Migration Studies Commons^™

No. 25: Complex Movements, Confused Responses: Labour Migration In South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

The end of apartheid undermined the rationale for apartheid-era immigration. Immigration from Europe (which had been declining in the 1980s) dwindled to almost nothing as the new government dissociated itself from the racist immigration policies of the apartheid era. At the same time, downsizing and mine closures in the 1990s led to a dramatic decline in employment opportunities for African migrants in the mining industry. Tens of thousands of local and foreign migrants were retrenched. Although the industry has recovered somewhat, and continues to employ some foreign workers, the overall numbers of temporary migrant workers remain far below the levels …

No. 24: South Africa's Two Diasporas: Engagement And Disengagement, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

The African diaspora is increasingly viewed as a key to realizing the development potential of international migration. At the same time, there remains considerable confusion about who exactly constitutes the diaspora and which groups should be targeted for “diaspora engagement.” For some, the diaspora consists of all migrants of African birth living outside Africa. The African Union’s definition of the African diaspora, for example, “comprises people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality.” The World Bank goes a step further to distinguish between an involuntary and a voluntary, a historical and a contemporary, component …

No. 54: Medical Xenophobia: Zimbabwean Access To Health Services In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Southern African Migration Programme

Medical xenophobia refers to the negative attitudes and practices of health sector professionals and employees towards migrants and refugees on the job. There is considerable evidence that many officials (especially the police, home affairs officials, refugee determination officers and customs agents) bring xenophobic attitudes with them when they come to work. Those in the “helping professions” (such as teachers, social workers and health care professionals) also come into contact with migrants and refugees in the course of their jobs. They have the power to withhold services and they can certainly influence the way in which those services are delivered. This …

No. 56: Right To The Classroom: Educational Barriers For Zimbabweans In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Southern African Migration Programme

This report examines the obstacles to access by Zimbabwean children and students to schools and tertiary institutions in South Africa. There is a common assumption in South Africa that these children and students have no right to an educa­tion in South Africa. In fact, this view contravenes various international human rights conventions to which South Africa is a signatory. At the regional level, it is inconsistent with the SADC Education Protocol. At the national level, it violates the South African Constitution as well as legislation and stated government policies concerning the access of all children in the country to education. …

No. 55: The Engagement Of The Zimbabwean Medical Diaspora, Abel Chikanda

Southern African Migration Programme

Despite the well-documented negative impacts of the ‘brain drain’ of health professionals from Africa, there is an argu­ment that their departure is not an absolute loss and that transnationally-oriented medical migrants (or diasporas) can act as development agents in their home countries. Financial remittances, in particular, are said to have significant transformative development potential. African countries are also expected to benefit from knowledge and skills transfer through the return of health professionals from abroad. Other diaspora engagement initiatives that do not require permanent return (such as short term work assignments, technological transfer to country of origin and ‘virtual’ participation of …

Je E(S)T L’Autre, Nadia Duchêne

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Immigration and otherness represent core concerns in contemporary society and, as such, give rise to debate and discussion in many disciplines. the question of otherness also arises as a recurrent and key subject in the field of literature. Tahar Ben Jelloun’s novel Partir is replete with the ambivalence of otherness: attraction/aversion; difference/similarity; lack/exile; native/foreigner; close/distant; normal/deviant and as such provides a laboratory where the expression of otherness in discourse can be dissected. We will examine the perception and the issue of otherness in the novel as well as the strength of its representations.

Diasporas From States In Crisis: A Case Study Of The Zimbabwean Diaspora And Its Role In The Homeland, Leigh Ann Detwiler

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Diasporas are important transnational actors with significant potential to influence their homeland. However, when crisis drives migration, certain limitations and opportunities are created, affecting their role in their homeland. The Zimbabwean diaspora provides an interesting case study for a diaspora from a state in crisis since nearly one-quarter of its population lives outside its borders. In a crisis characterized by political oppression, near economic collapse, and a breakdown of social institutions, one of the population's few options for survival has been migration. The diaspora that has resulted has played a political, economic and social role in Zimbabwe, but the crisis …

No. 23: Labour Migration Trends And Policies In Southern Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

