Court orders eviction notices be served at Wingfield, Paint City sites
29 August 2025
The Western Cape High Court has granted the City of Cape Town and the national Departments of Home Affairs and Public Works permission to instruct the Sheriff to serve notices of eviction for the Wingfield and ‘Paint City’ (Bellville) sites unlawfully occupied by foreign nationals. The service of this application will now be carried out in accordance with the court’s order, i.e. by the Sheriff in person and as translated. While hundreds of foreign nationals have accepted support to relocate from these sites over several years, the remaining unlawful occupants have refused all offers of assistance by the state and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Read more below:
Foreign nationals were initially relocated to the two sites – Wingfield and Paint City - under Covid-19 Level 5 lockdown emergency regulations, and after the High Court granted their eviction from Green Market Square and the Central Methodist Church. At the time, the foreign nationals cited fears of xenophobia and demanded relocation to Europe or Canada, which is not lawfully possible.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) completed various repatriation and deportation processes, and with the assistance of the City and NPOs, hundreds of foreign nationals were also reintegrated into their local communities of origin.
DHA and UNHCR processes have long concluded at both sites, with an eviction now being sought for the remaining unlawful occupants who have refused to re-integrate back into South African communities, as well as all offers of support, and who continue to insist on relocation to a place outside of South Africa or their countries of birth. Many, if not all of the Respondents are in family units and meaningfully engaged in self-sustaining economic activity while remaining in unlawful occupation with the aim of leveraging this for repatriation to first-world countries.
Around 160 unlawful occupants remain at the Wingfield site – under the custodianship of national Public Works – while around 200 remain at the City-owned Paint City site in Bellville. At the Paint City site, violent hostility exists between factions of the unlawful occupants, as well as towards law enforcement authorities.
The DHA continues to bear expenses for tented accommodation and related matters at the sites, which cannot reasonably continue with repatriation and reintegration operations now long concluded.
‘This joint application aims to restore these sites to their original public use and to bring an end to the undignified conditions for the sake of the unlawful occupants and the general public, as these sites have generated a great deal of public complaints, including traffic, crime and waste challenges,’ said Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Multiple offers of assistance have been made by the DHA, UNHCR, NPOs, and the City to reintegrate and repatriate the foreign nationals, with hundreds of people having taken up these opportunities following assessment operations. The demands of remaining unlawful occupants for relocation to Europe or Canada can never lawfully be met, nor can the state continue to bear expenses related to these sites, which were never intended to provide permanent accommodation, but rather temporary shelter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
