Members of Operation Dudula evict immigrants from the Jeppe Clinic in central Johannesburg. The provincial health department said it was unaware of this.
On Monday, GroundUp saw people in Operation Dudula Shirts protesting inside and outside clinics, telling immigrants to leave and seek health care in their countries of origin. Some people we spoke to said they were unable to collect their medicines or keep their appointments.
Members of Operation Dudula harassed immigrants outside several Gauteng clinics last year, including Hillbrow and Kalafong in Tshwane. The current focus appears to be the Jeppe Clinic.
“Dudula said I should go back to my country and give birth there,” Wema Musa, who is eight months pregnant, told GroundUp. “It’s not easy because my husband and I live here and he works. I have to go to the clinic for my son very much.
Early last week, a friend took him to the Jeppe Clinic and he was asked to come back for a test last Friday. But they arrived to find members of Dudula blocking the clinic and were kicked out again. On Monday he was able to enter but he said members of Dudula entered and ordered all immigrants to leave. On Tuesday, the same thing happened.
Also Read: ‘I stand by my word’: Limpopo Health MEC says SADC countries must pay their citizens
Musa needs a card from the clinic that will allow her to enter the hospital when it’s time to give birth. They should also take the iron tablets required by pregnant women who are offered at the clinic, but have not yet received prenatal care.
‘Things are not good at home’
Neither she nor her husband speak English or South African, and she relies on someone else to translate for her.
“The situation is not good, back to Malawi. I hope to deliver the baby in South Africa without any trouble,” said Musa.
Violet Ncube, from Zimbabwe, said Dudula members ordered her out of the clinic last Friday when she left with her three-year-old grandson, who was suffering from flu and fever.
“Dudula came in and asked that all foreigners should leave and that only South Africans could receive treatment.”
He said several people were assaulted by members of the group.
Ncube went home with the child. The son then came back asking for the boy to be treated, and he was given medicine.
“Accessing medical care for us immigrants is no longer easy because Dudula showed up at the clinic. It’s as if someone calls when migrants come to the clinic, signaling them to drive them away,” said Ncube.
He said even though immigrants speak the local language, sometimes “the accent or the type of clothing gives us away”.
“Some neighbors are now avoiding the clinic,” Ncube said.
Ethel Musonza, from Zimbabwe Isolated Women in South Africa (ZIWISA), confirmed that Operation Dudula was driving people away from the Jeppe Clinic.
“We have immigrants with chronic diseases such as HIV, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases who have not been able to access medicine since Dudula started preying on immigrants in the clinic. We need to ask people with extra tablets to help others.
Operation Dudula ‘inhumane’ treatment
In November last year, Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), ZIWISA, and other organizations staged a picket at the Hillbrow clinic demanding better treatment for immigrants.
“Depriving people of health care based on their nationality is inhumane, unjust and illegal,” said Claire Ceruti of KAAX.
“The law is clear that everyone has the right to health care whether they have papers or not. It is abhorrent for anyone to deny someone who is already vulnerable access to health care.
Ceruti said the health crisis in South Africa will not be solved by denying immigrants access.
“Groups like Dudula need to look at the causes of the health crisis,” Ceruti said.
GroundUp spoke to other immigrants who sought HIV medication at Jeppe’s clinic. On Monday and Tuesday he should return without anti-retroviral treatment. Now, he said, he’s running out.
WATCH: MP calls for Zimbabwean health minister to be summoned to parly after Dr Phophi video
“I’ve tried to get other people to share the tablets with me, but it’s not easy for anyone, knowing that their lives depend on the drug.”
Asked for comment, Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mogale said the Department was not aware of any specific facilities targeted by Dudula.
“No one has the authority to harass health service providers. The department has discussed with the leader of Operation Dudula and asked them to raise their concerns through proper channels, instead of harassing health service providers and protesting in health facilities,” said Mogale.
Originally published on GroundUp.