diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/gitea/pvc.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/gitea/pvc.yaml
index 738dc57f..bbc49a1e 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/gitea/pvc.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/gitea/pvc.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
 # - Name, namespace, accessModes, storageClassName and volumeMode must match
 #   the live claim exactly: they are immutable, a mismatch fails the whole
 #   gitea Kustomization (no change to the live claim).
+# - volumeName must stay: kustomize-controller has owned spec.volumeName
+#   since the namespace move pre-created this claim (eb23d3ac, #878).
+#   Without it, server-side apply tries to clear the field and the API server
+#   rejects the whole claim as an immutable-spec change.
 # - Grow only. A smaller value is rejected by the API server.
 # - prune: disabled, so removing this file from git never deletes the claim
 #   and its data. To hand ownership back, delete the file; the claim stays.
@@ -29,6 +33,7 @@ spec:
   accessModes: ["ReadWriteOnce"]
   storageClassName: ceph-block
   volumeMode: Filesystem
+  volumeName: pvc-e7c56db2-481d-40cb-b94a-b264b7b4b5be
   resources:
     requests:
       storage: 60Gi