iBhayi is a large predominantly Xhosa-speaking township situated north of Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Located within the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, iBhayi is the largest township in the Eastern Cape province and the ninth-largest in South Africa after Mitchells Plain near Cape Town in the Western Cape Province.
The name, iBhayi (sometimes eBhayi), is a Xhosa word meaning “the bay”.
Although iBhayi is the name used for the collection of predominantly black townships north of Gqeberha, similar to how Soweto is used for the collection of predominantly black townships south-west of Johannesburg, iBhayi is also used as a name for the city of Gqeberha amongst Xhosa-speaking people.
Most of iBhayi lies east of the R75 Provincial Route, except for its northern extensions of Masibulele, KwaDwesi, and New KwaDwesi, which lie west of the R75.
iBhayi is surrounded by the predominantly Coloured township of Bethelsdorp and the neighbourhood of Algoa Park in the west, Perseverance and Redhouse in the north-east, Swartkops in the east, and Deal Party in the south-east.
The main roads in iBhayi are the R75 to Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) and Despatch in the north, and Gqeberha in the south, and the R367/M19 to Despatch in the north and Swartkops in the south.
New Brighton has been in existence since the region was still farmland and is one of the biggest and oldest settled townships in Ibhayi, while KwaMagxaki township, which was established in 1985, is the second-highest income black suburb. KwaMagxaki is home to a diversified group of professionals, civil servants, and businesspeople.
In January 2023, a residential home in the iBhayi township of KwaZakhele was the scene of the 2023 Gqeberha mass shooting.
Subdivisions
- Joe Slovo
- KwaDwesi / New KwaDwesi
- KwaMagxaki
- KwaZakhele
- Masibulele
- New Brighton
- Soweto on Sea
- Struandale Industrial
- Zwide
- Motherwell
