By Charmaine Ndlela and Lebone Rodah Mosima
Anti-illegal immigration group Operation Dudula has said it will be visiting public schools this week to check that undocumented foreign learners are not accessing South Africa’s public education system, despite a court interdict barring it from intimidating or harassing suspected non-citizens.
The group, which in August registered as a political party ahead of next year’s local government elections, is continuing its campaign despite the Johannesburg High Court ruling last week by Judge Leicester Adams that prohibits Operation Dudula and its leaders from “taking the law into their own hands”.
According to Adams’s judgment, this includes demanding identity documents from members of the public to check their nationality, and from making public statements on social media that constitute hate speech.
The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) has said it condemns Dudula’s plans, which are in direct contravention of Adams’s ruling.
“CoRMSA strongly condemns any form of intimidation, harassment, or discrimination directed at children, parents, or educators based on nationality or migration status,” the group said in a statement.
“These threats directly contravene the recent Gauteng High Court interdict of 04 November 2025, which declared Operation Dudula’s activities unlawful and unconstitutional.”
CoRMSA said the judgment makes it clear that no private group has the “authority to enforce immigration laws or interfere with public institutions such as schools,” adding that education is a basic constitutional right which guarantees immediately realisable access to basic education for everyone.
Attempts to deny or disrupt schooling undermined the country’s commitment to human rights and equality, it said.
CoRMSA Executive Director Thifulufheli Sinthumule urged law enforcement and education authorities to act decisively to “prevent any unlawful occupation or disruption of schools”.
The group said it was closely monitoring Operation Dudula’s actions and “their adherence to the court judgment, and will continue to advocate for accountability and the protection of all learners”.
CoRMSA said South Africans should reject hate, vigilantism, and division and “build a society rooted in dignity, inclusion, and respect for human rights”.
Operation Dudula leader Zandile Dabula has said that the group would continue its campaign.
“We are free to protect South African resources,” she said. “The court does not stop our intended operations at schools — now this means on Monday…we will be at schools.”
In a statement, Operation Dudula said it had written over 100 memorandums in the last four years to the Presidency, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Labour and Employment, South African Police Service, municipalities, and other state institutions calling for the enforcement of applicable legislation.
“We call on the state to do its job to arrest and deport all illegal foreigners to defend the interests of South African citizens, which are under serious threat,” it said.
The group also said it was dedicated to upholding the rule of law and operating within South Africa’s constitutional duties to protect national sovereignty, uphold social justice, and guarantee fair distribution of limited resources to citizens.
Operation Dudula previously told Inside Education it planned to enforce the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act admission requirements in 2026 by continuing to deliver “letters of demand” to schools upon reopening after the summer break. However, it also said it would not be disrupting matric exams.
The letters – which the group started delivering to some schools last month already — outlined the Act’s new foreign nationals admission requirements.
In the letters, Operation Dudula said of the Act that where both parents are foreign nationals holding either permanent residence permits or temporary residence visas, required documents include the learner’s foreign issued birth certificate, the learner’s passport, a study visa or permanent residence permit issued to the learner, the parents’ passports, and the parents’ temporary residence visas or permanent residence permits.
Operation Dudula said in the letters that no undocumented foreign learner should be admitted to schools, adding that such a learner was an illegal immigrant and “should be arrested, put into protective custody, and deported with their parents in terms of section 49 of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002”.
“We also bring to your attention the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, Act 7 of 2013, a law that criminalises the harbouring of trafficked children,” the letter read, warning that admitting such children would make school principals complicit in human trafficking.
It said in the letter that school principals violating the Act and regulations “will have criminal charges opened against them, be arrested, and be handed to the South African Police Services”.
“We therefore demand that you immediately deregister and remove any child who is an undocumented illegal foreigner from school,” the letter read. Undocumented South African learners must be “assisted by the school principal in obtaining documentation before school resumes,” it said.
Operation Dudula has been active in townships and urban centres since the July riots of 2021, organising marches and public campaigns about the alleged effects of undocumented migration on jobs, public services, and community safety. It shifted focus to the education sector starting with schools in Soweto on September 22.
The Department of Education has warned the group not to interfere with the education calendar by removing undocumented learners, saying: “The responsibility for law and order in the country rests with the South African Police Services.”
South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) spokesperson Nomusa Cembi told Inside Education the union respects the country’s laws and constitution. “We therefore do not support actions that undermine or disregard the laws and the constitution of South Africa.”
“Some of the actions of Dudula disregard our laws and the constitution and we do not support such conduct,” said Cembe.
Speaking to Inside Education about the possible implications of Operation Dudula’s actions, Soweto-based Kwa-Mahlobo Secondary School Vice Principal Takane Mnisi said the planned interruptions are thus far “hearsay” on social media.
“We are waiting for the Minister of Education to say something on this matter, then we will start taking action; for now everything is normal. We request documents from parents; if they don’t have them, we don’t chase learners away. It is against the constitution of the country,” she said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
