Parliamentary committee warns against blocking foreigners from accessing schools and healthcare

IOL News

9 hours ago

Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education, Health and Creative Arts Makhi Feni has urged civil society organisations, such as Operation Dudula to understand their role and not violate the rights enshrined in the Constitution by threatening to prevent children of foreigners from entering schools in 2026.
Image: Phando Jikelo / Parliament of South Africa
The parliamentary committees on education and health have warned against the blocking of foreign nationals to health facilities and threats to prevent children of foreigners from attending public schools next year.
This comes amid Operation Dudula, March and March Movement and Progressive Forces of South Africa preventing undocumented people from obtaining health care at clinics and hospitals.
Operation Dudula has since threatened to prevent children of foreigners from being admitted at schools in the 2026 school year.
Speaking during a media on Thursday, Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries chairperson Makhi Feni said they will never accept that kind of disruption of blocking children of foreigners to take place at schools.
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'We don't believe when we want to make things right, it is the way of approach. We, therefore, condemn with utmost contempt those forms of threats and actions, and we are convinced there is nothing to be gained through those actions,' Feni said.
He also said civil society organisations should understand their role and should not violate the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
'South Africa is not a banana republic. It is constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law. Our constitution is the supreme law of the land.'
Feni added that the role of civil society was to be a watchdog and hold politicians accountable to the Constitution.
He questioned how Operation Dudula activists would identify a child who was undocumented as being illegal in the country.
'There are various issues that lead to those kids not having the necessary documents,' he said.
'We are not to allow anarchy to coexist with governance …' said Feni, adding that the select committee was offering itself to engage the anti-immigrant groups while the government was attending to their concerns, and urged them to familiarise themselves with the laws.
'We are to assist them to understand and we must not be seen to be undermining or stumbling blocks to the role of civil society. We can't allow anarchy and therefore we assure, as the select committee, that if they want to contribute in the building of the nation, they must come to the fore,' said Feni.
Health Portfolio Committee chairperson Sibongiseni Dhlomo says concerns raised by organisations such as Operation Dudula and other stakeholders about foreigners accessing health care at public institution cannot be wished away, but an approach should be found to handle to address the issues.
Image: Phando Jikelo / Parliament of South Africa
Health Portfolio Committee chairperson Sibongiseni Dhlomo said while the Constitution states that everyone has the right to healthcare, it was raised during the public hearings for the National Health Insurance Act that only emergency health services is provided to all, including foreigners, not comprehensive health.
'It means every citizen of the world can be afforded emergency health services,' Dhlomo said.
However, the issues raised by Operation Dudula and other stakeholders about foreigners receiving public health could not be ignored.
'These concerns can't be wished away, but maybe we should find an approach to handle them for discussion to address those issues,' Dhlomo said.
He said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who was previously home affairs minister, has indicated that there are certain Home Affairs Department laws that need to be repealed as their provisions on who citizens are was a 'very wide spectrum'.
'Some of these Acts are very wide and encompassing, some of the people in their view say they should have a bit limitation. It is not possible as a country to have unlimited resources to deal with what is there in the world,' he said.
Dhlomo said if Operation Dudula and other stakeholders were to be engaged, a process would have to be found to address their concerns.
He spoke against the anti-immigrant activists demanding individuals produce identification before accessing public healthcare facilities.
'There are South Africans who are not documented for various reasons. An absence of documentation should not allow you to block any individual,' he said.
'We are saying the Department of Health must engage with the Department of Home Affairs to fast track (laws) that must be repealed to assist. Those processes should kick in,' he added.
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