Nov. 5 (UPI) — A South African court on Wednesday ordered an anti-immigrant group to cease attempts to block foreigners from public spaces.
The court in Johannesburg said those with Operation Dudula must stop blocking those unable to show a South African identification card — typically foreign nationals — from accessing schools and hospitals.
In August, authorities arrested Dudula members for blocking public entrances and released them with a warning. A judge ruled the vigilante group’s conduct violated rules preventing citizens from enforcing the law.
“These risks are not confined to non-citizens. Any citizen who is undocumented or has lost or misplaced their identity documents would face the same risks,” Judge Leicester Adams said.
Adams blamed the South African government, and partially its two separate Departments of Justice and Home Affairs, and noted the government failed to implement its National Action Plan to combat racism, discrimination, xenophobia and and other intolerances.
“The government’s unexplained failures to give proper effect to critical components of the NAP are an unconstitutional violation of its duties,” the judge stated.
He further prohibited the group from issuing public statements that constitutes hate speech based on ethnicity, social status or national origin.
According to official government figures, South Africa is home to more than 2 million migrants accounting for less than 4% of its population.
In the Zulu language “dudula” translates to “remove by force.”
Racism and xenophobia have long been an issue in South Africa before and after apartheid that periodically turns deadly in some cases.
Groups like Operation Dudula protest immigrants largely from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, saying they strain the nation’s already-burdened public systems.
A school of 300 in Jeppestown closed over the safety of its student population and faculty.
“In a country founded on the rejection of apartheid, we cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to the xenophobic hate promoted by Operation Dudula,” the human rights organization Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia told the BBC.
It added the judgment provided “critical protection” for those targeted by xenophobic attacks and vowed further accountability “should the police fail in their duty to enforce the order.”
