With climate change happening sooner than expected and summer these days bringing fire in the south of the country and excessive rain in the north, consumers are wondering more and more about how the damage will affect their short-term insurance.
Ernest Eng, head of analytics, captives and risk finance at IMEA Marsh, says after last years destructive floods in KwaZulu-Natal KZN, the growing intensity of the Western Capes fire season, and the recent floods in Limpopo and Mpumalanga , the potential for widespread disruption was once again front of mind as South Africa faced another spell of increasingly common severe weather and thunderstorm events at the start of December, followed by severe wildfires and more disastrous rain in January.
As the Western Cape battles a ferocious start to the 2026 fire season and Gauteng prepares for heavy summer rainfall, this seasonal volatility is amplifying the impact of natural hazards and exposing a widening natural catastrophe NatCat risk protection gap.
