Court halts Gqeberha evictions as families resist move into vandalised units

When the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality's bulldozers arrived at Airport Valley in Gqeberha on Monday, 28 September, Nomboniso Ntunduse's belongings were still inside her shack. Hers was one of 14 homes demolished that day, while Public Order Policing fired stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Two days later, on 30 September, the Eastern Cape High Court in Gqeberha granted residents an urgent interim order restraining the municipality from demolishing more structures or unlawfully evicting anyone. The court also ordered the City to rebuild the homes it had torn down and barred officials and law enforcement from intimidating residents.

The municipality says the community is occupying the land unlawfully. It wants residents to move to temporary relocation units (TRUs) at Walmer 1948 while it builds 445 RDP houses at Airport Valley for those on its beneficiary list.

However, residents have rejected the offer, saying the TRUs, which have been vandalised and left roofless, with no running water, electricity or sewerage, are not fit for habitation. They also cite the units’ proximity to the Walmer landfill site, where rubbish is burned daily, creating a dark cloud of smoke that they fear could affect their health.

On 1 October, the residents' Legal Aid attorney formally notified the commanders of Public Order Policing and the Walmer Police Station of the court order barring their removal.

Three groups

The land occupation dispute involves three groups of vulnerable households: RDP beneficiaries, residents displaced by the June 2024 floods, and residents whom the municipality regards as unlawful occupants.

When the municipality sought an eviction order in 2025, the court recognised that the residents lacked the financial means to easily pack up and move their families and belongings.

In the latest court papers, residents of Airport Valley and Walmer 1948 state they do not object to relocating for the new housing development – from which many stand to receive permanent brick-and-mortar homes. However, they emphasise that no clear timeline has been provided for when these houses will actually be delivered.

The residents demanded that if they relocate, land should be made available to them with the necessary infrastructure, including sewerage, water and electricity.

Phase 1 of the RDP houses project was completed in 2024, and Phase 2, which entails the construction of 445 fully serviced RDP houses, was approved in August 2023.

According to the court papers: “A site at Walmer 1948 was identified as a temporary relocation site for the persons/households living at Airport Valley who are identified as beneficiaries of the Phase 2 RDP houses. In this regard, 500 TRUs were constructed for accommodation of these beneficiaries.”

This accommodation would also be made available to flood victims. 

The municipality says the relocation was slated for completion in 2024 – paving the way for Phase 2 construction – after a court granted an initial eviction order that year and some beneficiaries voluntarily moved from Airport Valley to the TRUs in Walmer 1948 between July and August.

However, in 2025 a court ruled that evictions could only proceed once essential services, including water and sanitation, were in place at Walmer 1948. Complicating matters further, as some residents vacated Airport Valley, new households moved into the empty structures.

At a standstill

“Consequently, the remainder of the beneficiaries fear moving to the temporary relocation units, as they consider the occupation of their former household sites as a dispossession and that they have not been provided with the guarantee of returning, in other words any security of tenure. The relocation of beneficiaries from Airport Valley to the TRUs in Walmer 1948 has thus come to a standstill,” state the court papers.

The court ordered the municipality to:

• Register all individuals and households targeted for relocation to Walmer 1948;

• Ensure full access to water, sanitation, and electricity (prepaid or otherwise);

• Formulate a structured relocation plan for the eviction process; and

• Coordinate transport services, including scholar transport for pupils and designated taxi routes for working residents.

Those who faced eviction on 28 September say they were violently chased from their homes, while others were at work when their houses were demolished and their furniture destroyed, rendering them homeless.

Community leader Mara Payi said that in 2025 the courts issued an order prohibiting the City from evicting them until certain matters had been dealt with. 

“Regardless of this order, Mayor Babalwa Lobishe, on Wednesday, 23 September, went to an ANC meeting in Walmer where she issued an undertaking to party supporters that they will demolish our houses on the Friday.

“They did not go ahead with this plan, and she promised it would be done the following week on Monday, 28 September. We tried to show the officials the court order, but they would not listen to us and went ahead to demolish 14 homes.”

Payi said they approached lawyers to take the matter to court for an urgent interdict opposing the relocation.

The municipality was not represented during the court proceedings as no officials or lawyers showed up.

“That’s how we were granted the order against the metro. The judge said if the municipality fails to go to court, the order will be made permanent.”

Daily Maverick sent questions to Nelson Mandela Bay spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Payi said the area where the TRUs are located is not fit for human habitation. 

“The 2025 order specifically spoke to this issue that the City can’t move us to a place with no services. The most critical thing is that the place is at the back of the dump site where there is smoke every day and we cannot live like that because that can cause health issues for the residents.”

Nomboniso Ntunduse, whose home was demolished on 28 September, said: “I arrived in Airport Valley in 2010. In 2024 they started demolishing our homes, and we fought this in the court. We said we have no problem relocating, but how can a municipality expect us to live in a place with no electricity, running water and sewerage infrastructure?

“They are quick to destroy our homes when we have nowhere to go, and they expect us to live in the broken TRUs. It’s been raining for the past few days, and those structures don’t have roofs, ceilings, and some have human excrement on the floor.

“We had to send our children back home to the villages while we try to find a way to sort this matter out. The concerning thing is they are missing out on school, and some are in matric. I’ve been at the mercy of my community, and we've been helping each other during this painful ordeal.” DM