From a pit to a palace: Deconstructing the economics and politics of labour migration in the City of Tshwane through the lenses of Genesis 41:41–57

Derrick Mashau ,Leomile Mangoedi

doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6289

Derrick Mashau , Leomile Mangoedi

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i4.6289

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Abstract

Migration to the City of Tshwane has, amongst others, been propelled by economic and political dynamics. This has always manifested in the scramble for resources as internal and cross-border migrants struggle to access the mainstream economy of the host city and country. Competition between locals and foreign nationals, social exclusion and xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals has always been part of the narrative around political and economic migration. This article seeks to provide a deconstruction of the economics and politics of migration – particularly how cross-border labour migrants can benefit the host city and country. Using the literature review and contextual Bible study of Genesis 41:41–57 from the lenses of both trained and ordinary readers, this article concluded that cross-border migrants, given the necessary space and proper reception, can contribute immensely towards the growth of the mainstream economy of the host city and nation as demonstrated by Joseph’s contribution in Egypt. Contribution: This article’s contribution is within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, social sciences, humanities and biblical studies generates a scientific discourse which involves a systematic, historical, exegetical and practical reflection.

Highlights

Migration in South Africa is on the rise (Gordon 2019:270) and movement to the City of Tshwane is no different (Mashau 2019a; Ribbens & De Beer 2017). Renkin (2017:1) opined that migration ‘has always been part of humanity, but not at the magnitude we find today’
In the efforts to map out migration in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Adepoju (2005) defined the complexity of this phenomenon as follows: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a region characterized by a variety of migration configurations, including cross-border movements; contract workers; labour migrants; and the migration of skilled professionals, refugees, and displaced persons
It is clear from the foregoing study that issues of contestations, marginalisation and xenophobic attacks directed towards foreign nationals continue to dominate the discourse on migration in the City of Tshwane

Summary

Introduction

Migration in South Africa is on the rise (Gordon 2019:270) and movement to the City of Tshwane is no different (Mashau 2019a; Ribbens & De Beer 2017). Renkin (2017:1) opined that migration ‘has always been part of humanity, but not at the magnitude we find today’. Adepoju (2019) provided a broader summary on reasons for African migration, which are as follows: Migrants and refugees in Africa share a number of common features: both are essentially intraregional movements caused in large part by a set of interrelated factors – conflicts, underdevelopment, poor governance, economic and social deprivation, environmental crisis, human rights abuses, and so on. Of foreign nationals to South Africa documented or undocumented come with serious ethical and missiological challenges from socio-economic and political fronts. We do so by reading Genesis 41:41–57 from the perspective of both the learned and ordinary reader of the text and see how the biblical lessons can be applied in a real-life context to bring about transformation in terms of how we should engage migrants in the context of this research study

Literature review on labour migration

Research methodology

Findings

Conclusion