Since 1990, there have been major changes to longstanding patterns of intra-regional labour migration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). At the same time, new channels of migration to and from the region have opened. Labour migration is now more voluminous, dynamic and complex than it has ever been. This presents policy-makers with considerable opportunities and challenges. In order to understand the exact nature of these challenges, it is important to have a good grasp of current labour migration characteristics and trends. Unfortunately, reliable, accurate and comprehensive data on labour migration is not available. The quality and currency of …

No. 52: Migration, Remittances And ‘Development’ In Lesotho, Jonathan Crush, Belinda Dodson, John Gay, Thuso Green, Clement Leduka

Southern African Migration Programme

Lesotho is one of the most migration dependent countries in the world. Migrant remittances are the country’s major source of foreign exchange, accounting for 25% of GDP in 2006. Lesotho is also one of the poorest countries in the world due to high domestic unemployment, declining agricultural production, falling life expectancy, rising child mortality and half the population living below the poverty line. The majority of households and rural communities are dependent on remittances for their livelihood. Households without access to migrant remittances are significantly worse off than those that do have such access.

Since 1990, patterns of migration from …

No. 53: Migration-Induced Hiv And Aids In Rural Mozambique And Swaziland, Jonathan Crush, Inês Raimundo, Hamilton Simelane, Bonaventura Cau, David Dorey

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa’s gold mining workforce has the highest prevalence rates of tuberculosis and HIV infection of any industrial sector in the country. The contract migrant labour system, which has long outlived apartheid, is responsible for this unacceptable situation. The spread of HIV to rural communities in Southern Africa is not well understood. The accepted wisdom is that migrants leave for the mines, engage in high-risk behaviour, contract the virus and return to infect their rural partners. This model fails to deal with the phenomenon of rural-rural transmission and cases of HIV discordance (when the female migrant is infected and the …

No. 51: Migrant Remittances And Household Survival In Zimbabwe, Daniel Tevara, Abel Chikanda

Southern African Migration Programme

Migrant remittances are now recognised as an important source of global development finance and there is increasing evidence that international remittances have considerable developmental impacts. The contribution of remittances to GDP in many developing countries is significant and has shown a steady increase over the past decade. However, while there is a consensus that remittance flows to Africa are increasing, little attention has been paid to the impact of these transfers on poverty alleviation, primarily because of data deficiencies at the household level. Despite their obvious magnitude, accurate data on remittance flows to Zimbabwe is unavailable or inaccessible. In an …

No. 22: South African Government And Civil Society Responses To Zimbabwean Migration, Tara Poizer

Southern African Migration Programme

This policy brief discusses a key paradox in relation to Zimbabwean migration into South Africa. While Zimbabwean migration since 2000 has been the largest concentrated flow in South African history, South Africa’s reaction to this movement has been characterised by the attempt to continue with ‘business as usual’ and ‘no crisis’ responses.1 Compared with most other developed and developing countries, where an inflow of tens or hundreds of thousands of people is usually treated as a political crisis, such a non-response to over a million immigrants requires explanation.

The lack of commensurate responses is especially noticeable within the various departments …

No. 48: The Quality Of Immigration And Citizenship Services In Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor

Southern African Migration Programme

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration (MHAI) in Namibia has sole responsibility for implementing and managing migration policy and legislation; the registration of births, deaths and marriages; and the issuing of identity documents, passports and emergency travel documents. The Ministry also manages visa and permanent and temporary residence applications and approves work permits.

In 2005, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) was asked by the Ministry to conduct a systematic survey of the quality of services offered to citizens and non-citizens (the Services Quality Survey or SQS). The main objectives of the SQS were as follows:

• To compare …

No. 49: Gender, Migration And Remittances In Southern Africa, Belinda Dodson, Hamilton Simelane, Daniel Tevera, Thuso Green, Abel Chikanda, Fion De Vletter

Southern African Migration Programme

Migrant remittances have become an important source of income for many developing countries, exceeding official development assistance. As a result, migration and remittance behaviour are becoming a growing focus of international attention. Understanding the processes and patterns of remittance behaviour can help shed light on their usage and impact, both on recipient households and on wider socio-economic development in migrant-origin countries. One key aspect of such an understanding is the gender dynamics of migration and remittance practices. Globally, there is evidence of the feminization of migrant flows, with women increasingly migrating as independent migrants in their own right. Female migrants …

