As Operation Dudula members are expected to roll out their national campaign today to force foreigners to pay for treatment received at state hospitals while blocking undocumented ones, the police could not outline plans to mitigate the unlawful action.
Instead, police have opted for a “wait and see” approach.
Yesterday, Dudula took to the Hillbrow Clinic in Johannesburg demanding foreigners to pay for services they received at the clinic while at Kalafolong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Tshwane, they used a loud hailer shouting “foreigners are not allowed”, and telling them to “go back home”.
Buhlewenkosi Dube, 34, a Zimbabwean national, said she disapproved the targeting of foreigners. “What they are doing is totally wrong. Foreigners are not only here in South Africa. Foreigners are everywhere. We have South Africans in our country and we do not treat them badly,’’ said Dube.
The latest developments came after Dudula members created a checkpoint at Kalafong on Monday to determine whether certain patients should be allowed to pass through based on nationality, how dark they looked and if they could present their SA IDs. The hospital had earlier this week been granted a court interdict to force police to stop the group from intimidating patients.
Gauteng police spokesperson col Dimakatso Sello said the group at Hillbrow Clinic had dispersed after an engagement with the police, adding that no incidents of violence were reported.
Dudula national coordinator Thabo Ngayo said they would embark on a nationwide picket outside clinics and hospitals for management to bill foreign nationals who use the medical services. He added they wanted records of how many foreign nationals have been serviced this year alone.
Last week a video was shared on social media where Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba went on a rant to a patient, believed to be a Zimbabwean admitted at Bela Bela Hospital, about how foreign nationals were burdening the province’s health system. This sparked Dudula's latest campaign targeted at public hospitals.
Just metres away from Kalafong's pedestrian entrance, Dudula deputy chair Dan Radebe defied the court interdict barring them from protesting outside the hospital. The interdict states that the group should be dispersed by police from the hospital's premises.
“Clearly, it says nothing about picketing, so we will carry on picketing to send the message across that the hospital is failing to enforce its own policy. We don’t know whether the hospital discharges these illegal immigrants to the street or if they summon the police and immigration officials to hand them over,” Radebe said.
Kalafong Hospital CEO Dr Sello Matjila said his understanding of the interdict was that it prevented Dudula members from protesting as it came with intimidation and barring people from entering the hospital.
Matjila said the police came earlier and later returned wanting the interdict to be read to the protesters and handed over.
“Protesters accepted the order and signed. But then they continued. Police saw it as a peaceful protest... which boggles my mind. We have escalated this to our legal department. We also have a meeting with the police tomorrow,” Matjila said.
Sowetan witnessed protesters trying to negotiate with the police, claiming that the interdict said nothing about them picketing. Police then monitored the situation until the protestors left for lunch.
Earlier in the day, speaking through a loud hailer, Dudula regional coordinator Elias Makgwadi yelled: “This hospital will only service South Africans. This is not your home. Go back to where you come from.”
Makgwadi's utterances prompted a woman in a black hijab to quickly turn around, leaving the hospital. She did not want to be interviewed.
Adv Mthuthuzeli Vimbi, who represented the Gauteng health department in the application for the court interdict, said the document ordered that they (Dudula) must stop blocking the entrance of the hospital and must stop denying people access to the facility.
“I will speak to the CEO of the hospital to understand what is the situation there. Even if they have moved away from the entrance, if they are denying people access to the hospital, it will still fall within the parameters of the court order. But I think it is something that needs to be taken with the police and the hospital management,” Vimbi said.
He added that he will meet with the state attorney to discuss the matter, which could include the amendment of the order. “The court can still be approached to make adjustments to it,” Vimbi said
Deputy state security minister Zizi Kodwa labelled the actions of Dudula in Tshwane as “pure criminality”, adding it was unlawful for any citizen to stop another person from entering a healthcare facility or to demand to see their IDs.
“Government, particularly the home affairs minister, has called for an overhaul in the immigration process which is currently underway but we can't allow actions of [Operation Dudula] to undermine the laws of the country because this will escalate to move to ethnic groups.
“Law enforcement has to act decisively. We're working with law enforcement agencies and obviously have information and following on statements made as and when [incidents] occur,” Kodwa said.
Operation Dudula Johannesburg regional chairperson Siphiwe Shabangu said their pickets would continue today outside the Hillbrow health centre, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, among others.
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