Pretoria – The EFF in Gauteng is mobilising its members to “defend” the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, where members of Operation Dudula have been vetting patients arriving at the facility and blocking foreigners from getting health care.
EFF’s acting Gauteng provincial chairperson Itani Edwin Mukwevho questioned why police have not arrested or dispersed Dudula members, despite an interdict obtained by the health authorities against the people blocking the hospital entrance, and vetting patients.
“We call on the Department of Health to tighten security and ensure that everyone who needs health care gets access to it. We call upon the civil society sector to join forces with the EFF in ensuring that migrants have access to health care,” Mukwevho said.
“The EFF in Gauteng calls for all fighters in Tshwane to mobilise and defend Kalafong Hospital and make sure our people receive medical health care.”
The EFF in Gauteng has condemned what it termed “xenophobic attacks” targeting fellow Africans.
“South African law does in no way permit protesters to deny migrants access to medical care, this is a blatant human rights violation and those responsible must be held accountable. These incidents have been coming for several weeks, a group purporting to be part of the Operation Dudula movement has been preventing patients from entering the Kalafong Hospital,” Mukwevho said.
He said blaming immigrants for the rot within the public health facilities is “cheap propaganda”.
“Migrants are not to blame for the collapse of the health system. Operation Dudula and similar elements should rather direct their anger to those found guilty of looting hospital money for skinny jeans like in the case of Tembisa Hospital,” Mukwevho said.
“Owing to the stunts of vigilante groups, a 37-week pregnant patient was denied care in Kalafong Hospital. The patient also suffering from high blood pressure, had to instead (had to) seek help at a local clinic. Others were turned away by protesters based on their appearance and accent.”
Mukwevho said such actions have in the past resulted in South African citizens who are Venda and Tsonga, being killed “just because they sound foreign according to stupid Dudula logic”.
Despite alarm bells raised last week by an international humanitarian medical group, members of Operation Dudula have continued to vet patients arriving at the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.
The ‘Sowetan’ reported on Tuesday, that Dudula continued to confront people walking into the hospital, stopping patients who were dark-skinned.
According to the publication, members of the group mainly stopped women based on their “appearance and skin tone”, and also demanded to see proof of identification. The patients were also asked questions to ascertain their origin.
White people and light-skinned black people were reportedly permitted to freely enter the hospital, while dark-skinned people faced a barrage of questions to prove they are South African.
Last week, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) said several foreign nationals have been turned away from public hospitals in Tshwane by activists in what the NGO called an intensifying xenophobic climate and politicisation of health care.
MSF said ongoing “xenophobic protests” outside the Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital were preventing patients, including migrants, from accessing the facility.
“These actions must be rejected and should trigger urgent action by health authorities and leaders to protect access to health care for all,” MSF in South Africa said.
“Operation Dudula supporters have been protesting outside the hospital for three weeks, chanting threatening statements through loud-hailers and preventing many from entering the facility.”
Sibusiso Ndlovu, health promotion supervisor at MSF in Tshwane, said the protesters were demanding that foreign nationals be removed from public hospitals.
