Parliament, Tuesday, 12 August 2025 – The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries, Mr Makhi Feni, has condemned with the utmost contempt the actions of Operation Dudula.
Operation Dudula had been on a crusade over the last couple of months to disrupt services at many healthcare centres by refusing entry to foreign nationals. The organisation announced last week that similar disruptions will target schools when they open in 2026. “Operation Dudula’s actions have a potential to misrepresent our country and our democracy. South Africa is a country of law and order and these should be strictly adhered to,” said Mr Feni.
He added: “The actions of Operation Dudula are objectionable and are an unnecessary distraction to the work government is doing around immigration challenges. People do not just come to South Africa out of free will but for refuge and from hunger.”
Mr Feni advised members of Operation Dudula to remember that government must act within legislative frameworks and constitutional provisions. “We cannot all adopt vigilante tactics when dealing with a challenge everyone accepts as massive and worthy of resolution. Legislative amendments and means are being proposed to resolve this challenge,” he said.
The Chairperson also noted that in 2024 the government moved to establish the Border Management Agency to attend to these matters. “On the labour front, something is being done, with the Labour Migration Policy. Home Affairs is deporting those it can, who have been found to have been in the country illegally,” he said.
Mr Feni called on Operation Dudula to work collaboratively to enhance the work of government and not seek to persecute people in need of help and food.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, SICENCES AND THE CEREATIVE INDUSTRIES, MR MAKHI FENI.
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