A 28-year-old woman who appeared to be too dark-skinned for Operation Dudula’s liking was humiliated and her confidence crushed as the foot soldiers decided she did not fit the bill for how South Africans deserving of health service must look.
She had her nationality questioned and was labelled a foreigner, as if this alone should be a reason to stop her, when she simply wanted to go to Kalafong hospital in Atteridgeville, Tshwane, this week.
“It offends me. Because of my skin colour I should walk around with my ID? It broke me, it broke my confidence,” she told TimesLIVE. Apartheid did this to South Africans, stripping them of their dignity and rights. Today, Dudula has become a weapon that inflicts the same harm on foreigners and South Africans simply because they look dark. It could be argued that apartheid police did not stop the sickly from entering hospitals, even when they segregated these along racial lines, which makes Dudula even worse. That the perpetrators are black beggars belief.
In their minds, Operation Dudula members were doing what was necessary to preserve medicines and other resources for deserving South Africans. There was no moral compunction, let alone comprehension of the nature of medical help sought by those they stopped from accessing the hospital, from those who arrogated to themselves a right to deny access to health services.
To them foreigners could never be light-skinned black people. If you’re light-skinned but are from Nigeria, Ghana or Zimbabwe, the Dudula bandits saw no need to stop you. Further, if you’re white, there was, in their minds, just no way of you being a foreign national. This paucity of thought behind their actions is shocking. A day after they denied people access to Kalafong hospital, the madness spread to the Hillbrow community health centre in Johannesburg.
“We are raising awareness on the problems our country is facing. Our health facilities are deteriorating because of the influx of foreigners who come into our facilities,” TimesLIVE quoted Operation Dudula Joburg chairperson Siphiwe Shabalala as saying.
While Ramathuba has been correctly criticised for her action, the barbaric acts by Dudula protesters gives us what is potentially an offshoot of her grossly irresponsible statements
It is worth noting these horrible acts follow an equally mind-blowing video of Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba who berated a hospitalised woman, presumed Zimbabwean, who was about to undergo surgery in Bela Bela. While Ramathuba has been correctly criticised for her action, the barbaric acts by Dudula protesters give us what is potentially an offshoot of her grossly irresponsible statements.
The Hippocratic Oath taken by health professionals notes the significance of the health service to humanity and binds those who take the oath to prioritise saving lives. What Dudula did this week is an abomination. It puts those whose health is already compromised at even greater risk. Dudula prides itself on being a pro-SA organisation and yet its actions could imperil the lives of South Africans (simply for being dark), the very people they purport to help. The self-hate, in spite of protestations to the contrary, is plain.
That they target the poor and vulnerable seeking public services makes their action even more shameful. Operation Dudula has become a menace to our society. Law enforcement officials must use water cannons and rubber bullets to remove these misguided rascals at the entrances of our health facilities.
