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Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002)

Notices

Severe Weather Events

Classification of a National Disaster in terms of Section 23 of the Act : Impact of Severe Weather in the Country

Notice No. 7516 of 2026

 

Notice No. 7516

26 May 2026

GG 54740

 

Department of Co-operative Governance

 

I, Dr Bongani Elias Sithole, in my capacity as the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, after having deliberations with various organs of state and Heads of Provincial Disaster Management Centres through Intergovernmental Structures, and after assessing the magnitude and severity of the severe weather that resulted in heavy rainfall, flooding, thunderstorms, damaging surface winds and snowfall that caused the loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure and the environment, as well as the disruption of basic services from 17 to 30 April 2026, in the North West, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces, hereby give notice that I regard this occurrence as a disaster and, in terms of Section 23(1)(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002), classify the disaster as a national disaster.

 

Emanating from the classification, in terms of section 26, read with section 23 of the Act, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage this disaster, in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements, is designated to the National Executive.

 

I hereby—

(i) in terms of Section 15(2)(aA) of the Act, read with section 23(8), call upon organs of state across the three spheres of government to further strengthen their support to the disaster management structures to implement their contingency arrangements and to ensure that measures are put in place to enable the National Executive to effectively deal with the effects of this disaster; and

 

(ii) in terms of section 22(a) of the Act—
(a) read with sections 25(1)(c), 39(1)(c), 39(2)(k), 53(1)(c) and 53(2)(k) of the Act, and other applicable legislation, recommend that the National Executive, the respective Provincial Executives and the respective Municipal Councils, implement a multisectoral prevention, mitigation, relief and rehabilitation plan to deal with the effects of the disaster; and
(b) read with section 21(a)(ii) of the Act, recommend that each organ of state prepares and submits progress reports, in line with the requirements of the National Disaster Management Centre, to monitor the response initiatives by organs of state, non-governmental organisations and communities.

 

Furthermore, all affected organs of state must prepare and submit reports, as required by the National Disaster Management Centre and as outlined in section 24(4) to (8) of the Act.

 

The future revocation of the classification of this disaster, together with its preconditions, is set out in the Schedule hereto.

 

 

Dr Bongani Elias Sithole

Head: National Disaster Management Centre

Date: 09/05/2026

 

Schedule

 

The National Executive dealt with the provincial disaster in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements without declaring a provincial state of disaster in terms of section 27(1) of the Act.

The classification is revoked by the Head: National Disaster Management Centre when the occurrence can no longer be regarded as a disaster in terms of the Act upon reassessment by the NDMC.

The National Executive dealt with the provincial disaster in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements as augmented by regulations and/ or directions following the declaration of a provincial state of disaster in terms of section 27(2) of the Act.

The classification of a provincial disaster is automatically revoked when the provincial state of disaster is terminated or lapses in terms of section 27(5) of the Act.