The Covid-19 pandemic saw a significant increase in the allocation of CSI spend to disaster relief. This was exacerbated by the July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal. Disaster relief was supported by 71% of companies and received 8% of average CSI expenditure in 2022, significantly up from 38% of companies and 5% of CSI spend in 2011.
Type of intervention
- Most disaster relief spend (70%) was allocated to emergency response.
- Preventative measures received 15% of average disaster relief spend, and spend on rebuilding disaster-affected communities increased to 10% in 2022, from 3% in 2021. This could be attributed to the flooding and riots that occurred in KwaZulu- Natal, although flood relief spend would not have been included in most of the reporting that this data represents, and so we should anticipate higher rebuilding expenditure in 2023.
Types of disaster supported
- Just over half of the average CSI spend on disaster relief was allocated to Covid-19 pandemic support (56%). It continues to receive the largest portion of disaster relief expenditure (up from 40% in 2020).
- Nearly a fifth of the funding for disaster relief was apportioned to flooding, likely accounting for those companies where the KwaZulu-Natal floods are included in the 2022 reporting period.