Cape Town rate history — Hardship (%). Query any past effective date directly via the API.
| Effective date | Hardship (%) |
|---|---|
| Jul 12, 2026 | 15% |
| Feb 9, 2025 | 15% |
| Nov 8, 2020 | 10% |
| Feb 18, 2018 | 15% |
| Apr 19, 2015 | 10% |
| Jan 12, 2014 | 5% |
The same location's rates under other U.S. travel-rate systems:
The hardship differential compensates employees for service at Cape Town where conditions are notably more difficult than in the continental U.S. It is paid as a percentage of basic pay.
The exact request that returns this page's data. Change the
date parameter to query any historical effective
date, or pull it straight into your ERP, payroll, or expense system.
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \ "https://api.allowancesapi.com/v1/dssr/allowances/ZA?type=hardship"{
"effective_date": "2026-07-12",
"results": [
{
"hardship": {
"effective_date": "2026-07-12",
"rate": 15
},
"iso_code": "ZA",
"location": "Cape Town",
"postcode": "10412"
}
],
"verification_url": "https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=184\u0026menu_id=78"
}The current DSSR Hardship rate for Cape Town, South Africa is 15%, effective Jul 12, 2026.
In Feb 9, 2025 the Hardship rate was 15%. The full history is shown in the table above and is queryable by effective date via the API.
Allowances API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any U.S. Government agency. All rate data is sourced from official public rate tables and re-published in a normalized format.