Armed with clipboards and camouflage, members of Operation Dudula have turned public hospitals and clinics across Gauteng into de facto border posts, physically blocking anyone who cannot prove South African citizenship.
Pregnant Mother Flees 500 km for Prenatal Care
Blessing Tizirai, 28, from Zimbabwe, is four months pregnant. Last week she was denied entry to three clinics in Pretoria. Yesterday she arrived in Musina on the northern border – a 10-hour bus ride because only there can she see a midwife without fear. “I left my job and my home so my baby can have check-ups,” she told reporters outside a border-town clinic.
Court Ban Ignored as Blockades Spread
The Johannesburg High Court declared these blockades illegal last month. Yet every morning, Dudula members in military-style uniforms station themselves at entrances in Soweto, Tembisa, Alexandra and Pretoria. Mothers carrying sick infants and elderly patients on chronic medication are routinely turned away.
“This Hospital Is for Citizens Only”
Dudula spokesperson Tholakele Nkwanyana defended the campaign outside Kalafong Hospital: “We are protecting public services for South Africans. Foreigners must use private facilities or go home.”
Health Minister: “We Treat Humans, Not Passports”
Health Minister Joe Phaahla condemned the actions in an urgent press conference Wednesday: “Our nurses took an oath to save lives, not to check nationality. These vigilantes are endangering patients and breaking the law.”
Police Overwhelmed, Arrests Rare
Police made headlines last week when they arrested 12 Dudula members after they stormed a Soweto maternity ward. But officers admit they are stretched thin by violent crime and cannot guard every clinic.
Backfire: South Africans Also Denied Care
Human rights groups report thousands of citizens without their ID books on them are being refused treatment. Doctors Without Borders called it “a public health crisis created by civilians playing immigration officer.”
As unemployment hovers above 31% and clinics buckle under pressure, Operation Dudula insists they are the people’s last defence. For the patients locked outside the gates, the only thing rising faster than anger is desperation.
