The Gqeberha harbour exports the bulk of South Africa's manganese ore, with thousands of tons transported and stored within the city annually. (Photo: Flickr / Flowcomm) 
Compliance notices issued to a dozen manganese operators in Nelson Mandela Bay by the Department of Human Settlements’ land use enforcement unit have yet to be followed up by the city’s legal services division, sparking an angry rebuke from a city official, who promised to accelerate the matter.
The notices, in terms of Section 103 of the Spatial Land Use Management bylaw, were issued to 12 out of the 18 operators in the Markman Industrial area for “noxious use”, as the properties are used for the storage and handling of manganese.
The operators have not submitted risk management and prevention plans for approval by the metro, with some illegally occupying and putting up permanent structures on demarcated municipal-owned land.
The handling of hazardous substances and noxious use is provided for in regulation 59 of the spatial land use bylaw.
“Any use or ancillary activity which involves the storage or keeping of hazardous substances and which may result in an installation being declared a hazardous installation in terms of occupational health and safety law or which constitutes a noxious use is prohibited, unless the owner has submitted a risk management and prevention plan and the municipality has approved the plan,” the regulation reads.
The heavy manganese trucks have been widely criticised for causing substantial damage to municipal infrastructure such as roads, stormwater systems, sewerage networks, water pipelines and electrical infrastructure in Markman and other parts of the city.
Officials from the city’s human settlements directorate conducted an oversight inspection in Markman on Friday to outline some of the work done to deal with the non-compliance issue, which dates back 15 years.
/file/attachments/2984/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-23-at-1222_305218_7d76aea7cb74460565d83f4f1ad852b5.jpg "Nelson Mandela Bay human settlements officials, accompanied by the political head of the directorate, Thembinkosi Mafana, conduct an oversight visit in the Markman industrial area, where compliance notices have been issued to 12 manganese operators. (Photo: Andisa Bonani)")
The inspection follows the approval of a human settlements report by the mayoral committee last week, which instructed the legal services department to take action against the transgressors.
“The notices will assist legal services in pursuing further legal action against the property owners that have failed to comply as required by the by-law and the land use scheme regulations for purposes of obtaining a court order,” reads the report.
The report, compiled by the human settlements director for land use, Mthulisi Msimanga, states that the Markman industrial area is inundated with a myriad of enforcement challenges related to manganese operations that cut across various directorates in the municipality, including the Coega Development Corporation.
Coordination
“The realisation of the transversal nature of the challenges required that coordination be conducted at a central point of the municipality,” said Msimanga in the report.
“The land use enforcement unit conducted a site visit to profile all manganese operators in Markman.
“The site inspection revealed that there are 18 manganese operators in Markman, 12 of these operators are operating without fully complying with the requirements of the municipality’s land use scheme of 2023 in respect of appropriate land use rights, including provisions for handling hazardous substances and noxious uses
“Notices issued in terms of Section 103 of the by-law [to] assist lawyers appointed by the municipality have not been heeded to.”
During Friday’s oversight visit, the political head of the human settlements department, Thembinkosi Mafana, scolded officials for their delay in acting after non-compliance had been identified.
“I understand there was a programme to profile the manganese handlers, but what did you do after that? You just waited after serving the 20-day notices to comply, took the matter to the legal unit and did nothing to ensure the issue was dealt with.”
Mafana was also not impressed that a single law firm was appointed to deal with all 12 operators, saying this had contributed to the delays.
“As the human settlements committee, we have seen the extent of the damage in the area. The mayoral committee approved our recommendations that we take the legal route; the matter will go to council to address the challenges,” said Mafana.
“The issue of non-compliance dates back 15 years, and we will ensure that it comes to an end because municipal land is being stolen, where you find that an operator will lease a portion of land but end up using more than what was permitted, as we have seen here.
“This matter has been with the legal unit for a while; their pace in dealing with the matter is too slow.
“We will advise the mayor that a different route needs to be taken to fast-track this issue for it to get to court soon.”
Mafana said they would take the matter to court not only to claim back the city’s illegally occupied land, but to recover the money operators had obtained by using the land without permission
The executive director of human settlements, Tabiso Mfeya, said problems faced by his department in relation to the Markman matter were threefold.
“There are entities that have not complied with the zoning scheme, such as [by] illegal land use. We have sent notices so they can comply by submitting an application to the department.”
The deadlines that were set for all of them have expired.
“We now have no option but to take the legal route,” said Mfeya. “Of course, there are many delays we encounter as the directorate when it comes to the processing or the following up on the legal route to its conclusion.”
Mfeya said the second issue related to building control regulations. “This is when the operators put up an unauthorised structure, and our hope is for the court to force them to demolish.
“The last one is when the business applies for land, and before the process is concluded, they occupy the land and build permanent structures.
“One of the properties has demarcated 1.5 hectares of municipal land with a concrete wall and developed it.”
Mfeya said these were serious cases where the business owners had encroached on municipal land and continued doing so long after being served with the compliance notices.