Xenophobia offers a simple but misleading explanation for a complex crisis. It reframes mass unemployment, failing public services and weak governance as a question of belonging

Female migrants cite barriers to accessing local healthcare facilities

The judgment complements a November ruling meant to stop groups such as Operation Dudula from blocking foreign nationals from entering government hospitals and clinics and denying their constitutional right to healthcare

The hostility directed at migrants often stems from ignorance of civic rights and scapegoating by politicians wanting to deflect blame from their ineptitude

Politicians all over the world are deflecting people’s anger and resentment at their failings onto a convenient scapegoat

Xenophobia is festering across the world. In South Africa it carries a dangerous legitimacy, cloaked in the language of liberation, and now embodied in open fascism of Operation Dudula

But there is hope. Poor South Africans, the very people Operation Dudula claims to represent, are standing against this form of hatred and extreme violence

The Human Rights Commission and legal experts say the Constitution, the National Health Act, the UN Refugee Convention and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights obligate South Africa to provide basic healthcare to all people in its borders

Populist parties have made considerable gains in the wake of the government’s insecurity-inducing economic policies

Public figures are often quick to heighten negative stereotypes about migrants