When the EFF intervened, an Operation Dudula Movement protest against foreign patients outside Tshwane’s Kalafong hospital shifted into a slap fest.
The Fighters, as EFF members are known, arrived at the hospital around 11 a.m. and wasted no time in expressing their displeasure with Dudula members who had arrived three hours earlier to continue their campaign against foreign patients at the hospital.
Dudula, who had been picketing at the hospital for several weeks, stood firm as the Red Berets began singing protest songs. As the two groups competed for the spotlight near the facility’s gates, tension was noticeable.
When EFF members began singing and dancing closer to where Dudula members had camped, a clash was unavoidable. Slaps flew within seconds, and members of Dudula were forced to seek refuge at a nearby tuck shop across the hospital.
After taking a fighter’s jab, one Dudula resident suffered facial injuries. Police stood less than 50 meters away, watching as the two sides fought with no intervention. Even after the court interdict ordering the Dudula members to end their protest was issued, there was no police intervention at the Kalafong entrance.
Following the confrontation, EFF provincial spokesperson Phillip Makwala told a crowd that the party would not stand by and watch human rights be violated.
“The EFF does not meet guns with flowers. Police are clearly afraid. There is a court order here that says these people must be dispersed, but police are watching and not doing anything. They (Dudula) think they are bigger than the police, they are bigger than everyone. They are untouchable, so the EFF must match them toe-to-toe,” he said.
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“Operation Dudula are not immigration officials, they are not law enforcement; why are they asking our people questions about where they come from? It is none of their business. We will be here to make sure that our people get the services they need.
Singing voetsek Dudula voetsek, some EFF members insisted that was the only way to protect people from what they claimed was Dudula’s intimidation. Elias Makgwadi, greater Tshwane regional coordinator for Operation Dudula, stated that the protest would continue and that the court order made no mention of them dispersing.
Makgwadi stated that since the operation began, they have received feedback from staff members who have said that the work pressure has decreased as the queues have become shorter.
One hospital pharmacy employee appeared to agree with the Dudula when she joined the group and said that they were assisting them.
“You are doing well. People do not know what we are going through. Since you guys started I no longer knock off at 7pm, I am able to leave at 4pm and be with my family because the queue is not as long as it was.”
Meanwhile, Dudula members of the Johannesburg region protested for a few hours outside the Hillbrow Community Health Centre yesterday dressed in camouflage and carrying sjamboks. They sang Struggle songs outside the clinic as they called for illegal immigrants to “go back to your countries”.
Their regional leader, Siphiwe Shabangu, said: “We are here to picket against illegal immigrants from using our facilities. We are not preventing anyone from entering. We are just making a call that South Africans should be serviced first.”
Zandile Dabula, the movement’s secretary-general, said similar pickets were taking place at King Edward VIII Hospital in Umbilo, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as Polokwane, Seshego, and Mankweng hospitals in Limpopo, and Odi Hospital and Hebron Clinic in the North West.
In Soweto, the situation remained calm at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic and Bheki Mlangeni hospitals.
Branches of the EFF in Atteridgeville Outside Kalafong Hospital.
A 37 week pregnant patient was denied care in Kalafong Hospital .The patient was also suffering from high blood pressure and had to instead seek help at a local clinic.#NoToXenophobia pic.twitter.com/3LHjCwnQtR
— EFF Gauteng (@EFFGautengProv) August 31, 2022