Civil society seeks to hold state actors in contempt over their failure to protect access to clinics against vigilante groups

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) – represented by SECTION27 – filed an urgent contempt application after state authorities failed to comply with a High Court order issued on 4 December 2025 to restore safe and unhindered access to the Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics in Johannesburg. The matter will be heard today, 16 March, at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg at 10 am.

The application follows an order granted by Justice Wilson in December 2025, directing the facility managers at the Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics, the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng Department of Health and others to take immediate and concrete steps to ensure that patients can access healthcare services at these facilities.
 

It requires that such access occur without intimidation or obstruction.

In the previous hearing, undisputed facts established that the two clinics in this application had become sites of significant vigilante activity. Unidentified groups were controlling access to the clinics and preventing patients from entering unless they could produce South African identity documents. Among those turned away were pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children: individuals who are widely recognised as deserving special protection in the provision of healthcare services.

In the months since the order was granted, TAC, MSF, and KAAX have conducted monitoring and have found vigilante groups at the clinics, particularly at the Rosettenville clinic. These groups continue to pose a threat to patients seeking healthcare. There has been no visible or sustained intervention by authorities to prevent vigilantism or ensure that patients can safely enter the clinics.

The civil society organisations bringing this case have repeatedly attempted to engage the respondents to resolve the issue without further litigation. However, the ongoing obstruction of access to healthcare and the lack of meaningful engagement from authorities left them with no choice but to return to Court.
 

In today’s hearing, the applicants will ask the Court to declare the first to fifteenth respondents to be in contempt of the December 2025 order, alternatively to declare that they are in breach of that order. The applicants also seek further mandatory relief requiring the respondents to take immediate steps to comply fully with the Court’s orders.

The applicants emphasise that this case concerns both the protection of vulnerable patients and the rule of law. Court orders must be respected and implemented. Without effective enforcement, the rights of patients, including migrants and undocumented South Africans, remain at risk, and the authority of the courts is undermined.

Ensuring safe access to healthcare is not optional. It is a constitutional obligation.