The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Gauteng have opened a criminal case against the Operation Dudula movement, accusing the militant group of inciting violence and unlawfully targeting foreign nationals in South Africa.
On Saturday, EFF Gauteng chairperson Nkululeko Dunga led supporters to the Alexandra Police Station, where the case was lodged. The action follows allegations that members of Operation Dudula blocked a Malawian mother, Grace Banda, and her one-year-old baby from accessing healthcare at the Alexandra Community Health Centre in July.
Reports indicate that Banda was denied entry because she could not produce a South African identity document. The sick child later died.
Dunga told journalists: “If someone gets sick, and someone dies, and if they could be assisted there and there, it is not only negligence, they knew exactly what they were doing, and they eliminated a life of a one-year-old. So, we have opened a case of murder. It is up to the State to pick up and do the necessary investigations. In our minds, someone has passed on and that is a murder case.”
The EFF further claimed that several South Africans have also been refused access to healthcare facilities in Gauteng after being presumed to be foreign nationals. Dunga added that the child’s mother is now living in fear following the incident.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed to IOL that investigations are underway. “Police have opened an inquiry docket for investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the docket will be taken to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) for a decision,” Masondo said.
Operation Dudula has frequently clashed with political parties, human rights groups, and foreign governments over its campaigns to remove undocumented migrants from communities, workplaces, and public services. Leaders insist they are targeting only undocumented migrants, not all foreign nationals.
Earlier this month, Operation Dudula and Zimbabwe’s ruling party, Zanu PF, engaged in a war of words after the latter criticised Dudula’s stance on foreign nationals accessing healthcare in South Africa.
Operation Dudula leader Zandile Dabula said: “We will not be dictated to by foreigners on how to run our country. We have the Constitution that is supposed to be guiding us, we have immigration laws that we use as guiding documents.”
Her comments were in response to Zanu PF’s director of information, Farai Marapira, who said Operation Dudula’s campaign against undocumented migrants was “a betrayal of Ubuntu” and a continuation of colonial-era tactics of dividing Africans.
Dabula dismissed the claims, saying: “For Farai (Marapira) to talk about these unfounded allegations, that we are funded by former colonisers, that is definitely not true. How are we going to be funded by the very same people who we are working against? They should focus on fixing their country, Zimbabwe. It is the very same former colonisers they chased away in their country, hence they are in problems. That is why the very same Zimbabweans are fleeing to South Africa, to take up our spaces, not just in South Africa but they are all over the world seeking better life.”
She also insisted that Zimbabweans in South Africa far outnumber official estimates, placing pressure on jobs, schools, and public services. “He also spoke about us having one million Zimbabweans in this country. That’s a lie. There is way more than that. We are on the ground. We see them, we know where they work, their own businesses, they are in our schools,” Dabula said.
On the issue of healthcare, Dabula clarified that Operation Dudula is not calling for a blanket denial of treatment to all migrants but wants foreign nationals to pay for the services they use. “We are not saying they shouldn’t get medical treatment, we are saying they should go to public facilities and pay for it, or rather go to private facilities because these people are working – that is what they always claim,” she said.
Dabula turned her criticism on Zanu PF’s governance in Zimbabwe and its close ties with the ANC, warning that South Africa risks heading down a similar path. “Zanu-PF is a problem to the people of Zimbabwe. They have been voted out, but they are still continuing to bully people. Their relationship with the ANC is very problematic to us as South Africans because we can see that we are heading to the state where Zimbabwe is at currently,” she said.
Despite the tensions, Dabula stressed that Operation Dudula is committed to prioritising South Africans and ensuring that foreigners comply with immigration laws and contribute to the public services they use.
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