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The City of Cape Town's recreation and parks department says 12 drownings were recorded during the festive season.
It added that is a "bittersweet pill", despite a drop from 17 the year before.
The deaths happened between 5 December 2023 and 22 January.
Ten of the victims were male, aged between 15 and 58.
The city registered three incidents in Sonwabe, two in Muizenberg, and one each at Kogel Bay, Fish Hoek Beach, Wolfgat coastline, Monwabisi Beach, Lagoon Beach, Strandfontein Beach and Clifton 4th Beach.
The city said 67% of the incidents happened on weekends or during the school holidays.
In the same period, the city recorded 25 instances during which people survived a drowning.
The mayoral committee member for community services and health, Patricia van der Ross, urged beachgoers to be cautious.
"We are concerned about the number of incidents that have occurred outside of our designated bathing areas or lifeguard hours. I want to renew our appeal to the public to please only swim in designated areas and when our lifeguards are on duty. They will be manning the beaches until the conclusion of the Easter weekend, so make sure that you swim only under their watch," she said.
