A South African court has ordered an anti-migrant group to stop blocking foreign nationals from accessing public health facilities and schools, saying such actions are illegal.

Operation Dudula has in recent months picketed hospitals and clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity cards and stopping anyone who is not South African from entering. This has since extended to schools.

But the high court in Johannesburg has ordered the group to stop “intimidating, harassing [or] interfering with access” to these facilities.

South Africa is home to about 2.4 million migrants, just less than 4% of the population, according to official figures.

Most come from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which have a history of providing migrant labour to their wealthy neighbour.

Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa, which has been accompanied by occasional outbursts of deadly violence, and anti-migrant sentiment has become a key political talking-point.

Judge Leicester Adams, handing down judgment on Tuesday, also barred Operation Dudula from making statements that can be construed as hate speech, “unlawfully evicting foreign nationals from their homes… [or] from their trading stalls” and instigating others to do so.

“Dudula” means to remove something by force in the Zulu language.

The organisation says it is disappointed by the ruling and intends to appeal against it, according to South African online publication News24.