A community clinic just north of Johannesburg has become the frontline of a battle in South Africa over whether foreigners can access public health facilities.
What started as a small local action in one area in 2022 has spread, with activists from the avowedly anti-migrant group, Operation Dudula, picketing some hospitals and clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Thay check identity cards and stop anyone who is not South African from entering.
“Dudula” means to remove somthing by force in the Zulu language.
Despite some arrests, the authorities seem unable to prevent the pickets.
The site of their latest campaign is in Dieplsoot – a poor township of more than 200,000 people near the countryS commercial hub.
On a cool, spring Thursday morning, Sicelokuhle Moyo, dressed in a blue-and-beige skirt, thick windbreaker aSouth Africa is home to about 2.4 million migrants, just less than 4% of the population, according to official figures. Most come from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which have a history of providing migrant labour to their wealthy neighbor.
Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa which has been accompanied by occasional outbursts of deadly violence, and anti-migrant sentiment has become a key political talking-point.
having started as a campaign, Operation Dudula, which has, at times, been accused of using force to make its point, is now a political party with ambitions to contest next year’s local government elections.
Party leader Zandile Dabula insists that what her organisation is doing at public clinics in Johannesburg and other parts of the country is justified.
“We want prioritisation of South Africans. Emergency care – we understand that you must be treated – but if you are illegal you must be handed over to the law enforcers,” she told the BBC.
When challenged with the fact that many migrants are in the country legally, she pivots to the argument that South Africans need to be prioritised because there are minimal resources.”Life comes first, we don’t deny that, but it cannot be a freebie for everyone. We cannot cater for the whole globe. We don’t have enough.”
the constitution guarantees the right to access healthcare for everyone in the country,nonetheless of nationality or immigration status.
But Ms Dabula says the public h
Operation Dudula Disrupts Healthcare Access in South Africa
A controversial citizen’s movement, Operation Dudula, is causing meaningful disruption to healthcare access in South Africa, particularly for foreign nationals. The group, which claims to be fighting for the rights of South Africans to employment and services, has been targeting clinics and hospitals, demanding that foreign patients prove their legal status before receiving treatment.
The movement’s actions have led to reports of patients being turned away from healthcare facilities, raising serious concerns about human rights and public health. Healthcare workers report feeling intimidated and unable to provide care without fear of confrontation.
“We frequently enough find that the medication we need is not available. But since foreign nationals stopped using the clinic, there has been a difference,” she said.
Ironically, some South Africans have not been spared from the anti-migrant campaign.
They too have been turned away from public health facilities because they could not produce an ID book – more than 10% of South Africans are thought not to have proper documents proving their nationality.
But it is indeed the flouting of the constitution in Operation Dudula’s actions that angers activists on the other side of the argument.
“To have a group that is not sanctioned by the state to make decisions about who gets in and who gets out is deeply problematic,” said Fatima Hassan, a human rights lawyer from the organisation Health Justice Initiative.
“Unless government gets a handle on this situation quite soon, it’s going to lose the ability to do law and order itself.”
Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla told the BBC that his government was against the targeting of foreign nationals or anyone else trying to use local clinics and hospitals.
“We don’t agree with that approach because health is a human right. As much as we understand the fact that the provision of services must be properly organised, you don’t organize it through bullying kind of methods,” he told the BBC.
Several major political parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic alliance, have also condemned Operation Dudula.
But a recent attempt to take it to court by the South african Human Rights Commission failed on a technicality, effectively allowing the group to continue its activities.