Rural ‐ Urban Migration or Urbanization in South Africa

Abstract

This article examined the causes and effects of migration and urbanization in South Africa based on case studies and empirical findings. Migration to urban areas includes the socioeconomic mobility of the White population and a regulated process of urbanization of the Black population. Migration theories tend to explain either the forces determining the nature scope and direction of migration or equilibriating or disequilibriating processes in a changing economic structure. Lee (1969) built upon Ravensteins (1885) theories by conceptualizing factors underlying migration decisions. However Kok (1990) and Lachmann (1970) indicate that regularity in these theories obscures the variety of forces in operation. Migration is an interregional process according to classical and Keynesian views. Imbalances in income increase economic inequality between regions. Migrants in neoclassical models are subject to push and pull factors which result in regional convergence. Keynes viewed migration as a process of divergence and regional imbalances increasing over time. Todaros (1994) model accounts for increased migration despite rising urban unemployment. Oberai (1988) states that migrants have different abilities to understand the job market. In South Africa migration is different. The rate and pattern of urbanization are not always synonymous with development. Migration is essential for survival and there is little evidence of gradual migration. Migration has a disequilibriating effect on population distribution and does not close the income gap. Urbanization is demarcated by racial group and is influenced by institutional and political measures.