Asanda Matlhare Jo Vearey, associate professor and director for African Centre for Migration & Society, said the lockdown was a huge part of why some foreign nationals were undocumented. Healthcare workers register people ahead of vaccinating them with Pfizer vaccines at the Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston, on 17 May 2021. Picture: Michele Spatari/AFP A large proportion of the estimated nearly four million foreign nationals, legal and illegal, in SA could be at risk of not being inoculated against Covid-19 as community fears and problems over paperwork keep them away from hospitals and vaccination sites. Foreign nationals with documents can register on the electronic vaccine data system (EVDS), using their passports or refugee permits. However, Shelton Chiyangwa, spokesperson for Zimbabwe Migration Support Networ
In January 2021, when health minister Zweli Mkhize started giving public briefings on the country’s vaccine rollout strategy, he kept referring to SA citizens in his speeches. In an interview with SABC news, he also said vaccines would be limited to South African citizens, since the country “does not have the capacity to assist undocumented foreign nationals”.
But President Cyril Ramaphosa later said vaccines would be made available to all adults living in South Africa regardless of citizenship or residency status.
Asylum seekers waiting at the revamped Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre in Marabastad. (Photo: GCIS)
Then, at the end of February, Mkhize told members of the National Council of Provinces that the government must still draw up plans for the vaccination of undocumented foreign nationals.