Santam and South African weather service partner to strengthen countrywide early warning and forecasting capabilities

Santam, Africa’s largest general insurer, and the South African Weather Service (SAWS) have today announced a partnership aimed at strengthening the country’s early warning and forecasting capabilities and to ensure communities are better prepared to deal with severe weather-related occurrences and disasters. 

The partnership has been spurred on by data that shows South Africa is experiencing increasingly frequent and severe weather events, with heightened floods, storms and fires, which cause loss of life and billions of rands in damages. Early warning systems play a key role in warning people of impending hazards and are therefore not a luxury but cost-effective tools to enhance preparedness, save lives and reduce economic losses. Despite this, there are still major observational gaps across parts of South Africa.

It is against this backdrop that Santam has sponsored the SAWS with the installation of nine automatic weather stations (AWSs), across the country.  

Tavaziva Madzinga, the Santam Group CEO, said the strategic partnership with the SAWS will play a critical role in enhancing disaster risk management in the country. 

‘The SAWS is the only entity mandated to issue severe weather‑related warnings over South Africa. By strengthening its observation and forecasting capabilities, we are helping to ensure that early warnings are accessible, credible and localised, so that South Africans can act before weather hazards escalate into disasters,’ he said. 

Madzinga added that from an insurance perspective, early warnings help reduce losses across households, businesses and the broader economy. Disasters are happening more often and are costing more. Available data indicates that annual disaster costs have grown to around US$180 – US$200 billion between 2001 and 2020, up from US$70 – US$80 billion, from the two previous decades (i.e. 1970 – 2000). The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction confirms that global disaster losses have intensified in recent years, exceeding US$2 trillion a year, when accounting for cascading and ecosystem costs. In South Africa, the 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal are estimated to have cost over R50 billion in damages. 

‘Simply put, early warning enables early action. If people delay travel, secure property, move vehicles or protect agricultural assets based on credible early warnings, exposure is reduced and losses are minimised. That’s shared value for communities, insurers and society as a whole,’ said Madzinga.
 
The SAWS’ Acting CEO, Dr Jonas Mphepya, hailed the collaboration as a prime example of public private partnership. He said the new AWSs were a welcome addition to the SAWS’ observation network. 

“Currently, our network boasts 273 AWSs, 211 Automatic Rainfall Stations, 26 Lightning Detection Network Sensors, 25 Climate Stations and 12 Meteorological RADAR systems, among other things.  In a time of frequent and intensifying severe weather events, the importance of reinforcing our observational infrastructure, which the bedrock of our weather and climate services, cannot be overemphasised,” Dr Mphepya said, adding that the SAWS was grateful to Santam for the sponsorship.  

The installations include four AWS units in Limpopo and Mpumalanga piloted during 2021 and 2022, as well as five additional stations that have recently been commissioned in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng. These stations are operational and integrated into the SAWS weather observation system network, providing critical weather data.

The locations of the new stations were identified through a needs-driven process led by the SAWS, focusing on areas with known observational gaps and heightened exposure to disruptive rainfall, flooding and severe weather events. The eastern seaboard, stretching from the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and into north-eastern parts of Limpopo have experienced repeated episodes of extreme and disruptive rainfall in recent years, while additional gaps were identified in parts of the Western Cape and Gauteng.
Santam and the SAWS are formalising the partnership, to create a structured platform for future investments in weather observation infrastructure, awareness initiatives and capacity-building to support the SAWS in executing its national and international responsibilities.
“This collaboration allows us to do more and reach further. By strengthening early warning systems, we are saving lives and helping South Africans avoid preventable loss by building greater resilience to extreme weather,” said Madzinga.

The partnership is anchored in South Africa’s broader disaster risk reduction commitments. The country is a signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), which calls for a substantial increase in the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems. It also aligns with the United Nations’ Early Warnings for All initiative, which aims to ensure that every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems by 2027.

Beyond infrastructure, the partnership also places strong emphasis on awareness and education. Santam works with municipalities, schools and community organisations to improve understanding of weather warnings and how people should respond to them. This includes targeted education campaigns, school-based initiatives and community radio programmes in local languages in high-risk areas.