South African authorities must do more to tackle a spate of “xenophobic” protests aimed at blocking access to clinics and hospitals to undocumented foreigners, a court ruled on Thursday.
Members of a vigilante group known as Operation Dudula have for months protested at clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity cards and refusing access to non-South Africans.
Human rights groups including Doctors without Borders (MSF) and the Treatment Action Campaign argued in court that the authorities had not done enough to stop the group.
The High Court in Johannesburg ordered officials to “take all reasonable measures to ensure safe and unhindered physical access… for all persons seeking health services”.
The court singled out municipalities, the health department and the police as having a “duty to take the necessary steps to prevent xenophobic vigilantes from blocking access to public healthcare facilities”.
“It is, in my view, a great pity that litigation was required to address what has happened at the clinics,” Judge Stuart Wilson said in his ruling.
“The weakness of the state’s response to a direct and apparently well-organised attack on its efforts to secure basic healthcare for some of the most vulnerable people in our society is of grave concern.”
Operation Dudula — meaning “push back” in Zulu — has channelled public anger over crime and unemployment toward foreign nationals.
Formed in 2020 as a “vibrant civil movement”, it has grown more visible as mostly young Black South Africans join its military-styled actions, which have included shutting foreign-owned shops and blocking migrant children from public schools.
– ‘Greatest threat’ –
MSF said in August that the group’s activities had severely affected thousands of patients at dozens of clinics, including heavily pregnant women, children and people with serious conditions from diabetes to HIV.
The NGO had also witnessed security and hospital staff “collaborating” with vigilantes at two clinics.
The High Court in November ordered Operation Dudula to stop the “unlawful” blockages, but sporadic pickets have continued.
“Xenophobia is one of the greatest threats to democracy and human rights we presently face,” Judge Wilson said, describing it as “merely another kind of racism”.
As the continent’s most industrialised economy, South Africa is a prime destination for people seeking work even though its own unemployment rate is around 32 percent.
It is home to about 2.4 million immigrants, according to official figures from 2022, making up nearly four percent of the population.
The influx, coupled with a dim economic outlook, has led to sporadic bursts of anti-immigrant violence in recent years.
