FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | PRESS STATEMENT

04 November 2025

Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX), today hails the landmark judgment of the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg, which granted wide-ranging interdictory and declaratory relief against Operation Dudula and its members . 

Handed down today, on 4 November 2025, this judgment is a powerful affirmation that in our constitutional democracy, human dignity has no nationality.

The application sought to stop Operation Dudula’s pattern of unlawful conduct, including intimidation, harassment, assault, and hate speech against non-nationals and those perceived to be foreign. The court’s judgment found that Operation Dudula’s vigilante conduct constitutes a clear violation of the rule of law, as no one is entitled to take the law into her or his own hands. The court granted a final interdict against Operation Dudula, holding that the rights to equality, human dignity, life, freedom, and security of the person of all individuals are being violated and threatened by their actions.

What This Judgment Means for Affected Communities

This judgment provides critical protection for those targeted by xenophobic attacks:

• End to Private Policing: The court explicitly declared that only an immigration officer or a police officer has the power to demand identification documents like a passport to demonstrate the right to be in South Africa. Operation Dudula is interdicted and restrained from demanding that any private person produce their documents.

• Protection from Harassment and Violence: Operation Dudula and its executive members are interdicted from :
  • Intimidating, harassing, or assaulting individuals identified as foreign nationals.
  • Making public statements that constitute hate speech on the grounds of nationality, social origin, or ethnicity.
  • Interfering with access to healthcare services or schools (harassing learners, teachers, or parents).
  • Unlawfully evicting people from their homes or removing informal traders from their stalls.
• Clearer Immigration Law: The court provided an interpretation of Section 41 of the Immigration Act, confirming that the powers of state officials to request identification :
  • Are confined to public places (and do not authorise warrantless searches in private places like homes or workplaces).
  • Require a reasonable suspicion that a person is unlawfully in South Africa.
  • Do not permit the interrogation, arrest, and detention of children under 18, except as a measure of last resort.

In a country founded on the rejection of apartheid, we cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to the xenophobic hate promoted by Operation Dudula. As the judgment notes, the xenophobia experienced in South Africa is best understood as xeno-racism, which is directed predominantly at black African non- nationals and has deep roots in South Africa’s history of anti-black racism during the colonial and apartheid periods. To remain silent is to sanction a return to a discriminatory past.

This judgment establishes that the rights afforded by the Bill of Rights, including the rights to life, dignity, equality, education, and healthcare, apply to all persons within South Africa’s borders, regardless of their nationality or immigration status.

Furthermore, the court directed the Government of the Republic of South Africa to take reasonable steps to implement the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which includes establishing an early warning and rapid response mechanism regarding threats of xenophobic hate speech and hate crimes .

This is a victory for our Constitution and a necessary step to protect our shared humanity. The message is unequivocal, xenophobic vigilantism and hate have no place in a democratic, post-apartheid South Africa. KAAX and partners will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the rule of law is upheld and that the constitutional rights of everyone are respected, regardless of nationality!

The full judgement can be downloaded here.

For more information contact:  

Mike Ndlovu | media@kaax.org.za | +27 68 552 2510