Public Protector refutes Zimbabwean Human Rights Commission claims on healthcare access
The Office of South Africa's Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, has refuted claims made by the Zimbabwean Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), which insisted that it has engaged her office over issues affecting South African-based Zimbabwean immigrants.
This comes as foreign nationals, including Zimbabwean nationals, are being barred from accessing healthcare, with Operation Dudula revealing that it will be intensifying its efforts against illegal immigrants, with a campaign aimed at preventing undocumented immigrants from accessing public schools in the new year.
Operation Dudula and March and March movements have spent the past few weeks preventing undocumented immigrants from accessing healthcare services across public clinics and hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng due to the alleged strain this has caused on South Africa's limited healthcare services.
However, in a statement on Monday, Gcaleka refuted these claims, saying her office has not received any correspondence from ZHRC.
"Following numerous media inquiries, the Public Protector South Africa (PPSA) wishes to clarify that it has no record of a complaint lodged by the Zimbabwean Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), concerning the denial of Zimbabwean nationals' access to healthcare services in South Africa," the PP stated.
Gcaleka revealed that she had previously hosted ZHRC in 2024, where various issues of benchmarking were discussed, and her office shared some information on this matter. However, the parties never discussed any other issues outside this.
"Rather, the discussions were about, among other things, the state of healthcare systems in both countries. Accordingly, PPSA also referred to its own investigation into the state of the healthcare system in South Africa as a guide to investigate the same in its own country.
"We are, therefore, surprised by reports in the media about discussions, which purportedly occurred recently, and were centred around matters relating to Zimbabwean nationals being denied access to healthcare services in South Africa; neither do we have a record of a complaint of that kind," Gcaleka stated.
Meanwhile, last week, Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi stated that the Zimbabwean government will not cover the medical bills of its citizens in South Africa.
ZHRC chairperson Jessie Majome, however, insisted that South Africa has a responsibility towards other African countries, as South Africa benefited from the humanity of these countries during apartheid.
'Also, on the South Africa side, we need increased understanding of the needs of people and nations. During the Struggle for South Africa, countries including Zimbabwe hosted South Africans who were there not because of their own making. That humanity and ubuntu that we Africans have should continue to pervade and lead such discussions because at the end of the day, we are one people," she told Newzroom Afrika on Monday.
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