A reference to the East London court usually means the magistrate court, but Buffalo City contains four courts and three of them publish their own after hours numbers for domestic violence applications.
Official contact channels
- East London Magistrates Court: 043 702 8000
- Mdantsane Magistrate Court: 043 708 5000
- Zwelitsha Magistrate Court: 040 658 0204
- King Williams Town court at Qonce: 043 642 3548
Services and responsibilities
East London is the main seat and administers the district. Mdantsane and Zwelitsha are separate courts, and the Qonce court sits within the Zwelitsha sub district, which is why Zwelitsha also sits at King Williams Town.
Office and address information
The four courts sit across two dialling codes, 043 and 040, so the code alone will not tell you which court you have. East London itself is at 4 Buffalo Street, 5200.
Applications and escalation
The after hours numbers differ by court: East London publishes two, 083 503 9631 and 073 466 9035, Mdantsane publishes 083 216 1325 and the Qonce court publishes 078 495 7003. Use the one for the court your matter belongs to, which is normally the court for the area where the respondent lives.
Sources
- justice.gov.za/contact/lowercourts_full.html, the Department of Justice lower courts directory, read 2 September 2026.