The Department of Basic Education has announced the closure of schools in parts of the Western Cape due to severe weather conditions.
A Yellow Level 2 weather warning was issued by the South African Weather Service (Saws) earlier this week, which could result in flooding that leads to mudslides and disrupts roads and essential services.
The decision to suspend schooling follows a meeting between officials from the Garden Route District Municipality and the Department of Education on Tuesday, due to anticipated heavy rainfall.
Schools in certain areas of the Eden and Central Karoo education districts will be closed on Wednesday, 6 May, and Thursday, 7 May 2026. All other schools in the Western Cape will remain open.
Verified information
Residents along the Garden Route have been cautioned to rely only on verified information from local municipalities and to contact fire stations in the event of an emergency.
On Tuesday morning, Garden Route District Municipality Mayor Marais Kruger shared a video on social media, informing residents that no final decision had yet been made regarding school closures.
“We are expecting some bad weather on the 6th of May, tomorrow.”
“We have not made any final decisions with regards to schools being closed or not.”
“That will happen throughout the day,”
125 schools to close
Later in the afternoon, it was officially confirmed that all public schools in specific areas would close on 6 and 7 May 2026 due to severe rainfall warnings in George, Knysna, and Oudtshoorn.
A total of 125 schools will be closed, including Circuits 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of the Eden and Central districts, covering a wide number of schools.
This is based on a report released by the Western Cape Education Minister, David Maynier, who made the decision to close schools in the interest of pupils and teacher safety following extensive consultation with the Provincial Disaster Management Centre and the South African Weather Service.
Reopening of schools
The affected schools have been notified after an official notice of school closure was received from the head of department, and have been requested to communicate the closures to parents.
“All other schools in the Western Cape will be open unless approval has been granted for closure, which will be done on a case-by-case basis.”
While all schools are expected to open on Friday, 8 May, weather forecasts will be evaluated to determine whether any individual schools need to close for the rest of the week.
“Our default position is always to keep schools open and only close schools in exceptional circumstances, but we are mindful of the severity of the warnings in place,” Maynier said.
“We will continuously monitor and evaluate the situation to ensure that schools can reopen as soon as possible,” he concluded.
