A South African Catholic diocese that donated land in 2003 says conveyancers wrongly transferred all three of its properties; a court has now ordered occupiers off the 74-hectare church site within 48 hours.

A Pretoria court ruled in 2022 that 13 congregations that left the NHKA after a dispute over its apartheid apology could transfer their properties, part of a long history of church property fights in South Africa.

Durban’s eThekwini Municipality handed worship sites in Umlazi, Mpumalanga, Cato Manor and Verulam to 23 churches, saying it wanted to promote land ownership and use churches to deliver government services.

A South African church that had tried since 2005 to buy the land it occupies defeated a municipal bid to evict it for a housing project, with the Western Cape High Court finding the council had not shown the occupation was unlawful.

Ekurhuleni metro police demolished 22 churches built on unoccupied land in 2018, with pastors saying some had stood for over a decade and that members’ donations went down the drain.

A two-decade feud between two Presbyterian churches over shared property in Mthatha neared its end when the Reformed Presbyterian congregation chose to relocate after a court ruled for the Uniting Presbyterian Church.