Despite a strong police presence monitoring the situation, tensions rose high as two opposing protests between Operation Dudula and Abahlali Basemjondolo converged on the corner of Jorissen and Melle streets in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

The atmosphere escalated quickly as members of the two movements, which have differing views on illegal immigration, clashed, resulting in the police using pepper spray to defuse the situation.

The march against NGOs and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) comes just as Operation Dudula, alongside the March in March movement, recently intensified its campaign, preventing undocumented immigrants from accessing healthcare services in some parts of the country.

It is this campaign that has received criticism from the SAHRC as well as the National Department of Health, and other sectors of society, condemning Operation Dudula for turning away those deemed illegal immigrants from accessing free healthcare services.

the Johannesburg leg of the march coincided with a similar event in Durban on Thursday, where KwaZulu-Natal coordinator for Operation Dudula, Sifiso Manyala, accused the SAHRC of helping illegal foreigners and biased NGOs.

“The Human Rights Commission must stop working with these illegal foreigners. They should stop working hard in collaboration with these unpatriotic NGOs,” Manyala said.

In Johannesburg, Operation Dudula leader, Zandile Dabula, reacting to the hostile reception as members of Abahlali Basemjondolo prevented her members from handing over the movement’s memorandum of demands, stated that their stance against foreigners will not be deterred by the refusal to allow them to enter the SERI premises in Braamfontein.

“Look at them protecting foreigners over us, South African citizens. We will not be handing over our memorandum to SERI, and we will proceed to our next location, and if they too treat us like this, we will find another way to deal with them. The Abahlali Basemjondolo, who are siding with SERI and other NGOs, will remain informal settlement dwellers because they are on the side of foreigners,” she said.

Another Operation Dudula member, Petunia Meko, vowed to continue agitating for the refusal of illegal foreigners from accessing healthcare at public healthcare facilities.

“We will not stop this campaign. We believe that by-laws should be implemented. Our nurses are complaining that clinics and hospitals are dominated by illegal foreigners who take away our medicine and other resources that should be enjoyed by our people,” Meko said.

Speaking on behalf of Abahlali Basemjondolo, Thapelo Mohapi slammed Operation Dudula for singling out African migrants, for blaming and scapegoating migrants for the devastation caused by capitalism and, in countries like South Africa, extreme corruption. 

“We are prepared to engage with Operation Dudula on these issues. However, we are against their approach, which seeks to blame our brothers and sisters from the continent for the ills of this country. Our movement has always put human dignity at the centre of our struggle. We began our struggle by demanding the recognition of our humanity and dignity from the ANC and the state, which were vandalising our humanity.

“We do not only struggle for the recognition of our humanity. Every human being, everywhere, must be counted as a human being. We are in solidarity with all oppressed people everywhere. We are in solidarity with the people of Palestine, Swaziland, and the Congo. We are in solidarity with the young people facing the police on the streets of Nairobi, with people resisting ICE in the United States, and with everyone who resists the vandalisation of humanity,” Mohapi stated.

Attempts to get a comment from the SAHRC were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.

However, last month, the SAHRC condemned Operation Dudula and March in March members for their attempts to prevent non-South Africans from accessing free public healthcare in the county’s health facilities.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za

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