Masked anti-migrant campaigners turn foreign nationals away at the entrance to Durban's Addington Hospital. Civil society organisations return to court today, seeking to restore the fundamental right to healthcare for all.
Image: Leon Lestrade
In a pressing legal battle reflecting the physical barriers to healthcare in South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), represented by SECTION27, have filed an urgent contempt application against state authorities. This move follows the failure to comply with a High Court order issued on December 4, 2025, mandating the restoration of safe and unfettered access to the Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics in Johannesburg.
The High Court matter, set for hearing today, March 16, at 10am at the South Gauteng High Court, becomes a pivotal moment for advocates who argue that healthcare access is not just a service but a constitutional obligation. Justice Wilson's December ruling instructed facility managers, along with officials from the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Department of Health, to take immediate and concrete action to ensure that patients can access healthcare services free from intimidation or obstruction.
In previous hearings, evidence revealed that these clinics had transformed into battlegrounds of vigilante activity, with unidentified groups controlling entry and preventing patients from accessing vital medical services unless they could present South African identity documents. This has led to tragic situations where pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children — those most vulnerable and deserving of protection — were turned away, denied the care they desperately need.
Monitoring efforts by TAC, MSF, and KAAX since the court order have shown that these vigilante groups, particularly at the Rosettenville clinic, continue to pose a serious threat to patients. Alarmingly, the response from authorities has been minimal; there is a palpable absence of visible, sustained intervention to mitigate this vigilantism or ensure that patients can safely enter the clinics.
The civil society organisations involved have repeatedly sought to engage with the authorities to resolve these access issues amicably, yet those attempts have fallen on deaf ears. Subsequent ongoing obstruction of healthcare access has forced these organisations to escalate the matter to the courts once again, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
During today’s court proceedings, the applicants will seek a declaration of contempt against the respondents, alternatively requesting that these officials be deemed in breach of the court's orders. The organisations will demand mandatory relief directing the respondents to take immediate compliance measures with the court's directives.