Migration Studies Commons^™

No. 24: Spaces Of Vulnerability: Migration And Hiv/Aids In South Africa, Brian Williams, Eleanor Gouws, Mark Lurie, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Seventy per cent of the 36 million people infected worldwide with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa and within this region the countries of Southern Africa are the worst affected. The eight countries with the highest rates of infection are in Southern Africa, followed by six countries in East Africa, and then five other countries, only one outside Africa. The reasons why the highest rates of infection in the world occur in Southern Africa are unclear. Although the countries of the region have much in common, their histories over the last twenty years have been very different.

A number of different …

No. 25: Zimbabweans Who Move: Perspectives On International Migration In Zimbabwe, Daniel Tevara, Lovemore Zinyama

Southern African Migration Programme

The movement of people across political boundaries has generated considerable debate in Southern Africa. There is a compelling need for Southern African countries to harmonise regional migration policies and to ensure the freer movement of people across the region. However, it must be noted that disparities in levels of development are still evident in the economies of the region. There are fears in countries such as South Africa and Botswana that the freer movement of people will flood them with migrants from the less developed countries. There are also concerns in all the countries of SADC that freer movement will …

No. 04: Gender Concerns In South African Migration Policy, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

This paper draws attention to the need for a gender analysis of the South African government’s proposed new policy on international migration, by identifying a number of areas of implicit gender discrimination. Such “discrimination by default” is of more than academic relevance, having important implications for national and regional development. Research undertaken by the Southern African Migration Project indicates a growing “feminization” of migration to South Africa from the Southern African region, as well as gender-specific motives and patterns of migration. If migration is to be effectively managed, such realities must be taken into account. The paper concludes by advocating …

No. 02: The New South African Immigration Bill: A Legal Analysis, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) notes the promulgation of an Immigration Bill in Government Gazette Vol. 416 (No. 20889) on 15 February 2000 and the invitation to submit comments. SAMP supports the Department’s contention, implicit in the gazetting of a new Bill, that the Aliens Control Act is an unacceptable instrument for the sound and effective management of migration. The rescinding of the Aliens Control Act and its replacement by a new Immigration Act is therefore a matter of highest priority. However, it is equally important that such legislation is not rushed; that it is constitutionally-sound, implementable and cost-effective. …

No. 03: Making Up The Numbers: Measuring “Illegal Immigration” To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The extent of South Africa’s “illegal immigrant” problem continues to confound. Numbers in the millions continue to be casually thrown around by officials, politicians, and the local and foreign press. The study on which these millionaire estimates are based has been widely discredited. But those who are critical of the study and skeptical of the inflated numbers are unable to come up with alternative numbers. Their response is usually that the extent of undocumented migration is, by definition, unknowable. True as it might be, this response unfortunately does not help very much. In this paper, the author attempts to break …

No. 01: The South African White Paper On International Migration: An Analysis And Critique, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

SAMP commends the South African government and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for their ongoing commitment to developing a new immigration and migration policy framework, exemplified most recently by the passage of a new Refugee Act and the gazetting of a Draft White Paper on International Migration (WP).

SAMP notes with encouragement the steps taken in the Draft White Paper to move to a more holistic view of the benefits of sound, effective and transparent immigration management. SAMP is supportive of continued immigration policy transformation and any initiatives that advance this aim.

SAMP possesses the experience and capacity to …

No. 06: The Point Of No Return: Evaluating The Amnesty For Mozambican Refugees In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

In the 1980s, civil war in Mozambique forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, including South Africa. Formal refugee status was granted only after the civil war ended, with the signing in October 1992 of a Tripartite Agreement between Mozambique, South Africa and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The majority of these former Mozambican refugees clearly wish to remain in South Africa, as few took advantage of a UNHCR offer of free repatriation to Mozambique in the early 1990s. In 2000, an estimated 200-220 000 former Mozambican refugees …

No. 05: Counting Brains: Measuring Emigration From South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

Official South African statistics on the magnitude of emigration from the country seriously undercount. In this paper, the authors have devised an innovative methodology which reveals the extent of the undercount but also provides important insights into the volume and sectoral distribution of emigrants. One of the common strategies suggested for countering some of the negative consequences of “brain drain” is the mobilization of diaspora networks. The paper provides an introduction to one such network, the SANSA project. The paper was written by Mercy Brown, David Kaplan and Jean-Baptiste Meyer of the Development Policy Research Unit of the University of …

