South Africa and a changing climate

From the standpoint of climate change, floods and droughts are having the most immediate impacts on the lives of South Africans. For example, in an article , a German news organization, Dw.com, states that in April, 2022, almost 400 people died in KwaZulu-Natal province in probably the most devastating flood the country has ever experienced. It claims “the death toll from floods in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province rose to 395 on Friday, authorities said, … around 41,000 have been affected in record flooding ranking among one of the worst natural disasters in South African history.” It argues further that “homes in the area have collapsed on their owners, hillsides have washed away and roads and bridges have disappeared in the torrents. Thousands of homeless survivors have been forced to share shelters across the province.”

More recently, the Associated Press, published June 19, 2025, reports on the devastating floods that took place in parts of South Africa that same month, “South Africa was under a declared state of national disaster on Thursday as the death toll from floods caused by severe rains in the Eastern Cape region rose to 92,” it says. It quotes the local director of the National Disaster Management Centre, as saying “severe weather had caused property damage. and the disruption of vital services in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape, and the Free State, which prompted South Africa to declare a national state of disaster.” In other words, almost half of the country, which are essentially the provinces in the south and eastern seaboard, were affected.

The Indian Ocean on the eastern side of South Africa is much warmer than the Atlantic ocean on its western side. Increasing warmer oceans, due to climate change, help to facilitate the absorption of more moisture into the atmosphere which can, on occasions, contributes to rain storms and flash floods in neighboring countries. The eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal where the historic April, 2022 floods occurred, was also part of the recent 2025 flood events.

South Africa has a long history of droughts and sometimes for extended periods. An article by Greenpeace shows that several periods since the 1930,s have experienced severe droughts. Referring to the drought of 2015 to 2018 it says “this drought, often referred to as the ‘Cape Town water crisis’, was particularly severe in the Western Cape province and threatened to exhaust the city’s water supply. It led to strict water restrictions, public awareness campaigns, and efforts to increase water resilience.” Cape Town is the Capital of the Western Cape province and during the 2015 to 2018 period, many observers were expecting what was generally referred to as ‘day Zero’, basically a day when the city of Cape Town would be totally out of water.

As Greenpeace puts it “Climate change exacerbates droughts by making them more frequent, longer, and more severe…today’s climate change, driven by increased emissions of heat-trapping gases, is playing a major role in the increasing severity of drought through its influences on both rainfall and evaporation.” Increased heat conditions cause more moisture from the soil, and atmosphere in general, to be evaporated into the atmosphere and with the absence of rainfalls, the drought conditions become more severe. Droughts have several effects on the economic and social life of South Africans, for example, Greenpeace says “Droughts have significant and long-lasting effects on the agricultural sector of South Africa. Food security is one of the most important concerns resulting from drought as much of the country’s hunger is related to highly variable rainfall, especially in rural areas.”

The magazine Ember-energy.org contends that only “17% of South Africa’s electricity was generated from low-carbon sources in 2024, less than half the global average of 41%”. Therefore a whopping 83% of its electricity was produced using fossil fuels. Of the 17%, solar energy is 8% and windpower 5%.

Today South Africa is also heavily reliant on fossil fuels in its transportation sector. According to the UK based Evmagazine.com, “as of February 2025, South Africa’s automotive industry remains largely focused on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, with 99% of locally produced cars still running on traditional fuels”. However the Government has recently put forward a proposal to change the current trajectory, evmagazine.com states that it is offering a 150% tax deduction to induce manufacturers and investors to increase production of EV’s. The tax incentive is to begin in March 2026 and is to last for a decade and is directed, for example, at capital investments in buildings construction, refurbishments and machinery that are geared toward the EV manufacturing process. South Africa is entering the EV production arena at a relatively late stage and may have been forced to act because its major automotive trading partners, like China and Europe, are envisioning the elimination of fossil fuels vehicles in the not too distant future. Evmagazine.com considers the government’s proposal as a move in the right direction but claims that there are other obstacles to overcome, if the country is to attain an efficient EV manufacturing industry, things like reliable electricity supply, adequate charging facilities, reduction of the prices of the vehicles themselves and a more technological labor force.

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