The continuing spate of xenophobic violence in South Africa has recently seen migrants being denied access into hospitals by members of the anti-migrant group “March and March”, which has even gone as far as denying access to a SA citizen who was mistakenly identified as a foreigner. There have also been the largely unsuccessful protests by another anti-migrant group, “Operation Dudula”, aimed at intimidating and trying to shut down various human rights organisations for defending migrants’ rights. Such drastic actions are dangerous, and opportunistically directed at vulnerable people desperately seeking medical attention including pregnant women and terminally ill patients. Additionally, there are provisions in the constitution of South Africa that guarantee healthcare for all regardless of immigration status.
These groups seek to cynically exploit the plight of poor and desperate South Africans who are not receiving adequate healthcare and other basic services, and suffering the effects of high unemployment in the country. It would help to better understand the roots of the problems to know how to solve them. Foreigners are seen as an easy target, and often scapegoated by establishment politicians to grow or solidify their power bases, but they are not the cause of the problems that the country faces.
Austerity budgets, corruption erode the quality of healthcare
Various reports and first-hand accounts indicate that the state of the South African healthcare system is in decline; budget cuts and poor management have led to failing infrastructure and staff shortages. To blame immigrants for this situation is to allow the real culprits to dodge responsibility.
For instance, in 2022 Phophi Ramathuba the Limpopo Premier came out publicly against a Zimbabwean woman for “overburdening” the healthcare system. Ramathuba insisted that she return to Zimbabwe, but it was later uncovered that the provincial health department had over R150 million in “unexplained and misappropriated expenditure”. Clearly this mismanagement was not the fault of the Zimbabwean woman.
But even this scandalous mismanagement and corruption is a drop in the ocean compared to the deliberate attacks on health spending raining down on our hospitals and clinics from all directions: the national finance budget, provincial governments, and most recently Donald Trump’s attacks on USAID. All of these are designed to make sick and disabled workers pay for the crisis of capitalism.
An argument often levelled against undocumented immigrants is that they do not pay taxes and thus strain our social welfare system. However, immigrants are not allowed to apply for social grants and are highly unlikely to use a public hospital for fear of being caught and deported. A report compiled by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) shows that immigrants are less likely to be involved in criminality and also contribute positively to the economy. It should also be noted that government data shows that migrants make up only 4% of the country’s population, thus cannot be responsible for straining the public healthcare system, or any other public institution for that matter.
Of course, ordinary South Africans are angry and desperate, and this is being exploited by manipulative and power-hungry politicians eager to hide from blame and responsibility. The rhetoric from Operation Dudula, March in March and other reactionary groups is a diversion from the root cause of the crises facing the working class.
In the pretence that it will address past failures, the Government of National Unity (GNU) is pushing for privatisation of public services. They wrongfully insist that the private sector will provide more investment which will lead to improved infrastructure and better service delivery. But if we leave public services up to market forces, the determining factor will always be return on investment, i.e. profitability, not public welfare. This means that privatisation of healthcare will come at the cost of providing adequate care for those in need.
The public should reject the GNU’s budget cuts and its move towards privatisation, and instead insist upon accountability from those in office, replacing ineffective officials with competent ones, and pushing for the needs of the workers and underprivileged to be prioritised.
The absence of parties that champion the welfare and interests of the working class, and the refusal of the leadership of both COSATU and SAFTU to organise worker resistance to the attacks from the ruling class has created a vacuum. Groups like March in March try to exploit this vacuum, and claim to give leadership to the working class. Unfortunately, they mislead the class and turn people against one another to the detriment of the working class as a whole. The ruling class are facing a crisis of profitability and want workers to pay.
Capitalism relies on, and benefits from a disunited working class
The simple truth is that we live within an economic system, backed by governmental policies, that relies on inequality to function — on haves and have nots. It is a system that would have us fighting amongst each other, using conflicts based on surface level differences such as race, gender, culture, nationality, etc., whilst keeping us blind to the real forces that oppress us. As a tiny percentage of people in society live lavishly, the majority live in economic hardship feeding off the scraps that are allowed to trickle down from the top.
Instead of holding hatred towards migrants and other minorities, we need to stand with all of those struggling in poverty to push for real change and improvements in our public institutions. Questions should be raised on the mismanagement of funds and staff shortages in public healthcare. We need to make demands on our political leaders to improve infrastructure and service delivery, and to hold them accountable when they don’t deliver.
It is sad that in a country where people fought so hard to end racial discrimination, there should now be discrimination based on place of birth, and the fact that this discrimination is championed by leading public figures and politicians is despicable.
South Africans like to pride ourselves on fostering the spirit of “Ubuntu”, yet surely this philosophy does not recognise borders or ethnicity. Ubuntu should not just apply to South Africans; it is a concept steeped in shared humanity and compassion for others, no matter one’s nationality. As a social change collective that advocates for workers’ rights and the equitable redistribution of resources, the PRMI calls on its members and the rest of society to embrace the spirit of Ubuntu in fighting for all those who are economically disadvantaged, and to focus their energies on combatting those individuals and organisations who want to protect the interests of the elite at the expense of the majority.
The PRMI calls on the working class to practice radical solidarity; stand together to defend the interests of the poor and marginalised, and not succumb to tactics to divide based on race, ethnicity, or nationality. Join up with protest groups, community based organisations, and trade unions to demand accountability from political leaders, urging them to address issues around unemployment and unfair labour practices, poor public healthcare, electricity shortages, high crime levels, rising cost of living, and lack of service delivery. It is harmful to public health and unconstitutional to deny public healthcare access to anyone. Everyone deserves good healthcare and nobody’s movement should be unjustly restricted. An attack on the freedoms of some, is an attack on the freedoms of all.
We say:
Working class unity is the key to waging an effective fight against corruption and erosion of public services. Additional austerity measures from the state and privatisation will only make things worse. Reject xenophobia in all its forms and defend the right to access healthcare! The working class needs to stand together in the fight for quality housing, protection of labour rights, and a living wage!