No. 50: The Perfect Storm: The Realities Of Xenophobia In Contemporary South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

The world recently watched with dismay as South African citi­zens violently attacked foreign nationals in communities across the country. Tens of thousands of migrants were displaced, amid mass looting and destruction of foreign-owned homes, property and businesses. Senior officials and politicians seemed bemused and perplexed by the xenophobic violence. The media was quick to advance several theories about the mayhem. One focused on historical factors, particularly South Africa’s divisive and alienating apartheid past. Another blamed poverty and the daily struggle for existence in many of South Africa’s poorer communities. A third criticized the ANC govern­ment for poor service delivery and …

No. 45: Medical Recruits: The Temptation Of South African Health Care Professionals, Christian M. Rogerson

Southern African Migration Programme

Health workers are one of the categories of skilled professionals most affected by globalization. Over the past decade, there has emerged a substantial body of research that tracks patterns of international migration of health personnel, assesses causes and consequences, and debates policy responses at global and national scales. Within this literature, the case of South Africa is attracting growing interest. For almost 15 years South Africa has been the target of a ‘global raiding’ of skilled professionals by several developed countries. How to deal with the consequences of the resultant outflow of health professionals is a core policy issue for …

No. 3: Linking Migration, Hiv/Aids And Urban Food Security In Southern And Eastern Africa, Jonathan Crush, Miriam Grant, Bruce Frayne

Southern African Migration Programme

This publication seeks to establish a background for understanding the complex and dynamic linkages between urbanization, migration, HIV/AIDS and urban food security in Southern and Eastern Africa (SEA). As urbanization accelerates, direct food transfers from rural areas are increasing as poor urban households seek to reduce their vulnerability to high food prices and a cash-intensive urban existence. At the same time, urban households or individual migrants remit money back to households in rural areas both inside and outside the country of employment. A significant proportion of remittances are used for consumption purposes, including the purchase of food. These processes are …

No. 47: The Haemorrhage Of Health Professionals From South Africa: Medical Opinions, Wade Pendleton, Jonathan Crush, Kate Lefko-Everett

Southern African Migration Programme

The health sector has been especially hard hit by the brain drain from South Africa. Unless the push factors are successfully addressed, intense interest in emigration will continue to translate into departure for as long as demand exists abroad (and there is little sign of this letting up.) Health professional decision-making about leaving, staying or returning is poorly-understood and primarily anecdotal. To understand how push and pull factors interact in decision- making (and the mediating role of variables such as profession, race, class, age, gender income and experience), the opinions of health professionals themselves need to be sought.

This paper …

Vol. 8, No. 1: South African Immigration Reform, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 46: Voices From The Margins: Migrant Women’S Experiences In Southern Africa, Kate Lefko-Everett

Southern African Migration Programme

The concept of the feminization of migration traditionally refers to the growth in numbers and relative importance of women’s migration, particularly from and within developing countries. In Africa, for example, the proportion of female migrants rose from 42% of the total in 1 960 to almost 50% at the present time. This process is a result, first, of the continued impoverishment and marginalization of many women in developing countries; and second, of the increasing demand for female labour in the service industries of industrial and industrializing countries.

The United Nations suggests that the full implications of migration and mobility for …

No. 21: The Un Convention On The Rights Of Migrant Workers: The Ratification Non-Debate, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush, Peggy Nicholson

Southern African Migration Programme

In recognition of the need to explicitly define and uphold the rights of migrants, and in particular migrant workers and their families, the United Nations General Assembly approved the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICMW) on 18 December 1990 (Appendix A).

The significance of the Convention has been identified as follows:

• Migrant workers are viewed as more than labourers or economic entities. They are social entities with families and accordingly have rights, including that of family reunification.
• The Convention recognizes that migrant workers and members of their families, …

L’Imagination Du Corps Greffé : Filtres Bilingues, Mireille Rosello

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Contemporary narratives featuring organ transplants speak of a painful but also life-saving contact when the “donor” body is African and the receiving body is European. At this point the surgical operation and that of the imagination assume a whole other dimension, as the inequality and interdependence of these two bodies invite the reader to re-imagine the links between the concept of the “body,” on the one hand, and culture and language, on the other. This article looks at the transplanted body as an imagining machine capable of articulating a vision of itself different from the one that words impose upon …

