WATCH | 'Time is up, go home': Dudula stages picket at Hillbrow health clinic

30 August 2022 - 12:04
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Operation Dudula staged a picket protest at a health centre in Hillbrow on Tuesday.
Operation Dudula staged a picket protest at a health centre in Hillbrow on Tuesday.
Image: Kgaugelo Masweneng/TimesLIVE

A handful of protesters from the anti-foreigner group Operation Dudula on Tuesday  picketed outside Johannesburg's Hillbrow community health centre.

“We are raising awareness on the problems our country is facing. Our healthcare facilities are deteriorating because of the influx of foreigners who come into our facilities,” said Operation Dudula Joburg chairperson Siphiwe Shabalala.

Supporters of the movement have been protesting outside a hospital in Atteridgeville, Tshwane, for three weeks, chanting threatening statements through loudhailers and preventing people from entering the facility. 

“We are tired. Our people are not getting the right services because of these foreigners. As South Africans we don’t owe them. We are not xenophobic but time is up, they must go back to their countries,” said Shabalala.

The group dispersed after a short while.

No services were interrupted during the Hillbrow protest, said Gauteng health department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba.

Modiba said the department “cautions the public against obstructing access to healthcare services which is a fundamental human right. We will not hesitate to call on law enforcement agencies to act against those who put the lives of patients and staff at risk.”

TimesLIVE

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