When we think of security in South Africa, the conversation almost always begins and ends with crime statistics, corruption scandals, or the latest crisis at Eskom. Yet beneath these immediate threats lies another, less visible danger that is steadily eroding the foundations of our society: climate change.
Unlike violent crime or political instability, which capture headlines with their urgency, climate-related risks unfold unevenly, striking hardest at those already living at the margins and deepening pre-existing vulnerabilities in ways that make communities less safe, less resilient, and ultimately less governable.
The Durban floods of April 2022 were a tragic demonstration of this reality. Over 400 lives, tens of thousands were displaced, and the region was left reeling from economic and infrastructural damage worth an estimated R17 billion.
Scientists later confirmed that the rainfall was between 40 percent and 107 percent more intense due to climate change, making such an event twice as likely as it would have been otherwise.
But the real story is not the rainfall itself; it is how those waters cascaded through layers of inequality. Informal settlements built on unstable ground, underfunded local governments unable to maintain stormwater systems, and households already struggling with poverty had no buffer against catastrophe.
What looked like a “natural” disaster was in fact a social disaster, magnified by a state unprepared for the security dimensions of a changing climate.
This pattern is tragically repeating itself. In June 2025, the Eastern Cape was once again overwhelmed; this time by floods triggered by torrential rain, gale-force winds, and even snowfall.
At least 100 people lost their lives, including dozens of children; more than 4,700 were displaced and an estimated R5.1 billion will be needed for infrastructure recovery. In one harrowing incident near Mthatha, a school bus was swept away, killing six students, with several more feared missing despite rescue efforts.
These are not anomalies to discard. They illustrate how climate stress is becoming a perpetual threat rather than a one-off shock. With every flood, South Africa’s ability to govern, protect, and hold communities together is tested and too often, found wanting.
In rural areas, droughts increasingly decimate small-scale farmers and leave households unable to meet basic food needs. According to UNICEF, 27 percent of South African children are stunted by chronic malnutrition.
When harvests fail, the crisis ripples outward, resulting in food prices spikes, the deepening of malnutrition, and migration from rural areas accelerates, stretching already fragile urban resources and social cohesion.
This is not simply natural disruption; it is structural failure intensified by a warming world.
Yet, in policy discourse, climate change remains siloed. It is still spoken of largely in terms of greenhouse emissions, renewable energy targets, and international climate summits. The very real threat that floods, droughts, and heatwaves pose to national stability is often treated as an environmental sidebar.
Disaster management frameworks and security strategies still focus on organised crime, cyber threats, and political instability, while climate’s violence is unfolding daily across households, clinics, schools, and farms.
Not all of us lose equally. In the age of climate breakdown, some actors continue to benefit. Construction companies secure lucrative contracts, corporations profit from disaster recovery, and elites leverage climate finance for private gain.
At the same time, ordinary South Africans bear the deepest costs: displacement, hunger, energy loss, and declining security. This unequal burden is what transforms climate change from a policy concern into a national security crisis.
If climate change is seen as a security issue, how might things change?
For one, adaptation would not only be about upgrading infrastructure but also about building societal resilience. That means supporting rural farmers with drought-resistant crops, embedding early warning systems into informal settlements, and ensuring that essential services such as health, water, and nutrition are strengthened in a changing climate.
It also means framing the just transition not only as an economic imperative but also as a strategy for social and national stability.
South Africa already lives amidst climate-driven instability. The real question is whether we choose to acknowledge this reality and act accordingly, or whether we allow the slow cracks in our social fabric to become chasms.
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Security is more than policing or fortified borders. It includes preventing child malnutrition, safeguarding homes against flooding, ensuring access to energy, and protecting livelihoods. Climate change is not a fringe environmental issue. It is, quite bluntly, a matter of human security, and we can no longer afford to treat it otherwise.
The Joburg Reporter 
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