No. 22: Immigration, Xenophobia And Human Rights In South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

In 2000, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) entered into a partnership with the Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign of the South African Human Rights Commission. The two cooperated in offering a series of country-wide training workshops for media and journalists at which the results of SAMP research into media xenophobia was presented and discussed. This publication is the second product of that partnership. The paper sets out to critically review and examine the evidence for the argument that xenophobia is widespread and growing in South Africa. While it is important to document the scale of the problem and the enormity …

No. 21: Cross-Border Raiding And Community Conflict In The Lesotho-South African Border Zone, Gary Kynoch, Theresa Ulicki, Tsepang Cekwane, Booi Mohapi, Mampolokeng Mohapi, Ntsoaki Phakisi, Palesa Seithleko

Southern African Migration Programme

Movement backwards and forwards across borders for work is often considered to be the primary form of unauthorized movement in Southern Africa. In southern Lesotho, a new and particularly dangerous form of two-way cross-border movement has become entrenched. This situation warrants the label “crisis”; a crisis which is devastating parts of the countryside in both Lesotho and the northern Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Media and official attention has focused on the extreme violence which accompanies cross-border stock raiding. This paper seeks to understand the social and economic roots and impacts of cross-border stock theft. Such an analysis is …

No Easy Walk: Advancing Refugee Protection In South Africa, Jeff Handmaker

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa only began accepting individual applications for political asylum in 1994. A policy designed to recognize former Mozambican refugees for the purposes of a repatriation program became the (awkward) basis of the asylum procedure up until April 2000. Criticized by some, a lively discussion raising often-contradictory views began in 1996, leading to a policy reform process culminating in the Refugees Act in December 1998. The Act only came into force at the beginning of April 2000. This article analyzes the process of policy development in South Africa, focusing on practical and theoretical challenges facing the government in the implementation …

No. 17: Writing Xenophobia: Immigration And The Press In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Ransford Danso, David A. Mcdonald

Southern African Migration Programme

The mass media have become one of the most important institutions in modern society, playing a role not only in our learning and education, but also in how we see opportunities for change and improvements in our lives. For these reasons, the media are seen as a powerful vehicle for social transformation and development, and have drawn increasing attention towards themselves in contemporary society. The print media (ie newspapers) are particularly important in this respect, given that the press has traditionally been a provider of information on daily events and, for many people, are the only source of information about …

No. 20: The Brain Gain: Skilled Migrants And Immigration Policy In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Robert Mattes, Jonathan Crush, W. Richmond

Southern African Migration Programme

South African immigration policy has become extremely restrictive since 1994. Immigration numbers are at an all-time low, even as emigration accelerates. The number of temporary work permits issued has also declined at a time when South Africa has reconnected to the global economy and many companies and investors wish to import high-level skills. Immigration is not viewed as a public policy tool that could benefit South Africa. Immigrants and migrants (even the most highly skilled) are more often stereotyped as a threat to the economic and social interests of South Africans.

Why has South Africa’s first democratic government taken such …

No. 18: Losing Our Minds: Skills Migration And The South African Brain Drain, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Many countries, South Africa included, are in a panic about skills emigration – the so-called “brain drain.” One business-oriented institute even thinks that South Africa’s skills shortage is so “desperate” that the country should immediately throw open its borders to anyone who wishes to enter. Yet most South Africans are ambiguous about the wisdom of using immigration policy to offset skills loss. Immigration, no matter how selective and tightly controlled, arouses nationalist passions and causes moral panics.

Anti-immigrationists argue that governments are supposed to protect citizens from “outsiders”; not let them in to compete with locals for jobs and resources. …

No. 19: Botswana: Migration Perspectives And Prospects, Johan Oucho, Eugene Campbell, Elizabeth Mukamaambo

Southern African Migration Programme

The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) is committed to supporting basic research on the dimensions, causes and consequences of cross-border and internal migration within the SADC region and to making the results accessible to a range of partners. We believe that a well-informed policy-maker or official is more likely to appreciate the workability of policy choices in the area of migration and immigration management. Policies based on poor or misleading information will not only fail but could have negative unintended consequences. From a human rights perspective, we are concerned that without accurate information about migration, decisions may be made which …

Comparative Study Of Economic Adjustment And Housing Quality Of Migrants And Natives In The State Of Virginia, Bayram Unal

