Alleged forced sterilisation victims prepare to confront government

A letter of apology.

That's all women who were illegally sterilised by the Department of Health have received after undergoing the procedure they didn't ask for, and did not consent to be carried out.

Over the past almost 20 years, impoverished, Black, HIV-positive women have come forward saying they were victims of forced sterilisation.

Next week in Durban, the Her Right Initiative (HRI), which represents 104 victims, will meet to discuss holding the government accountable.

HRI founder Dr Sethembiso Mthembu says there are no exact figures on how many women have been impacted over two decades.

"However, in 2015, the Human Sciences Research Council conducted a study. and 6,000 women were interviewed, and 7.4% of women said they'd  been forced into sterilisation, so that's 478."

The first victim on record was sterilised in 1997, and the most recent in 2023, says Mthembu.

"We believe this is an HIV human rights violation and racism, and also hatred of reproduction of Black, poor people. It is historical, it is colonial, and it is racial."

Mthembu says the issue is not about 'bad behaviour' but rather a systemic problem within the Department of Health.

"The Commission for Gender Equality investigated 15 hospitals where HRI filed a complaint in 2015, and the modus operandi and the reason were exactly the same," she says.

To listen to Mthembu in conversation with 702's Ray White, click below: