Overview of CSI spend on disaster preparedness and relief 2025

National context  

• The National Disaster Management Centre, part of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was allocated R1.5 billion for emergency disaster relief in 2025/26, up from R1.4 billion in 2024/25.  
• In addition to this annual budget for general emergency disaster relief and preparedness, significant extra funding has been allocated through mid-year budget adjustments and supplementary funding by National Treasury for post-disaster reconstruction: R684 million in October 2024 to rebuild and fix municipal infrastructure damaged by floods in 60 municipalities and provincial sector departments in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Free State; R1.2 billion in July 2025 to municipalities affected by disasters including severe snowfall and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and the Eastern Cape; and a further R708 million in August 2025, prioritising the Eastern Cape. 
• The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Africa 2024 report, released in May 2025, finds that the past decade has been the warmest on record in Africa and that sea surface temperatures reached record highs in 2024. Exceptionally heavy rainfall and devastating floods affected multiple locations across Africa, while prolonged drought in Southern Africa led to widespread crop failures, food insecurity and significant humanitarian and environmental challenges. While the accuracy and accessibility of weather services in Africa are improving, scaling up digital transformation requires greater investment in infrastructure, stronger data sharing frameworks and more inclusive service delivery. 
• • South Africa was the first G20 country to launch its national Early Warning 4 All (EW4All) Roadmap at a meeting of the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRR WG) in Cape Town in October 2025. The EW4All initiative was launched at COP27 in 2022 and is led by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. It aims to ensure universal protection from hazardous hydrometeorological, climatological and related environmental events through life-saving multi-hazard early warning systems, anticipatory action and resilience efforts by the end of 2027. 

Overview of CSI spend  

Disaster preparedness and relief was supported by 44% of companies and received 3% of average CSI expenditure. 

• Most disaster relief spend (67%) was allocated to emergency response in 2025, declining from 70% in 2024 and returning closer to levels recorded in 2023 (64%). 
• Average CSI spend on rebuilding disaster-affected communities increased notably, from 16% in 2023 to 28% in 2025. 
• Spending on preventative efforts remained low at 5%.