About 50 women who allege they were sterilised without their consent will gather in Durban next week, as concerns deepen over unlawful medical procedures carried out in public health facilities. The meeting, organised by the Her Right Initiative (HRI), comes as more than 100 women across South Africa have stepped forward with similar experiences, many alleging they were misled by health workers, and implicating doctors. HRI founder Dr Sethembiso Mthembu said lawyers had already issued letters of demand to the national Department of Health.
The department has denied the allegations. An investigation launched by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) in 2020 found the department violated 26 laws, including those protecting women’s rights to dignity, bodily integrity and security. The CGE concluded that HIV-positive women were subjected to forced and coerced sterilisations.
Further, a University of South Africa study published in January also found that women sterilised between 2007 and 2023 received no support from the government. Now, more than 100 women have come forward saying their lives have been negatively affected by the procedure, which was done without any discussion on the way forward before or after procedures. The study, titled “Bodies at the Altar of Forced & Coerced Sterilisation”, found that most of the victims were from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the North West.
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Mthembu told Parliament’s portfolio committee on Health that government was slow to act. Negotiations had dragged on for years. The victims have not received financial compensation, nor any form of redress for pain and suffering. This violates their right to access justice and an effective remedy.
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