‘We are not giving up’: The undocumented migrants challenging South Africa’s vaccination policy

Image description: In this illustration, a syringe trying to poke into the arm of a figure dressed in red is curved. The image background has a barbed-wire fence.

Johannesburg, South Africa (Minority Africa) — While Kevin Mabovu was trying to register for his vaccination in South Africa, the online form asked for an identity document, which the 37-year-old Mabovu who migrated to South Africa in 2010 from Tanzania as an economic refugee did not have. 

Mabovu resolved to go to a vaccination center despite his inability to complete the form but was turned away by officials who cited his undocumented status. 

“The officials told me that their machines do not allow for undocumented people to be vaccinated, as they [have to] keep identity records of whoever gets the vaccination,” he tells Minority Africa. “This bothered me a lot as I fear being excluded and exposed to Covid-19 [because] I have lost some of my family members to it.” 

Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and undocumented people are estimated to make up around 5 million of the people living in South Africa and Mabovu is one of many undocumented migrants who are struggling to get vaccinated in the country, leaving them susceptible to COVID-19. 

Spurred by the rejection, Mabovu, a street mechanic in Johannesburg is now lobbying fellow undocumented migrants to approach both the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Health to negotiate inclusion in the ongoing vaccination campaign.

“I [think] the best way to go forward is to engage the government,” Mabovu says. “With dialogue, anything is possible.”

South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has previously stated that everyone, including undocumented migrants, is eligible for vaccination, yet messages sent to those who register for the vaccine indicate that a vaccine registration code and an ID or passport is required. 

According to the country’s Department of Health, South Africa has fully vaccinated 13.2% of its population with nearly eight million people inoculated and over 15 million doses administered 

While access to health and treatment remains a right under South Africa’s Bill of Rights, enshrined in Chapter 2 of the country’s constitution, the National Health Department said it was still awaiting directives from the cabinet, an indication that President Ramaphosa’s proclamations are yet to be followed by political commitment. 

“From the public health perspective, it is ideal to vaccinate all those who reside in South Africa,” said Popo Maja, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, in an emailed response to Minority Africa. “As government, we need to come up with means and methods of registering these undocumented immigrants as they cannot be vaccinated without some form of identity.”

But Mabovu says they do have some form of identity. So far, he has been able to convince 20 people to join the lobbying group and he’s encouraging members to present identity documents from their countries of origin, whether outdated or not, which he says will be used in dialogue with the government.  

“This will help the [South African] government to know who we are,” he says. “We cannot seek help without assisting the government as well, so with our national IDs from our countries of origin we can negotiate further.” 

The group intends to approach the government when its membership reaches at least 100 people.

Lesotho’s Sindiso Khumalo, a vegetable distributor, and activist who is also undocumented is one of the members that recently joined the social lobby group. 

“We are a growing group with our only focus being vaccinated,” he says. “We know it is not easy for the government to deal with undocumented people but we are willing to meet the government in the middle.” 

The group currently meets online using WhatsApp and sometimes in person in parks around Johannesburg. 

“We provide all the resources we use ourselves, from data for online meetings, credits to make phone calls, and to transportation costs for mobilization,” Khumalo says. 

Vaccination programs that include migrants are necessary because migrants live with locals in the community, says Lily Sanya, Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in South Africa. 

“Everybody should be included when it comes to vaccination,” she says. “Leaving a section of this community out of the programme would only be a drawback to the otherwise good work being done.”

Nigerian migrant, Nnamdi Okechukwu*, who is also undocumented, shares Sanya’s perspective and warns of the dire consequences of excluding immigrants from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine – whether they are documented or undocumented.

“[Government] must know that we do not only cohabit with them in the same community but also shop at same stores, our children play and go to schools with the children of these documented and undocumented immigrants,” says the 57-year-old graphic gesigner who migrated to South Africa to find work two decades ago.

In the meantime, Mabovu and his group continue to have their meetings and prepare to lobby yet the process of finding migrants to join them is not hitch-free. 

“Some people see me as a crazy person when I try to convince them to join us in our quest to be considered by the government,” Khumalo says. “They have lost hope and they think that engaging the government from our status won’t yield any result but we are not giving up.”

For Mabovu, the group, in general, is about rebelling against the segregation migrants face, even outside of vaccination and health services. 

“It is sad that we are having people losing their lives because they are deemed to be undocumented migrants yet the African Union sells an idea that we are one Africa,” he says. “It is a serious disgrace that shows our continent still lives in colonialism and division.” 

* indicates names have been changed to protect identity.