On a horror final day of the series for Australia on Saturday, Pat Cummins' side were all out for 111 in pursuit of 288 to lose the three-Test series 2-1.
Australia lost Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne in the opening over at Newlands and never really recovered.
And while Pat Cummins' 90-ball vigil and Nathan Lyon's unbeaten 33 in the hope of a draw delayed the inevitable, their fate was sealed when Simon Harmer bowled Josh Hazlewood just before tea.
Kagiso Rabada took 3-39 as he became the fastest man to 350 Test wickets, before Harmer's 6-16 ripped the heart out of the tourists.
The chaos was summed up when Cameron Green defended a ball past Marques Ackerman at silly point, took off and ran Josh Inglis out in the process.
Harmer also took two wickets in one over during the collapse, getting Alex Carey reverse-sweeping before Cooper Connolly was caught behind for a duck.
It reached the point of Australia's lower-order trying to shield Green from facing Harmer, before the spinner swapped ends and bowled the right-hander immediately to make it 8-62.
Only Travis Head (14) and Green (27) reached double figures out of Australia's top-eight, with the side at least avoiding being all out for less than 100 in consecutive Tests for the first time since 1936-37.
"The trend of this game was once you got yourself in there were runs to be scored and you could face lots of balls," Cummins said.
"Within the first hour, the game was away from us. We didn't really give ourselves a chance."
Australia's batting was badly exposed in Gqeberha last week when they were bowled out for 99 on the fourth day, and asked to follow on and lost the match.
But Saturday was been even more disastrous, with the series on the line at Newlands.
Renshaw was out in the first over when he tickled a ball down legside off Rabada and was caught behind before Labuschagne was lbw leaving for four.
The Queenslander reviewed and was out on umpire's call, before trudging off in what could be his last Test after 49 innings without a century.
Head then edged Rabada to gully while trying to drive outside off, before the Inglis run out headlined Australia's horror show.
The result leaves Australia with losses in three of their past five Tests, with the shock defeat to Bangladesh in Darwin no longer a one-off.
Australia's last visit to Cape Town for a Test marked the side's lowest day, with the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
Saturday was not quite as bleak, but as far as an on-field effort it was not much better.
A series loss for Australia looked near impossible when they had South Africa 6-110 on day three of a wet Gqeberha Test after winning the first in Durban.
But the Proteas fought back, rolled through Australia and won comfortably.
And a little over a week on, South Africa had won the series after overcoming a 100-run first-innings deficit in Cape Town.
Beyond their bowling, Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder's centuries on day four proved decisive, with Australia's attack unable to get anywhere near the same purchase.
It means the Proteas take first spot off Australia in the ICC Test rankings, while also leapfrogging them into the top two in the race to next year's World Test Championship final.
"We came here really confident and thought we were good enough to win, but we weren't," Cummins said.
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