Civil society groups, with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, are preparing legal action in a bid to force authorities to act against anti-migrant groups which are continuing to bar foreigners from accessing healthcare at state facilities.
This comes as a meeting last week between Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and anti-migrant group Operation Dudula failed to produce any tangible results, reports TimesLIVE.
Motsoaledi told the SABC he had explained to the vigilante group how the process of immigration works, emphasising that no one should be denied healthcare, regardless of their documentation status, and warning them that “problems are solved through the law, not the law of the jungle”.
“I told them they might be solving what looks like a legitimate problem but using the wrong means,” he said. “We treat everybody who is sick, and they can’t expect us to chase people away, regardless of their nationality. It is just not allowed.”
He said the group had suggested that clinic and hospital clerks should be the ones turning away illegal foreigners and stopping them from receiving medical care if they can’t prove their identity, “as they did not sign an oath like doctors and nurses”.
“If we instruct the clerks not to give anybody a file and they go out and die, we are going to be sued. Imagine a pregnant woman who enters a hospital, is refused care, and then goes and delivers a baby in the street.”
Motsoaledi said patients can’t be denied medical care even if they cannot provide proof of identity, and that many African countries have not been able to register all of their citizens.
“It is a problem across the entire continent. In fact, according to the statistics we have, the country that is farthest ahead in registering its citizens is Egypt.
“In South Africa, we have 89% documentation, meaning 11% of the population is undocumented – or about 6m people.”
He said he warned Operation Dudula members that if they continued their actions, they would turn away many South Africans who are legitimate but do not have documents.
“Having worked in Home Affairs, I have met such people…. So I am saying, be very careful.”
Motsoaledi said there was no proper conclusion to the meeting.
“I advised them that problems are solved through the law. We can’t have the law of the jungle.”
KZN Premier ‘risks fuelling xenophobia’
Controversial comments by KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli, meanwhile, have been slammed by human rights organisation Kopanang Africa, which represents foreign nationals, and which says his words risk fuelling xeonophobia, reports News24.
Ntuli was captured on a video clip saying he does not believe undocumented foreign nationals are entitled to free services just because of “human rights”.
In the video, Ntuli tells residents that undocumented foreign nationals continue to benefit from the country’s minimal health and education resources.
“They receive our free health and education, which is already limited. I don’t know if we, (Health MEC) Nomagugu Simelane, can meet as a Cabinet and discuss (that) if a person goes to the clinic or hospital, they must carry their identity document?” he said.
This would allow officials to check whether those receiving free medication were in the country legally, adding that he does not believe undocumented foreign nationals are entitled to free services just because of “human rights”.
“Then what are we saying about the human rights of residents in KwaZulu-Natal [which] the undocumented foreign nationals have taken away?”
Ntuli claimed there was a school in the province where 40% of the pupils were the children of foreign nationals. He said this was confirmed by Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka.
The Premier’s statements were supported by March and March, the militant group which has been responsible barring foreign nationals from health facilities in the province.
Founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma told News24 the organisation was happy that some politicians were joining the call to “reclaim public facilities for South Africans”.
“We have been calling for political support … and it is very pleasing that we have it now.”
However, Mike Ndlovu, a spokesperson for Kopanang Africa, said the organisation was deeply concerned by Ntuli’s remarks.
While they acknowledged the pressures on public services, blaming undocumented migrants was factually inaccurate, risked fuelling xenophobia and violated human rights, he added.
Ndlovu said Ntuli’s claim that 40% of pupils at one school were the children of foreign nationals was an isolated, unverified example.
He said national data showed that foreign-born pupils make up only 4.3% of South Africa’s total school population.
“The real driver of shortages is chronic underfunding and mismanagement, not migrant children,” he said. Additionally, he said, studies show migrants use health services less frequently, due to fear and barriers.
“The real problem is systemic underfunding and corruption. Migrants contribute significantly – paying VAT, rent, and creating jobs.
“They are also ineligible for most social grants, (which) debunks claims of ‘free service abuse’,” he pointed out.
Prof fights ‘lawlessness’
Adding his voice to the criticism against the vigilantes is world-renowned scientist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, who has condemned police inaction at Durban’s Addington Hospital, calling it “lawlessness”, after witnessing March and March outlaws illegally block foreign nationals from entering the hospital in full view of officers, reports IOL.
Thirty-five years ago, as a member of the UDF, he protested against apartheid outside the same hospital, where medical care was officially segregated by race.
This week he returned to confront the self-appointed immigration enforcers who were stopping people at the hospital gate and turning away foreigners. Even South Africans without IDs were turned away.
“These are individuals who have taken the law into their own hands and who have been given that ability to do that by the police, who deliberately did not arrest them,” he said.
Abdool Karim said the police were doing exactly what they did during the 2021 insurrection in which more than 300 people died.
“They just stand by and let illegal activity occur in front of them and they don’t arrest anyone. In fact, there was a police van nearby,” he said.
Abdool Karim said the vigilantes confirmed that they worked in shifts to ensure 24-hour surveillance at Addington and to prevent anyone without a South African ID from entering.
“So that’s the extent they have gone to. I would not be surprised if these people are being paid to do this,” he said.
He questioned why the authorities had allowed this to happen. “The police are saying, you can do whatever you want to here… the impotence of our police ….to protect the rights of people trying to enter the hospital … is a complete failure.”
Abdool Karim visited the hospital with Dr Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre. The two confronted the group at the gate, who claimed they had the authority to make a citizen’s arrest and were enforcing the country’s immigration laws.
“They were highly organised,” he said.
He made it clear that access to emergency medical care is a legal right, and that pregnant women and children under six must be treated without restriction.
“There is no country I know where a foreigner can come in and get free healthcare. They get health care, but it’s not free,” he said, noting that even in the UK, foreigners are treated, but must pay. “So it should be the same in our country.”
But decisions about who gets treated should be made by the government, not self-appointed enforcers, he added.
“What they’re doing is illegal. What they’re doing is breaching people’s privacy.”
He said the government must act decisively and humanely, according to the Constitution and the law.
Perrier told the Independent on Saturday that he and Abdool Karim were also asked to show their IDs when they arrived at the hospital, but refused, and instead, asked the vigilantes to produce theirs. “What they are doing is illegal. And the fact that the police have not acted for six weeks is very telling.”
He said the Denis Hurley Centre, along with other civil society groups, was working on a legal submission with Lawyers for Human Rights.
“What that will do is ask the court to bring an injunction against the police, to require them to act, because the police are obviously negligent in carrying out their duties.”
Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the National Department of Health said: “We condemn any …actions which interfere with the provision of healthcare services because that is tantamount to violation of the Constitution and the National Health Act. We call upon the law enforcement agencies to take action against those who undermine the law.”
Attempts to get comment from the police were unsuccessful.
IOL article – Prof fights ‘lawlessness’ at hospital gates (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Arrests as anti-migrant thugs ratchet up their campaign
State can be sued for failing foreign nationals, lawyers group says
Staff accused of helping vigilantes block migrants from clinics