The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it will continue its fight to protect access to healthcare for all people in South Africa after the Durban High Court dismissed its urgent application to halt Operation Dudula’s alleged campaign against migrants in KwaZulu-Natal. The court ruled that the matter was not urgent, but the commission insists that lives remain at risk.
SAHRC chairperson Chris Nissen expressed disappointment at the ruling, stating that the commission had acted swiftly in response to ongoing incidents of discrimination since July.
“We were disappointed in the fact that we’ve been told that it’s not urgent because things have been happening since July,” said Nissen. “Since then, we’ve been monitoring schools and hospitals, compiling information and complaints that came to us. On that basis, we believed it was urgent. It was struck off the roll, but we are going to go back because we will not be stopped from protecting lives in South Africa.”
Nissen described the alleged actions of Operation Dudula as unconstitutional, stating that blocking anyone’s access to healthcare contradicts the country’s founding principles.
“Blocking a person’s right to healthcare, no matter who they are, is unconstitutional,” he said. “The preamble of the Constitution says ‘all the people of South Africa’; it doesn’t exclude anyone. Our mandate is to promote, protect, and monitor the rights of all people in the Republic.”
He added that the SAHRC has a constitutional duty to ensure that every person, including the undocumented, has access to basic services like healthcare and education.
“Operation Dudula is not a political organisation; it’s a movement of individuals who cannot take the law into their own hands,” said Nissen. “They have no right to turn anybody away from a hospital. Many people in South Africa are undocumented, some born in rural areas without formal registration. These people, too, are entitled to social and economic rights, to health, education, water, and sanitation.”
Nissen reaffirmed that the commission will continue to take legal and monitoring action to ensure that no one is denied their constitutional rights on the basis of nationality or documentation.
“The fact of the matter is that we have an obligation to ensure that people in South Africa, whoever they are, can access healthcare and other basic rights without fear or discrimination,” commented Nissen.
VOC News
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