THE LIVES AND TIMES OF AFRICAN MIGRANTS & IMMIGRANTS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

by:

David A. McDonald, Lephophotho Mashike, and Celia Golden

Southern African Migration Project

Migration Policy Series No. 13

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since 1996, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) has conducted a series of cross-national surveys of attitudes towards migration and immigration in the region. The aim of the surveys is to provide policy-makers, NGOs and researchers with up-to-date, comprehensive and rigorous information on people's experiences with, and attitudes towards, cross-border migration in the Southern African region.

The first major survey, the Five Nation Survey, focused on the attitudes towards migration of residents of countries bordering South Africa (Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe). The second examined South African attitudes towards immigrants and immigration. The third complementary survey studies the attitudes and experiences of African migrants living in South Africa at the time of the survey. This publication reports the results of the third survey and, for a fuller picture, should be read in conjunction with the SAMP reports on the first two surveys.

The survey of 501 migrants from other African countries living in South Africa was conducted in mid-1998. The research was undertaken in three provinces -- Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The difficulties of identifying and interviewing migrants in South Africa are well-known to researchers. As a result, this survey certainly does not claim to be statistically representative of the entire migrant population in the country.

Indeed, this would be impossible given the unknown numbers of undocumented migrants and their relative importance compared to legal migrants. However, this is still the largest survey undertaken by anyone to date of migrants from other African countries.

The survey permits the construction of the following general profile of the African migrant population within South Africa:

• Most migrants from SADC countries have visited South Africa before this current visit and are at least the third generation of their family to have done so. Migrants from other parts of Africa are generally visiting South Africa for the first time.
• Few migrants have the desire to settle permanently in South Africa.
• Migrants are motivated to come to South Africa largely, but not entirely, by economic opportunities.
• Migrants are motivated, educated, skilled and enterprising.
• Although migrants find work easily, they do not earn high wages.
• Migrants have substantial responsibilities in their home country, which in most instances includes the maintenance of a house and family.
• Although economic opportunities and certain social services are deemed to be better in South Africa than in the home country, most migrants would prefer to raise a family in their home country and find the overall quality of life to be better at home.
• The vast majority of migrants are legal and in spite of significant difficulties obtaining official documentation, most have entered South Africa through designated customs points, using formal modes of transport, and have pre-arranged accommodation.
• There is growing evidence to suggest that far from being the perpetrators of crime, migrants are disproportionately the victims of crime and xenophobia, made worse be inadequate redress in the law or lack of protection by the police.
• Migrants feel strongly that they should be offered the same social and economic rights as South African citizens (e.g. opportunities for a job, same access to medical services), but should not necessarily be allowed to vote in South African elections.
• Migrants take borders seriously and support immigration policy if it is fair and applied humanely.
• Most migrants feel that South Africa has a moral obligation to the African countries that took up positions against apartheid, and should therefore embrace and welcome foreign migrants.

These results correspond with the findings of the survey conducted in Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia in 1997, and reinforce the central argument of this paper. Cross-border migration from other parts of Africa into South Africa is predominantly legal, short-term, and highly formalized. Popular perceptions of poor, uneducated criminals doing whatever it takes to sneak into South Africa and stay in the country forever are simply not born out in the research. These popular perceptions may in fact contribute to a hardening of immigration sentiment and growing xenophobia in South Africa. The ironic result is that an eminently manageable process becomes increasingly clandestine and difficult to control.

The policy implications of the research are as follows:

• Migration would appear to be a highly regularized and legalized process conducted by responsible people, and it is important that South Africa build on this process rather than forcing migrants and migration into more clandestine modes of operation.
• New immigration legislation should address human rights abuses and make immigration policy more consistent with the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution.
• Immigration and security authorities should address human rights abuses at a more practical level with their staff in terms of education and discipline.
• Immigration policy-makers and practitioners should recognize the importance of cross-border movement for socio-economic stability in the region (and beyond) as well as the need to address the more micro-economic impacts that migration policy can have on household opportunities and welfare outside the country.
• The bulk of the cross-border traffic in South Africa would appear to be short term and it is important that immigration policy be cognizant of the very different legislative and practical differences between long-term or permanent immigration and short-term, purpose-driven migration.
• Basotho stand out as distinct from other African nationals in terms of their experiences with, and attitudes towards, migration to South Africa. These results bring into further focus the need to explore the possibility of some kind of special immigration compact between South Africa and Lesotho.
• Migration into South Africa is now a truly pan-African phenomenon and will become increasingly so. It is important that policy-makers are sensitive to the regional differences in migration into the country, and that they acknowledge the new role that South Africa has begun to play with respect to the movement of people on the continent as a whole.
• Women are an increasingly important part of the migration nexus, and their experiences and aspirations with cross-border migration are different in many respects from those of men. Policy-makers must pay attention to these gender dynamics when it comes to legislating and managing immigration policy.
• Although the majority of migrants interviewed do not intend to stay in South Africa permanently, they do plan to stay for several months or several years and they expect to have access to basic social and economic services. Access to housing, education, health care and other social and welfare services needs to be addressed as part of a larger basket of immigration rights and responsibilities. It is essential that these decisions be based on reliable, empirical evidence about what is happening on the ground, as well as by reference to international policy experiences and treaty obligations.