Health & Social Welfare
11 dead and 83,184 affected as Cape Town calls for urgent donations
13 May 2026
How South Africans are showing up for Western Cape storm victims
Several South African organisations and businesses are doing their part to help victims of the recent inclement weather in the Western Cape. The storms, which ravaged large parts of the province, claimed 11 lives and left more than 83,000 residents stranded.
Image credit: City of Cape Town/X
Last week, the City of Cape Town requested urgent assistance from the public to provide several essential items, including non-perishable foodstuffs, personal hygiene products, diapers, baby formula, and blankets and bedding.
Ahead of the storms, the government had declared the extreme weather a national disaster.
As such, the Department of Social Development and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) have also assisted.
Drop-offs at PnP
Retail chain Pick n Pay has made all its stores in the Western Cape available as donation drop-off points.
Customers can donate non-perishable food items, blankets, warm clothing, baby essentials and toiletries at any Pick n Pay store across the province to support families affected by the floods and ongoing adverse weather conditions.
Pick'n Pay teams have also partnered with relief organisations to support impacted communities with emergency food relief.
This has included supporting communities in the Overberg region with hot meals for displaced residents sheltering in community halls across Zwelihle in Hermanus, Masakhane in Gansbaai and Kleinmond, as well as providing food support in Khayelitsha and Strandfontein following widespread flooding.
How to help: Visit any Pick'n Pay store in the Western Cape to donate now. To further assist, contribute to the Feed the Nation Foundation at till points nationwide and make a direct impact.
Gift of the Givers teams up with WP Cricket
As part of its partnership with Gift of the Givers, the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) is utilising the Newlands Cricket Stadium in Cape Town as an official collection point for in-kind donations.
According to a statement, this collaborative initiative aims to provide urgent humanitarian relief and restore dignity to affected families.
How to help: Act now by donating essential, new items — including mattresses, blankets, linen, towels, clothes, food, and hygiene products — at Newlands Cricket Stadium. Your help is urgently needed.
Donations can be delivered directly to the stadium from Monday, 18 May.
Financial contributions to help sustain ongoing large-scale relief operations can also be made online via Gift of the Givers or BackaBuddy.
Ford delivers aid
Also pairing up with Gift of the Givers, Ford Philanthropy is helping to deliver critical aid, including food parcels, bottled water, blankets and emergency supplies to affected families in the Western Cape as well as the Northern Cape, Free State, and Eastern Cape.
In the Northern Cape, floodwaters near Kuruman created dozens of isolated “islands”, leaving families stranded and unreachable by road.
Working alongside the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS), Gift of the Givers expanded relief efforts into the skies, deploying helicopters to airlift essential supplies to communities cut off by the floods.
Kuruman Ford in the Northern Cape assisted Gift of the Givers on the ground by providing additional vehicles and volunteers to help transport and distribute emergency supplies to isolated communities.