Vol. 7, No. 1: Deadly Links Between Mobility And Hiv/Aids, Belinda Dodson, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 19: Irregular Migration To South Africa During The First Ten Years Of Democracy, Lyndith Waller

Southern African Migration Programme

Irregular migration poses a considerable problem for South Africa in migration management, population planning, infrastructure development, resource management, governance, social services, economic development and security. A government can only work with what it knows, with a reasonable margin of error. By its nature, irregular migration creates many unknowns. Where entry into South Africa is clandestine or fraudulent, no proper account can be kept of the migrant’s presence, movement, identity, nationality, health status or activities. Without the ability to measure the problem, the ability to address it remains elusive.

For years, figures on the number of irregular migrants present in South …

No. 16: South African Immigration Law: A Gender Analysis, Belinda Dodson, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

One of the last pieces of apartheid-era legislation to disappear from the South African statute books was the Aliens Control Act of 1991. Although amended in 1995, this Act was finally consigned to history only in March 2003, when the draft regulations implementing the new Immigration Act (no. 13 of 2002) came into effect (Republic of South Africa 2002 and 2003). While there is much in the new Act to be welcomed, and it certainly represents the advent of a more just and pragmatic immigration regime, many of its provisions give considerable cause for concern on gender grounds. The Act …

No. 43: Migration And Development In Mozambique: Poverty, Inequality And Survival, Fion De Vletter

Southern African Migration Programme

Despite Mozambique’s economic growth rate being one of the highest in Africa over the past few years, much of the growth is linked to the development of highly capital intensive “mega” projects with limited absorption of unskilled workers. The urban informal sector which has hitherto absorbed considerable numbers of the unemployed has become less attractive for the rural labour surpluses as increasing competition makes economic survival more difficult. Such limitations within the domestic economy, recently exacerbated by the current drought in the South, has forced many rural households to seek employment in South Africa. Although external migration to South Africa …

No. 44: Migration, Remittances And Development In Southern Africa, Wade Pendleton, Jonathan Crush, Eugene Campbell, Thuso Green, Hamilton Simelane, Daniel Tevera, Fion De Vletter

Southern African Migration Programme

Remittances by migrants are now a focus of attention of governments and development agencies worldwide. Globally, cash remittances by international migrants now exceed $250 billion per annum, easily outweighing the value of development assistance. Over a third of remittances to developing countries originate in other developing countries. International cash remittances are only part of the story. Remittances in the form of goods and commodities are also extremely important, as are internal remittances from urban to rural areas within countries.

Debate rages on the development impacts of remittances and how these can be maximized. Advocates of migration as a positive force …

No. 17: International Migration And Good Governance In The Southern African Region, Jonathan Crush, Sally Peberdy, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. Migration was probably the single most important factor tying together all of the various colonies and countries of the sub-continent into a single regional labour market during the twentieth century. However, entrenched patterns of migration have undergone major restructuring in the last two decades. Southern Africa is now a region on the move (McDonald 2000). Several broader changes underly this shift towards greater and greater intra-regional mobility.

First, the end of apartheid, a system designed to control movement and exclude outsiders, produced new opportunities for …

No. 20: Migration Of Skills In South Africa: Patterns, Trends And Challenges, Lyndith Waller

Southern African Migration Programme

It is a human inclination to want to position oneself where conditions are best for personal fulfilment, growth and success. People migrate because they perceive their environment as inadequate in terms of what they desire or deserve. The more deserving they consider themselves the more likely they will be to leave a suboptimal environment in search of one in which they will be appreciated – through recognition or pay – and where they can develop their potential, live securely, work towards their goals and enjoy standards with which they align themselves.

Skilled people recognise that they have something to offer; …

No. 18: The Draft Protocol On The Facilitation Of Movement Of Persons In Sadc: Implications For State Parties, Vincent Williams, Lizzie Carr

Southern African Migration Programme

The migration of persons across international boundaries in search of better opportunities or as a result of war, conflict and political instability has risen substantially over the years. The UN Population Division estimates that there are currently 175 million people living outside of their country of origin which is more than twice the number a generation ago (United Nations Population Division 2002). As communications and transport infrastructure become more sophisticated and cheaper, this trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future.

This movement of persons from their own countries of nationality or citizenship, to another country where they take …