President Cyril Ramaphosa responds to questions in Parliament on 6 November. (Photo: Phando Jikelo / RSA Parliament) 
President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned anti-immigrant groups who have been blocking access to public healthcare facilities for people they assume are undocumented foreign nationals.
“It’s been very disturbing, and it continues to be disturbing to see how ordinary people are being forced out of our health services just because they come from other countries. This is not us. This is un-South African,” said Ramaphosa on Thursday, 6 November, during a parliamentary question and answer session in Parliament.
“This is not ubuntu. Our ubuntu characteristic must be clearly played out in how we deal with people from other countries as well,” said Ramaphosa. “It must be clearly put on display in promoting and respecting their dignity and treating them just as we want to be treated.”
Ramaphosa’s response was prompted by ActionSA’s Kgosi Letlape’s question of how the President would ensure “the pain of taking care of our guests in health services is not only borne by the ordinary [people] who rely on public services, but by all South Africans, especially members of this House to be able to make actions of groups like [Operation] Dudula and March to March not necessary”.
Earlier this week, the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg interdicted Operation Dudula — an anti-migrant, xenophobic group that is registered as a political party — from barring access to healthcare facilities or schools to any foreign national in South Africa.
Read more: High court bans Dudula from blocking access to hospitals, clinics and schools
The organisation has been on a sustained campaign to prevent those they suspect of being undocumented foreign nationals from using clinics in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and most notably in Gauteng.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ED_568391.jpg "An Operation Dudula picket outside Lilian Ngoyi Clinic in Diepkloof, Soweto, on 11 August after the arrest of three of its members. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)")
Read more: Operation Dudula blockades deny migrants access to at least 53 clinics countrywide
In Parliament, Ramaphosa said that during apartheid, other countries, including some in Africa, gave refuge to anti-apartheid activists such as OR Tambo.
“It is a real blight on the character of our nation to see how South Africans will take the trouble of going to hospitals and clinics and taking people out and preventing them from being treated,” he said.
“This is not what our Constitution is all about. Our Constitution is about the respect of the rights of people. It’s not only the respect of the rights of certain people, but all people.
“Much as we have challenges in our resources, in our hospitals and clinics, it does not mean that we have to be cruel. It does not mean that we have to treat other people badly.”
Without naming Operation Dudula, he said, “What those organisations have been doing is un-South African. It’s not us… They don’t represent who we are, and we must all say so.”
Read more: When xenophobia rears its ugly head it is time to ask the right questions
Commenting on the recent high court judgment, the Socio-Economic Rights Insistute said, “This means that Operation Dudula and its members, Zandile Dabula, Dan Radebe and all other leaders of Operation Dudula, can no longer assault, harass or intimidate people whom they might think are foreign nationals by demanding that they produce their passports and identification documents, as this power is limited to immigration officers and the police.” DM