A Spatial Perspective of the Patterns and Characteristics of Main- and Substream Migration to the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

This article provides a contemporary spatial perspective of patterns and trends in migration to the Western Cape during the period 2001 to 2011 and contributes an important new perspective on one of the dominant migration streams in South Africa. It applies the concepts of mainstream and substream migration from the differential urbanisation model to analyse characteristics and patterns normally hidden by aggregated migration data. The findings confirm the continuation of strong primary migration streams between the Eastern Cape and municipalities in the Western Cape driven mainly by productionism. These migrants are mostly unmarried, young (25–29 years), mostly unemployed or not economically active, with low incomes. A significant proportion (31.3 %) end up living in informal dwellings in backyards or informal settlements largely concentrated in the provincial primary city, Cape Town. A smaller but prominent substream of migrants to the province consists of affluent, highly skilled, mostly married migrants from other metropolitan cities in South Africa, many from Gauteng. These migrants are driven by environmentalism, and favour Cape Town and adjacent municipalities as their destination—particularly those areas along the south coast of the province containing intermediate-size cities. These identified migration patterns and characteristics hold important development implications at both provincial and municipal levels.