{"id":89638,"date":"2025-09-11T17:36:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs"},"modified":"2025-09-11T17:43:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:43:01","slug":"malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","title":{"rendered":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The group is known for its harsh stance against foreign nationals, advocating for South Africans as first preference for employment in sectors like education, employment, and health care.<\/p>\n<p>They have been involved in several controversies over their actions, such as blocking undocumented foreigners from receiving medical care in public clinics and hospitals. The group plans to target schools next to block illegal foreign children from entering state schools.<\/p>\n<p>Their actions have received mixed reactions from various groups, with some criticising them for allegedly promoting xenophobia and violence against migrants, while others support their efforts to deal with the issue of illegal foreigners.<\/p>\n<p>Malema said on X: \u201cOperation Dudula is a group of thugs and must be subjected to the political killing task team. Period!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His statement ignited backlash from his supporters, with some accusing him of prioritising foreigners over South Africans and threatening to punish him at the polls.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Dudula rejected Malema&#8217;s claims and urged him to retract his statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are South Africans committed to protecting our communities and upholding the rule of law,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge Malema to immediately withdraw this dangerous statement, which incites hatred and puts lives at risk. Operation Dudula stands for justice, community safety, and accountability, not political attacks or intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are more reactions from X:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. The group is known for its harsh stance against foreign nationals, advocating for South Africans as first preference for employment in sectors like education, employment, and health care. They have been involved [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\"},\"wordCount\":257,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\",\"name\":\"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs - South Africa","description":"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs","og_description":"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs","datePublished":"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs"},"wordCount":257,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg","keywords":["South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs","name":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-11T17:36:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-11T17:43:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at the anti-immigrant group Operation Dudula, calling it \u201ca group of thugs\u201d. ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757599902.594967.jpg","width":1000,"height":666,"caption":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/malema-calls-operation-dudula-a-group-of-thugs#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Malema Calls Operation Dudula a Group of Thugs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}