Johannesburg – Zimbabwean immigrants living in South Africa are pleading for access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, essential for their survival, as anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula continues to block their access to healthcare facilities. This is happening despite a court order explicitly forbidding the organisation from interfering with foreign nationals’ access to healthcare services.
The Gauteng High Court issued an interdict on 4 November, preventing Operation Dudula from demanding identification documents from individuals and obstructing foreign nationals from accessing healthcare. However, reports indicate that the group is still actively preventing immigrants from obtaining their medication at various clinics in Johannesburg.
GroundUp, a South African news agency, spoke to several immigrants who claim they have been blocked from accessing life-saving medicines at Johannesburg clinics. They accuse Operation Dudula of obstructing their access, sometimes in collaboration with clinic staff.
Witnesses have reported that at three clinics, immigrants were being chased away by security guards working alongside individuals identified as Dudula members, who were not clinic staff.
When questioned about these actions, the leader of Operation Dudula responded vaguely, stating that “ordinary citizens have joined the struggle outside our mandate.”
The national health department has urged immigrants to report any instances where their access to medicine is blocked, including cases involving health workers, to the police.
Personal Accounts of Blocked Access
Beauty, a Zimbabwean woman whose 19-year-old daughter is HIV-positive, recounted how her daughter was turned away from Alberton Clinic by Operation Dudula members. She claims the members were checking IDs and removed her daughter from the queue. Beauty’s daughter was at the clinic to collect her ARVs, which she is expected to run out of in two weeks.
Kudzai, 35, said she last received her ARVs and blood pressure pills from Spartan Clinic in Kempton Park in July. She had been attending the clinic since 2017 without any problems. However, when she visited the clinic recently, members of Operation Dudula turned her away before she could get her medication.
“I cannot die because some people are trying to gain attention through politics. I just want to live and take care of my children. If I die, who is going to take care of my kids?” said Kudzai, expressing her desperation. She urged the health department to intervene urgently to ensure that no one is denied access to life-saving medication.
Janet, a mother of a nine-year-old daughter named Chenai, who has been taking ARVs since she was six, claims that Chenai was receiving her medicines from Charlotte Maxeke Hospital until Operation Dudula members started standing at the hospital three months ago, preventing immigrants from accessing care. Janet says she now has to buy ARVs from a pharmacy for herself and Chenai, and then only when she has money.
“When her medicine runs out, she goes for days without ARVs until I manage to get money. Operation Dudula members should have a heart because even children are suffering,” said Janet. Her and Chenai’s current stock of ARVs will soon run out.
Cathrine, who has been collecting ARVs from the Jeppe Street clinic, said she has struggled to access her medication for the past three months due to Operation Dudula’s actions. She managed to buy ARVs from a pharmacy once, but she sometimes skips doses to make her pills last longer.
“We should not be denied ARVs, because without them we will die,” said Cathrine, highlighting the critical importance of the medication.
GroundUp’s Investigation
A reporter from GroundUp visited several clinics to investigate the claims. At Spartan Clinic, a woman in plain clothes was observed sitting next to a security guard at the clinic gate, checking the IDs of everyone entering the clinic. Most people who entered had South African IDs.
When Kudzai attempted to enter the clinic, both the woman checking IDs and the security guard followed her and ordered her to leave, stating that only South African citizens were allowed inside. Another security guard joined them, and they all began shouting at her to leave the clinic.
When the reporter identified herself and asked why Kudzai was being turned away, the security guards and the woman checking IDs stated that “a new rule” had been passed by the community that only South African citizens were allowed to attend the clinic, regardless of their illness.
A staff member at the clinic confirmed that the woman checking IDs and others standing at the gate were from Operation Dudula and that the clinic had been instructed not to treat foreigners. When asked if the Department of Health approved of this, the staff member said the matter was “political and beyond the clinic’s control.”
The staff member also acknowledged that they were aware that some of the people being turned away were on ARVs but reiterated that the clinic had been instructed by Operation Dudula members to turn immigrants away.
At the Kempton Park civic centre clinic, two car guards reported that Operation Dudula had already checked IDs early in the morning before the clinic opened.
At Rosettenville clinic, two women were observed sitting outside the clinic, checking IDs. A security guard stated that everyone had to pass through the women before entering the clinic. The women stated that only South African ID holders were allowed inside the clinic.
“All foreigners should either go to private doctors or go back and fix their countries. We no longer have enough medication in our clinic because of foreigners,” one of the women said. They added that immigrants were not allowed in the clinic regardless of their legal status or medication needs.
While the women did not admit to being members of Operation Dudula, immigrant informal traders selling fruits and vegetables nearby identified them as Operation Dudula members wearing ordinary clothes.
At the Alberton North clinic, two women in green reflective vests sat at the clinic entrance, stating that all foreigners with different illnesses should go to the Unjani Clinic in Germiston for free treatment or to Dischem, Clicks, or private facilities if willing to pay. They claimed that the decision came from both the clinic and the community.
These women also did not admit to being members of Operation Dudula, but immigrants nearby identified them as members of the group.
A web search indicated that Unjani Clinic charges a R300 fee, potentially creating a financial barrier for many immigrants.
Legal Action and Continued Obstruction
Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia, the South African Informal Traders Forum, the Inner City Federation, and Abahlali BaseMjondolo went to court to interdict Operation Dudula from denying access to health care to immigrants.
As previously mentioned, on 4 November, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled in their favour and stopped Operation Dudula from demanding ID documents from members of the public and from preventing foreign nationals from accessing health care.
Mike Ndlovu from KAAX said that the organisation has since received numerous complaints of immigrants being harassed or turned away at clinics, mostly in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and to a lesser extent from Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
“Our own monitoring and reports from partners like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirm it. MSF’s recent assessment found patients being turned away from more than half of the health facilities they visited in Gauteng,” said Ndlovu.
“The accounts are distressing: people living with HIV have gone for weeks without medication,” Ndlovu said, adding that the actions of Operation Dudula are in contempt of court. He called for the court ruling to be enforced.
Operation Dudula’s Response
GroundUp presented the witness testimonies to Zandile Dabula, leader of Operation Dudula, via WhatsApp before visiting the clinics.
“May thy produce proof that those people are from Operation Dudula since you know even ordinary citizens have joined the struggle outside our mandate,” she responded.
GroundUp explicitly asked her if she denied that Operation Dudula has been preventing immigrants from accessing health services since the court ruling. She did not answer.
GroundUp also asked Dabula if and how the 4 November court order had been communicated to Operation Dudula members, as the order mandates. She did not answer. After the clinic visits, GroundUp sent questions to Dabula asking if she was aware that Dudula members were blocking access to clinics. She did not answer.
Department of Health’s Response
National Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said the department is not aware of Operation Dudula’s current actions.
“If it is happening, it means they are deliberately breaking the law and undermining the court ruling, which is a serious offence,” said Mohale.
He said the department needs evidence to prove that some clinic staffers are denying people without IDs access to healthcare, including ARVs, to take action against the implicated officials.
“Anyone who breaks the law must be reported to law enforcement agencies, including police,” he added.
The situation remains dire for Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa, who are being denied access to life-saving medication due to the actions of Operation Dudula, in direct violation of a court order. The Department of Health has called for evidence and urged those affected to report these incidents to the police. However, the immediate need for access to ARVs for these vulnerable individuals remains a critical concern.
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