'South African govt complicit in xenophobic violence'

Zimbabwean human rights activist Duke Maplanka Atterbell has accused the South African government of systemic discrimination against foreign nationals, particularly Zimbabweans, and of failing to address rising xenophobic violence and exclusion from healthcare services.

In a formal letter dated 27 July 2025, addressed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Home Affairs, and the South African Human Rights Commission, Atterbell condemned what he described as both governmental silence and active neglect.

"I write this letter as both a concerned African citizen and a representative voice of thousands of foreign nationals, especially Zimbabweans, living in South Africa," Atterbell stated.

He detailed a deteriorating situation where foreign nationals face exclusion from hospitals, clinics, and even maternity wards, while others suffer street violence, public humiliation, and threats from vigilante groups emboldened by government inaction.

Atterbell sharply criticized South Africa's global human rights posture, accusing it of hypocrisy for condemning injustices abroad while permitting "de facto ethnic cleansing through economic and medical exclusion" within its borders.

"How can South Africa claim the mantle of human rights defender abroad, while at home it presides over de facto ethnic cleansing through economic and medical exclusion? This hypocrisy is staggering," he wrote.

The activist warned that absent urgent action, he would escalate the matter to African and international human rights bodies, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the South African Human Rights Commission. He also pledged to pursue public advocacy and international media exposure.

"This is not governance, it is abandonment. This is not the South Africa that the continent stood behind during the anti-apartheid struggle. This is not Ubuntu," Atterbell declared.

His letter comes amid escalating tensions over undocumented migration and access to public services in South Africa. In March 2024, radio personality Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma launched March and March, an NGO campaigning against undocumented foreigners' access to jobs and healthcare. Originating in KwaZulu-Natal, the group now operates at hospital entrances, screening patients for South African identity documents and denying entry to those without.

While supporters claim they fill a government enforcement gap, critics accuse the group of vigilante intimidation targeting vulnerable migrants. Responding to Atterbell's letter on social media, Ngobese-Zuma posted: "He is Zimbabwean and writes to OUR President and not HIS… Maybe seriously, they believe they are South African! Maybe we owe them! Maybe we must intensify our fight because mentally these people don't think we are serious."

Atterbell responded defiantly: "When Dudula royalty thinks they can intimidate you… I am not here to bow before self-appointed foot soldiers of hate."

He accused Ngobese-Zuma of cloaking fear in nationalism and leading mobs while he advocates for human rights through truth and conscience.

"You asked, ‘Who are you?' I am the storm you didn't see coming and the voice you'll wish you hadn't tried to silence. While you scream for borders, I fight for bridges. While you hunt the vulnerable, I summon accountability. While you wave your flag with fury, I carry the Constitution with fire."

Atterbell stressed that his fight is not against South Africa as a nation, but for human dignity and rights.

"If your government fails to act, history and international law will remember it not for its silence, but for its complicity," he concluded.