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This research has directed attention towards comparing and understanding the characteristics of both native and migrant populations and both recent and long-term migrant populations in the state of Virginia. The research question is: how does migrant population differ from native population? And how do recent migrants differ from long-term migrants in terms of their employment status, occupation, income, home ownership, quality of housing and amount of rent. This study utilizes data from the 5 percent sample of the U.S. 1990 Census. Cross tabulation and analysis of variance are used to compare migrant with native population and recent migrants with long-term …

Vol. 3, No. 2: Spot The Alien, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Vol. 3, No. 1: Women Migrants Play Positive Role, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Urbanization And Related Socio-Economic Problems In Ibadan Area, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Occasional Papers

This paper traces the evolution of urbanization in Ibadan area to political, institutional, economic and social factors. It broadly classifies the socio-economic problems of urbanization in Ibadan area into environmental crisis, crime/violence and urban poverty. Relying on secondary data and published materials, it identifies the major environmental problems as solid waste, flooding and water pollution, with the sanitation and eating habits of the people playing a great role in all of them. Dispossession-related crimes, particularly stealing and theft, are considered the most prominent of all the recorded crimes while violent crimes (mostly assaults) are found to be relatively few. For …

Vol. 2, No. 3: Xenophobia: Hostility 'Growing Alarmingly', Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

Vol. 2, No. 2: The Revolving Door, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 06: Trading Places: Cross-Border Traders And The South African Informal Sector, Sally Pederby, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Non-South African street traders are often portrayed in the South African media as “illegal”, ill-educated, new arrivals who take opportunities from South Africans and money from the country. The findings of this study challenge some of the basic myths about non-South African street traders and their activities.

The study also makes policy recommendations for changes in both immigration and customs policy on informal cross-border trade. The study examines the participation of non-South African street traders in regional cross-border trade and its implications for customs and immigration policy.

The study focuses on traders in the handicraft and curio sector, as they …

Vol. 2, No. 1: Anti-Foreigners, But Not Obsessed, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 04: Silenced By Nation-Building: African Immigrants And Language Policy In The New South Africa, Maxine Reitzes, Nigel Crawhall

Southern African Migration Programme

All people in South Africa have constitutionallyguaranteed language rights. To what extent do these rights apply to non-citizens and are they actually observed by various state departments and officials? This report presents the results of a preliminary investigation into this question by focusing on the rights and treatment of foreigners in South Africa, particularly foreigners from other African countries.

The report was commissioned by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) as part of a broader programme to understand the reception and treatment of non-South Africans in the new South Africa. Our aim, as authors, is to encourage government departments and …

Vol. 1, No. 1: Benevolent But Troubled Amnesty, Vincent Williams, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

No abstract provided.

No. 03: International Migration, Immigrant Entrepreneurs And South Africa’S Small Enterprise Economy, Christian M. Rogerson

Southern African Migration Programme

Since 1990 there has been a growing movement of foreign migrants and refugees to South Africa. The migrants have come primarily from South Africa’s traditional supply areas, including many Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. An increasing number, however, are from elsewhere in Africa and further afield. South Africa’s new migration regime has generated considerable controversy within the country. The policy debate focuses on the implications of migration for the national labour market and for the development of new national immigration policy.

The best-documented form of migration by temporary workers is from surrounding African countries in such sectors as mining …

No. 01: Covert Operations: Clandestine Migration, Temporary Work And Immigration Policy In South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Significant numbers of foreign workers, both legal and undocumented, are engaged in temporary work in the mining, commercial agriculture and construction sectors in Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu/Natal. The actual numbers involved are unknown and unknowable under existing systems of data collection and migration policy. The issue of temporary employment is inextricably liked to the broader issue of undocumented migration to South Africa. The Aliens Control Act is based on principles of exclusion and expulsion. Because non-South African temporary workers have few legal modes of access to the South African labour market, they are unprotected by law and vulnerable …

The Port Sudan Small Scale Enterprise Program, Eve Hall

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Euro-Action ACORD (EAA) is a consortium of 20 European and Canadian aid agencies working in refugee farming settlements in Central and Southern Sudan, and with various rural development projects in other parts of Africa, which responded to a request from the Sudanese Commissioner of Refugees to work in Port Sudan. This was the first time the agency considered working with poor urban people, and staff were determined to understand the economic and social forces which governed life in the slums. The program noted a number of findings that will help determine its future: reaching out to women where they live …