{"id":99792,"date":"2025-08-13T11:45:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=99792"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:45:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:45:44","slug":"operation-dudula-questions-raised-about-governments-inaction-amid-groups-plans-to-meet-with-health-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/operation-dudula-questions-raised-about-governments-inaction-amid-groups-plans-to-meet-with-health-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Dudula: Questions raised about government\u2019s inaction amid group\u2019s plans to meet with Health Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

13 August 2025 | 11:45 CAT
\n1-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image: The Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa faces a deepening crisis as Operation Dudula, an anti-immigrant group, continues its campaign to deny undocumented migrants access to public healthcare\u2014a move that defies constitutional protections and threatens public health integrity.<\/p>\n

Loren Landau, Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford and Research Professor at Wits\u2019 African Centre for Migration and Society, in an interview<\/a> on Radio Islam International, warned that this isn\u2019t grassroots protest\u2014it’s a creeping institutionalisation of xenophobia. He observed that Operation Dudula has effectively started \u201crunning intake at hospitals,\u201d a development fraught with legal and ethical peril.<\/p>\n

Despite mounting concern, the group has confirmed a scheduled meeting with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to discuss their self-appointed oversight of healthcare access.<\/p>\n

Yet, their actions fly in the face of South African law: anyone with a life-threatening condition\u2014or even less acute, essential medical needs\u2014cannot be denied treatment, regardless of documentation status.<\/p>\n

As Professor Landau stated, \u201cWe\u2019re all safer if our neighbor is getting the treatment \u2026 deserves and is constitutionally entitled to.\u201d<\/p>\n

M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res has previously intervened when Operation Dudula supporters blocked clinic access, reaffirming that healthcare is a basic human right enshrined in the constitution.<\/p>\n

The political and economic motivations behind Operation Dudula\u2019s actions extend beyond surface-level anti-immigrant rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a diversion, it does create money for people clearly and it’s helping to strengthen the sort of political entities that they seem to be linked to,” Professor Landou said.<\/p>\n

Professor Landau urged immediate action: not token condemnation, but the arrest and prosecution of group leaders and any healthcare workers who enable or condone these discriminatory acts\u2014a necessary step to uphold both public safety and constitutional values.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Muallimah Annisa Essack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 August 2025 | 11:45 CAT 1-minute read South Africa faces a deepening crisis as Operation Dudula, an anti-immigrant group, continues its campaign to deny undocumented migrants access to public healthcare\u2014a move that defies constitutional protections and threatens public health integrity. Loren Landau, Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford and Research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":99793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-13-114131.png?fit=722%2C484&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pXy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 04:51:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}