CoJ's public safety dept urges locals not to stop foreign nationals from accessing healthcare
In the last few weeks, members from Operation Dudula have been barricading entrances at some of the city's healthcare facilities and chasing foreign nationals away.
Some community members in Rosettenville, in southern Johannesburg, staged a protest blocking foreign nationals from accessing healthcare services on, Friday, 4 July 2025. Picture: Ntokozo Khumalo/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The City of Jourg's public safety department is urging locals to find their "humanity" and stop blocking foreigners from accessing healthcare.
In the last few weeks, members from Operation Dudula have been barricading entrances at some of the city's healthcare facilities and chasing foreign nationals away.
The group said that the country's already overburdened clinics and hospitals should only be reserved for South Africans.
Operation Dudula argued that it was barring undocumented persons and not all foreigners.
However, the group has been warned by police that it cannot act as unofficial immigration agents.
Joburg MMC for public safety, Mgcini Tshwaku, said that people illegally blocking anyone from accessing a healthcare facility would be arrested.
"If it was you, what were you going to do? Were you going to deny a person. A person is dying – think about it... humanity. I come from the EFF, we believe in humanity. It's the humanity part. I have heard people saying if they find someone sick, they are going to switch off the machine. Come on, it's wrong. That person is a human, they're [just] not from South Africa. They might be from Nigeria or anywhere there but that person is still a human being."
The group's controversial measures have also spread out to some parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.