funding can be seen below:
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