This post has been adapted from an interview originally aired on Talk Radio 702, on 12 August 2025. The featured image is open-sourced from 123rf.com.
By Sara-Jayne Makwala King, Talk Radio 702
Despite recent clinic disruptions by Operation Dudula, South African law protects asylum seekers’ right to access essential healthcare services. 702’s Bongani Bingwa is joined by Ashraf Essop, an immigration law specialist, and Professor Loren Landau, an expert in migration and development from the University of Oxford and the University of the Witwatersrand.
You’re sick, you walk into your local clinic, and instead of a nurse asking how you’re feeling, you’re met with a group telling you that you don’t belong there because you’re not from here.
That’s precisely what happened recently when Operation Dudula members tried to shut down a clinic, demanding foreign nationals be denied care.
However, the South Africa’s Refugees Act, as well as commitments under international treaties, stipulate that asylum seekers can access essential services while they await a decision on their refugee applications. According to Prof. Landau: “The law is based on a principle that, we are all healthier if everyone around us gets access to healthcare – if it’s emergency care, life-saving care, everyone gets it, no questions asked.”
Landau explains the difference in access to healthcare for documented and undocumented immigrants. “You’re entitled to care if you’re here, with documents you pay more – if you’re an asylum seeker or refugee, you shouldn’t have to pay more.”
Moreover, Landau states that foreigners are not the cause of the public healthcare system being overburdened. “If we look at the percentage of foreigners in the country, it’s only about 3 or 4%…the vast majority seeking healthcare are South Africans.”
For more from this interview, listen below:
