Labour/Employment Relations of Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa

Abstract

The economic hardships, dire poverty, political persecution among other reasons faced by Zimbabweans in recent years acted as push factors for them to migrate to South Africa in search of greener pastures. There are no pellucid statistics of the total number of illegal Zimbabweans residing in South Africa. Some of the undocumented Zimbabweans have been exposed to forced labour as well as underpayment in the labour industry due to lack of legal work documents. This research sought to examine the labour/ employment relations of Zimbabweans in South Africa. Two theories were examined and these are Stouffer’s Theory of Mobility, and E. Ravenstein's laws of migration. A qualitative approach was used and the findings were drawn from the documentary analysis. The findings proved that the key challenges faced in the labour sector by Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa are fear of deportation, difficulties in securing working visas, lack of access to legal help, accommodation issues, xenophobia, marginalisation, segregation, discrimination, irregular incomes, short maternity leave, zero maternity leave benefits, non -payment of salaries, under payment of wages as well lack of work permits. In terms of policy recommendations, it was suggested that, regional cooperation on Zimbabwe Reconstruction, monitoring of the labour market, legal assistance and human rights groups, improvement in bilateral relations and diplomacy can be helpful to alleviate some of the challenges faced by Zimbabweans on South Africa.