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 Limpopo Province

Notice No. 7487 of 2026
Purchase cart Previous page Return to chapter overview Next page

 

Notice No. 7487

18 May 2026

GG 54695

 

Department of Co-operative Governance

 

I, Dr Elias Sithole, in my capacity as the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, after having deliberations with various organs of state and the Head of the Provincial Disaster Management Centre through National Joint Flood Coordinating committees (NJFCC), and after assessing the magnitude and severity of severe weather that resulted in lightening, strong and damaging surface winds, heavy rainfall, and flooding from 12 March 2026, causing significant impact in many parts of the Limpopo Province, resulting in the loss of life, damage to property, infrastructure and the environment, as well as the disruption of basic services, 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), I classify the disaster as a Provincial Disaster.

 

Emanating from the classification, in terms of section 40, read with section 23 of the Act, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage this provincial disaster, in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements, is designated to the Provincial Executive.

 

I hereby—

(i) in terms of Section 15(2)(aA) of the Act, read with section 23(8), call upon all organs of state to further strengthen their support provided to the existing structures to implement their contingency arrangements and to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to enable the Provincial Executive to effectively deal with the effects of this national disaster; and

 

(ii) in terms of section 22(a) of the Act—
(a) read with section 20(2) of the Act, encourage organs of state, the private sector, communities and individuals to improve their practices of risk avoidance programmes through the implementation of flood risk reduction practices.
(b) 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
(c) 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 Elias Sithole

Head: National Disaster Management Centre

Date: 18/04/2026

 

Schedule

 

The Provincial 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 41(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 Provincial 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 41(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 41(5) of the Act.