Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue in South Africa – it is undermining constitutional rights by disrupting access to education, healthcare and other essential services. As floods become more frequent and severe, the government must urgently implement climate adaptation measures instead of relying on reactive disaster responses
By Jonathan West and Thato Gaffane
3 Jul 2026
Floodwaters pour through an informal settlement in Durban between the M19 and Quarry Road on 12 April 2022. Persistent heavy rain in parts of KwaZulu-Natal resulted in widespread flooding. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart)
When a road is destroyed, teachers can’t teach. When a classroom floods, learners can’t learn. When a bridge collapses, critical medicines don’t make it to the clinic
The destruction caused by climate change is felt not just in infrastructure; climate change is severely impeding access to constitutional rights. The legal obligations of the state to protect these rights is clear, but without meaningful engagement with the obligations, South Africa remains vulnerable to the increasing risks of climate change
In 2026, SA has been battered by severe floods and heavy rainfall, beginning in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal before escalating dramatically in May and spreading across the Western Cape, North West, Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape, meaning that eight of the country’s nine provinces have now been affected by extreme weather events
The effect of this has been devastating. Roads have collapsed, homes have been washed away, schools have closed and healthcare facilities have struggled to function under increasingly volatile weather conditions. While extreme weather itself may be unavoidable, the scale of the destruction it causes is deeply shaped by governance failures, poor infrastructure planning and the state’s inability to prepare for a climate reality that scientists have warned about for decades
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its 2025 advisory opinion on the obligations of states with respect to climate change, affirmed that the environment is the foundation for human life, upon which the health and wellbeing of both present and future generations depend
In SA, climate change is already undermining the rights to basic education, healthcare, dignity and even life itself. Many public schools in SA are already facing severe infrastructure problems. These issues include inadequate sanitation and dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms. They are further exacerbated during floods and other extreme weather events, with devastating consequences for the right to education. An example is the impact that the 2025 KZN floods had on pupils at Macingwane
The impact often extends beyond the classroom and the school. Families lose homes, communities are displaced, and children are left traumatised by destruction, injury and death in their communities. The 2022 floods in the Eastern Cape had a devastating effect on the community of Thulandivile, with a notable lack of assistance from the provincial government or Disaster Management
A direct threat to constitutional rights
The failure to climate-proof public infrastructure is therefore no longer only a governance issue; it is a direct threat to constitutional rights protected under sections 24, 27 and 29 of the Constitution
It therefore becomes an obligation to adequately prepare for the climate crisis, which is not just moral or political, but legal. Internationally, SA has ratified key climate treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, all of which impose obligations to mitigate climate harm and strengthen adaptation measures. Domestically, the Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 was intended to provide a framework for responding to these escalating risks.
The Climate Change Act requires that the government undertake climate change needs and response assessments within one year of the legislation coming into operation. Thereafter, vulnerable sectors, including basic education and health, are required to develop adaptation response plans to address identified risks within two years. However, these important provisions are not operational until the minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment makes regulations
In other words, while floods continue devastating communities and disrupting constitutional rights, key parts of SA’s climate governance framework remain trapped in administrative delay on the part of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. All this despite promises that the regulations were in advanced stages more than a year ago. Climate change is not waiting for regulations. Floods are not pausing while the government finalises frameworks. Yet SA continues approaching climate adaptation as though it remains a future governance project rather than an immediate constitutional emergency.
SA’s delay in bringing its own law into effect is mirrored in its apparent apathy on the global stage. In May 2026, SA abstained from voting on a United Nations General Assembly resolution affirming stronger international legal obligations relating to climate change and supporting the ICJ advisory opinion. While the government justified its abstention on the basis of equity and differentiated responsibility concerns, the decision raises troubling questions about political urgency at a moment when climate impacts are already devastating communities across the country.
SA is correct to insist that wealthy countries bear disproportionate historical responsibility for the climate crisis. But that cannot become an excuse for domestic inaction. Our government is quick to assign responsibility globally, but locally we remain dangerously unprepared for climate disasters
Warning signs
The warning signs are no longer subtle – for the second time this year, the government declared flooding a national disaster. But climate change cannot continue to be managed solely through reactive disaster response. These are not isolated emergencies. They are increasingly predictable climate events that require long-term adaptation planning and immediate infrastructural intervention
The government cannot afford to wait for perfect regulatory alignment before acting. We urgently need climate-resilient infrastructure development and the retrofitting of existing schools, clinics, hospitals and roads to withstand extreme weather events. Flood-prone schools must be identified. Drainage and sanitation systems must be strengthened. Emergency continuity plans must be developed. Roads and transport infrastructure must be redesigned to ensure that learners, teachers, healthcare workers and patients can continue accessing essential services during climate disasters.
If climate change is already disrupting education and healthcare, adaptation cannot remain a future promise. Without urgent intervention, school closures, collapsed infrastructure, disrupted healthcare services and climate displacement will become normalised features of public life in SA
Once that happens, constitutional rights will increasingly depend on whether public infrastructure can survive the next flood. DM
Jonathan West is a candidate attorney at SECTION27 and Thato Gaffane is an Attorney in the Education Rights Programme at SECTION27
- Maverick Citizen
- Maverick Earth
