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Police in Braamfontein, South Africa, fired teargas on Thursday to disperse members of Operation Dudula and their supporters during a demonstration targeting the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The demonstrators accuse the commission of shielding undocumented migrants and undermining efforts to prioritise South Africans in public services.
The protest, which also included members of the broader “March Movement,” was staged in opposition to what the groups described as the SAHRC’s interference in their campaign to bar foreign nationals from accessing public healthcare. They claim such measures are necessary to ease the burden on overstretched public services.
Law enforcement officers deployed teargas after the demonstration escalated outside the SAHRC offices, where tensions flared between protesters and counter-demonstrators. Some civil society organisations, also present at the scene, condemned the protest as xenophobic and in violation of constitutional rights.
In KwaZulu-Natal, a parallel march led by Operation Dudula took place in Durban, with demonstrators accusing the SAHRC of collaborating with NGOs to protect undocumented immigrants. The group’s provincial coordinator, Sifiso Manyala, insisted that the commission is obstructing their mission to defend the rights of South African citizens.
“The Human Rights Commission must stop working with these illegal foreigners,” Manyala said. “They should stop collaborating with these unpatriotic NGOs. We see this as an attempt to turn South Africa into a banana republic.”
Operation Dudula has previously come under fire for allegedly blockading public hospitals and denying access to patients suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Human rights groups and legal experts have criticised these actions as both unlawful and inhumane.
The SAHRC has not yet issued a formal response to Thursday’s protests, but it has consistently defended the rights of all individuals, regardless of immigration status, in line with South Africa’s Constitution.
