‘These groups of people have been blocking access to health facilities, thus causing serious disruptions to the orderly provision of health services to vulnerable, ill people seeking help at our health facilities. These kinds of activities are a violation of the South African Constitution and deprive people of their fundamental rights, and are consequently illegal,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Thursday.

He was speaking during a visit to the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Pretoria where he met the hospital management and the leadership of Operation Dudula.

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla at Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville. (Photo: Screenshot from video)

Since early August, a group of Operation Dudula members had been holding anti-foreigner protests outside the hospital, with reports of patients and staff being intimidated. Operation Dudula had blocked the entrance to the hospital and turned away patients who they believed were undocumented foreign nationals, based on the colour of their skin and the language they speak, GroundUp reported.  

On Friday, 26 August, the Gauteng MEC for Health obtained a court interdict from the Pretoria High Court prohibiting the group from “threatening and denying” patients and employees access to the hospital.  

The interdict was pinned to a noticeboard outside the hospital. However, Dudula was undeterred and on Monday the group resumed protests outside the hospital, demanding to see people’s ID documents, TimesLive reported.

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla briefs the media on the impact of sporadic protests over access to health services at Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville. (Photo: Screenshot from Facebook)

The police were reported to have been a few metres from the hospital, monitoring the situation. In response to questions from Daily Maverick on Wednesday, Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello said “the police did attend to the protest action” outside the hospital.  

“On Tuesday, the police accompanied the hospital representatives to serve and read the court interdict to the protesters and the group was dispersed from the hospital. As per the mandate, the police continued to monitor the group that was picketing peacefully outside the hospital yard. No incidents or injuries have been reported,” Sello told Daily Maverick. 

Operation Dudula-EFF violence

On Thursday, a violent scuffle broke out outside the hospital between members of Operation Dudula and members of the EFF, because of their contrasting views on migrants. This was not the first time the two groups have clashed. In July, the two groups clashed at the scene of a Soweto tavern shooting. Before that, the EFF accompanied its former branch secretary Victor Ramerafe to open a criminal complaint against Operation Dudula’s leader, Nhlanhla Lux. 

While the EFF butted heads with Dudula Operatives outside, Phaahla met with the Tshwane leadership of the organisation inside the hospital.  

Members of Operation Dudula sing and chant slogans during their protest against undocumented migrants as they burn EFF flags outside Kalafong hospital. (Photo: Phill Magakoe / AFP)

Following what Phaahla called a “fruitful” meeting with the leadership of Operation Dudula at the hospital on Thursday, the minister said Dudula’s leadership had agreed to stop protesting and would engage in further consultations with the government over the grievances it had raised.  

Phaahla said some of the concerns raised by the group included “pressure on the hospital”, “long queues”, and “allegations of people stealing medicine and corruption”, which Dudula blames on foreign nationals.  

The Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla Minister speaks to health workers during his visit to Kalafong hospital in Atteridgeville. (Photo: Supplied)

“We have agreed that these are matters which are very important and which we can address without any need for picketing and demonstrations. On the basis of that, we have agreed on the process of engagement locally with the hospital management of Kalafong, but also at a provincial level with the leadership of Gauteng health,” said Phaahla. 

WATCH: The Minister of @HealthZA, Dr Joe Phaahla elaborates on a successful meeting had with the leadership of Operation Dudula, who have been protesting outside @kalafong_health preventing immigrants from entering the facility. pic.twitter.com/nrwqAz2V0V

— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) September 1, 2022

Operation Dudula’s national administrator and greater Tshwane regional secretary, Pat Mokgalusi, said Dudula was satisfied with the engagement they had with the minister.  

“We had a very fruitful meeting with the minister and the management of the hospital. We are going to work together from now on, engaging on different issues,” said Mokgalusi.

WATCH: The National Administrator and Greater Tshwane Reginal Secretary of Operation Dudula, Mr Pat Mokgalusi confirms that they are satisfied with the engagement they have had with the Minister of @HealthZA. pic.twitter.com/t6W0uVERIf

— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) September 1, 2022

Health MEC’s xenophobic remarks  

Phaahla’s visit to the hospital followed xenophobic comments by the Limpopo Health MEC, Phophi Ramathuba, whose interaction with a patient in a Bela-Bela hospital on Tuesday, 23 August, went viral on Twitter. 

Read in Daily Maverick: “Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba’s xenophobic, dehumanising diatribe against Zimbabwean patient”

Ramathuba berating a Zimbabwean patient for “using up” the healthcare budget and “crowding” hospitals — despite evidence pointing to other reasons relating to poor governance as to why the Limpopo health budget is in distress — was slammed as a “dehumanising diatribe”. 

New24’s Azarrah Karrim reported that audit reports and official statistics showed “no indications of any significant adverse impact of foreign nationals on the healthcare system in the province, but enough evidence of poor management and weak financial controls contributing to a system in distress”. 

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that “hostility to serving migrants in South Africa’s health facilities has been intensifying, fuelled by inflammatory and political statements from government officials, including the Limpopo Health MEC”.  

Commenting on Ramathuba’s remarks during his visit to Kalafong Hospital, Phaahla said: “We agree with those who are saying it was inappropriate for the MEC [Ramathuba] to direct her concerns to a patient who was in a vulnerable state and a victim of circumstances.” 

He noted that the “mobilisation” by vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula was associated with the Limpopo Health MEC’s comments. 

Read in Daily Maverick: “Xenophobia and cowardly acts against Zimbabweans must be combated by all democrats”

However, he added: “Matters which the MEC was raising in terms of the high demand and pressure on our health services beyond what is planned for, put additional pressure on a system which was already fragile for many reasons which are known to many.”

The minister said these reasons included “reduced funding, inefficiency, maladministration, corruption and poor management.

“This is a challenge which can be solved through leadership and political intervention, and we are ready to be held accountable in the improvement of quality of health services for the entire South African population,” he said. DM

WATCH: Minister of @HealthZA, Dr Joe Phaahla condemns actions of those preventing people from accessing health facilities based on nationality, and commends the CEO of @kalafong_health for a well managed hospital. pic.twitter.com/MutSM9GInC

— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) September 1, 2022