The state’s version of human rights is to terrify people into fleeing, herd them to the border under tents pitched in mud, let them cross with only what they can carry – then photograph the water being handed out and the mobile clinics parked nearby as “evidence” of a rights-based approach, write Rebecca Walker and Sharon Ekambaram.

When a president admits his government has failed, but blames immigrants in the same breath, he isn’t being honest – he’s just being political, write Rebecca Walker, Loren Landau and Sharon Ekambaram.

South Africa’s latest immigration white paper was approved just six weeks after public submissions closed. Collective Voices for Health Access combed through 18 of those submissions and found a clear pattern in concerns raised: exclusion, quietly institutionalised through documentation and digital systems increasing barriers in access to healthcare for migrants and South Africans alike.

The dompas may be gone, but the mindset remains. Denying medical treatment or shutting out a pupil for lack of documents does not protect rights – it erodes them for everyone.