Prof fights 'lawlessness' at hospital gates

'Emergency medical care is a legal right'

- WENDY JASSON DA COSTA

WORLD-renowned scientist Prof Salim Abdool Karim has slammed police inaction at Durban's Addington Hospital, calling it "lawlessness" after witnessing vigilantes illegally block foreign nationals from accessing medical care, in full view of officers.

Thirty-five years ago, as a member of the UDF, he protested against apartheid outside the same hospital, where medical care was officially segregated by race.

This week Abdool Karim returned, to confront self-appointed immigration enforcers who were stopping people at the hospital gate, and turning away foreigners. Even South Africans without IDs were turned away.

"These are individuals who have taken the law into their own hands and who have been given that ability to do that by the police who deliberately did not arrest them," he said.

Abdool Karim said the police were doing exactly what they did during the 2021 insurrection in which more than 300 people died.

"They just stand by and let illegal activity occur in front of them and they don't arrest anyone. In fact, there was a police van nearby," he said.

For the past two months, organisations under the banner of March and March have played gatekeeper at Addington, deciding who may enter and who should be turned away. The group has carried out similar actions at other facilities, including in Gauteng.

Abdool Karim said the vigilantes confirmed that they worked in shifts to ensure 24-hour surveillance at Addington and to prevent anyone without a South African ID from entering.

"So that's the extent they have gone to. I would not be surprised if these people are being paid to do this," he said.