Event.
Torrential rains have caused severe flooding across Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, claiming over 200 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands in the opening weeks of 2026. Widespread damage to infrastructure, including collapsed roads, bridges, and schools, has compounded crop losses surpassing 70,000 hectares and sparked cholera outbreaks. National emergencies have been declared, with ongoing rescues as forecasts predict additional heavy downpours.
Figure. Flooding Scenes in Tete Province, Mozambique (AFRO News) and Giyani, South Africa (Channels TV), with Southern Africa Security Overview Map highlighting the three countries and an Africa inset locator map for regional context (Source – Neptune’s TRM App)
Comment.
Flooding has resulted in at least 103 deaths in Mozambique amid impacts on over 200,000 people, with 30 fatalities in South Africa, and 70 in Zimbabwe, pushing regional tolls beyond 200. Devastation encompasses more than 1000 homes destroyed in Zimbabwe, extensive road failures, and the shutdown of South Africa’s Kruger National Park, where 600 tourists and staff were evacuated. These natural disasters are not prejudicial and strike zones anywhere, in this case, central to corporate operations. Examples are cyclones halting Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin gas projects affecting companies like Total Energies; droughts crippling Zimbabwe’s tobacco and mining sectors affecting British American Tobacco; with seasonal floods disrupting South African platinum mines operated by Anglo American – weather related events that have caused economic damages in the billions regionally.
Assessment.
Basic contingency plans assist companies business continuity and resilience. Yet, these floods and subsequent economic loss overshadow a corporate naivety regarding such resilience and also the legal and moral obligations for employee safety when travelling, often leading to avoidable exposures in volatile regions without proper foresight. Financially, such oversights can trigger hefty liabilities through compensation claims, operational halts, or insurance hikes, while reputationally, they invite public backlash and eroded investor confidence worldwide. Even the very basic contingency plans are missing with some companies such as the daily whereabouts of their travelling employees. Organisations should prioritise incorporate natural disasters including those generated through bas weather within their risk assessments, aligning their travel risk management, with key standards like ISO 31030 to fortify their duty of care.
