March and March, Operation Dudula ‘anger’ misdirected
The shack dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, says the March and March and Operation Dudula groups should direct their anger towards the government - instead of foreign nationals.
This week, the High Court in Johannesburg prohibited members of Operation Dudula from demanding IDs from private individuals at health facilities, ruling that only immigration officials and police have the authority to request identification.
The court also barred the group from interfering with access to healthcare, schools, or businesses, as well as from intimidating, harassing, or assaulting foreign nationals, or unlawfully evicting people from their homes and traders from their stalls.
In KwaZulu-Natal, March and March has been carrying out similar activities, while Operation Dudula has focused its efforts in Gauteng.
Mqapheli Bonono from Abahlali baseMjondolo says this judgment is a victory.
He says the actions of these groups have brought cruelty, violence, fear, and division to poor communities by repeatedly claiming that they are acting to enforce the law.
" We have tried to engage them, because we know the frustration the systems they are facing because of the failure of our government failing to provide sustainable development in terms of poverty.
"We wanted to engage them to say, look, your anger is misguided. You are attacking those chapter nine institutions and the migrant communities, but there are people sitting in certain offices that should be playing a role to do that. It's a democratic country, the country that has been run by the law, and our law is clear that you don't take the law into your own hands."
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