Smuggled birth control pills in demand

Female migrants cite barriers to accessing local healthcare facilities

- Dianah Chiyangwa

Dark clouds gathered overhead as an army convoy made its way along the gravel road leading in the villages.

As armed soldiers jumped off the back of their vehicles and led the way toward the dry Limpopo River bank, their movement drew the attention of illegal smugglers who quickly withdrew from the area. Some stood in no man's land while the army kept a watchful eye on them.

The illegal cross-border consignments include Zimbabwean contraceptive pills, which have found a market in South Africa via social media platforms like Facebook Marketplace, where suppliers sell them for R10 to R20 a packet.

Migrant women living in Johannesburg say they use the birth control pills because they have no other local options.

They cite language barriers and the barring of undocumented foreign nationals from accessing services at public health centres by vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula.

Last year members of Operation Dudula and March and March carried out a campaign of blocking undocumented foreign nationals from using public healthcare services in public hospitals and clinics, accusing them of draining resources meant for South Africans. The South Gauteng High Court later issued an interdict against the acts.

Janet Moyo (not her real name), who supplies contraceptive pills in the Johannesburg central business district, says her clients resell them in informal settlements and to migrant communities.

Moyo says she bought the bulk stock from a police officer who confiscated a box full of contraceptive pills from smugglers.

"I don't just sell these pills; I also use them to prevent unintended pregnancies. I have never used pills provided free in local clinics in South Africa," she said.

"After I gave birth to my first child here in Johannesburg 12 years ago, nurses offered me local pills, a brand most women complain causes nausea, weight gain and mood swings. I took them but did not use them."