South African Catholic Archbishop Calls for Action as Foreigners Denied Healthcare

Johannesburg, 28 August, 2025 / 11:16 PM

Archbishop Siegried Mandla Jwara of South Africa’s Catholic Archdiocese of Durban has denounced the denial of healthcare to foreigners seeking services in some hospitals and clinics in the country, urging the authorities to take immediate action to address the matter.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Thursday, August 28, Archbishop Mandla made reference to the Catholic Healthcare Association of South Africa’s (CHAS) recent condemnation of the matter, emphasizing that such conduct contradicts Catholic Social Teaching.

Following the CHAS July 11 condemnation, the South African Catholic Archbishop lamented that the foreigners are sometimes turned away forcefully.

In Johannesburg’s Rosettenville suburb, reports indicate that residents established barricades and demanded that undocumented migrants seek private medical care and not public facilities.

Those who act in such a manner, the member of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) said, “contradict the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel Values of love, mercy, and compassion.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to lend my own voice in support of the marginalized who suffer the injustices of persecution and rejection based solely on their being foreign nationals,” Archbishop Mandla said.

The South African Church leader said that foreigners “are to be treated with love, respect, and afforded every right as is available to them to seek treatment in situations that require medical intervention.”

Underlining the need for hospitality to foreigners, he reflected on the Sacred Scripture from the Gospel of St. Matthew, where Jesus teaches that care, kindness, and consideration are essential characteristics for those who seek God's favor.

Further reflecting on passages from Exodus and Jeremiah, he said, “We are often reminded of the obligations imposed upon us to care for one another, as is evidenced by the exhortation to hospitality.”

He explained, “These basic elements of our Christian faith can be seen echoed in many other religious traditions, as well as within the African philosophy of ‘ubuntu’, where there is the encouragement to reach out beyond oneself and provide for others in acts of selfless charity; that is to say, in love for one's neighbor.”

 “I therefore encourage every person to recall being made in the image and likeness of God, and that their brother or sister, from whatever nation, tribe, or tongue, is to be treated with dignity, and allowed within the law to seek aid and receive aid without fear or obstruction,” Archbishop Mandla said.

The Local Ordinary of South Africa’s Durban Archdiocese pleaded with civil authorities in the country to do whatever they can to resolve issues facing foreigners with all possible haste, saying that lives are at stake.

In July, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) issued a statement condemning the xenophobic protests blocking foreign nationals from accessing public healthcare facilities in South Africa, reaffirming their unwavering defence of human dignity and constitutional rights.

“The frightening evidence of all sorts of abuse by groups calling for foreign nationals to be excluded from health care is morally reprehensible, in direct contradiction to the Constitution, and undermines our every attempt to strengthen social cohesion,” the Bishops said in the statement that was signed by their president, Stephen Cardinal Brislin.

In the July 10 statement, SACBC echoed the church’s broader advocacy and underscored healthcare as a core faith principle, that “Care for the sick is one of the core tenets of our faith.”