A South African court has ordered the anti-migrant group Operation Dudula to stop blocking foreign nationals from accessing public hospitals, clinics, and schools, ruling that its actions are unlawful.
The high court in Johannesburg found the group’s conduct amounted to intimidation and harassment after rights organisations lodged a case against it. The court barred Operation Dudula from “interfering with access” to public facilities and from making statements that could be construed as hate speech or inciting others to do so.
Judge Leicester Adams also prohibited the group from unlawfully evicting foreign nationals from their homes or trading stalls, and ruled that police cannot conduct “warrant-less searches” in private spaces unless they have reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally.
Operation Dudula members have been staging pickets outside hospitals and clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, checking IDs and blocking entry to those without South African documentation — actions they recently extended to schools.
The ruling comes amid growing concerns about xenophobia in South Africa, home to an estimated 2.4 million migrants — just under 4% of the population — mostly from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Anti-migrant sentiment has long been a flashpoint, occasionally erupting into deadly violence.
Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia, one of the groups that brought the case, welcomed the judgment, saying it “provides critical protection for those targeted by xenophobic attacks.” The organisation said it would monitor compliance at schools and clinics and hold police accountable for enforcing the court order.
“In a country founded on the rejection of apartheid, we cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to the xenophobic hate promoted by Operation Dudula,” the group said in a statement.
Operation Dudula said it was disappointed by the ruling and intends to appeal, according to local outlet.
South Africa’s Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said the decision “was to be expected,” adding that the government’s position remains that no one should be denied access to healthcare, regardless of legal status.
Motsoaledi, who met Operation Dudula leaders in August, said that while some of their concerns were “legitimate,” their methods were “wrong.” He noted that turning away undocumented people would be impractical, as about 11% of South Africans themselves do not possess ID cards.
The minister also suggested that neighbouring countries should do more to ease migration pressures on South Africa’s strained public healthcare system. “It is South Africa which is suffering, not them. In fact, many of them are relieved,” he said.
