Abstract
South Africa has seen increasing numbers of skilled and unskilled migrants coming into the country legally and illegally. Social work is a global profession and some of the skilled mig r ants coming to South Africa are social workers with foreign qualifications. This qualitative research was motivated by the need to understand the challenges faced by Zimbabwean social workers who are practising in a township in Gauteng province. Findings indicate that foreign social workers face challenges trying to navigate the work space in South Africa. This study makes a contribution to debates on the migration of professionals as an important policy issue for South Africa.
Highlights
International migration flows seem to have increased considerably over the past few years (Wojczewski et al, 2015) and this continues to be a crucial aspect of global agendas as it has vast socio-economic and cultural implications for both sending and receiving countries (Kul, n.d.)
Practice registration with professional body The Zimbabwean social workers interviewed mainly studied in Zimbabwe and had to apply to the social work professional body to be allowed to practise in South Africa
It’s quite disturbing because all other local employees qualify for 21 leave days.” (Participant 3). These findings show that many sectors which have absorbed these economic migrants perceive them as underserving, not entitled, and it is clear that these labour migrants may possibly lack social protection
Summary
International migration flows seem to have increased considerably over the past few years (Wojczewski et al, 2015) and this continues to be a crucial aspect of global agendas as it has vast socio-economic and cultural implications for both sending and receiving countries (Kul, n.d.). Other causes that make people pursue work opportunities outside their countries of origin include high unemployment rates there, poor economic conditions, low wages and lack of opportunities, desire to gain international experience, and improved lifestyle (Tevera & Chikanda, 2009). Countries which have been documented as receiving a lot of labour migrants include the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa, whereas the sending countries are Mexico, Philippines, China, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Nigeria, India and Ethiopia. Labour migrants currently in South Africa have been reported to come mainly from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Numerous studies on migration and development have focused on the migration of unskilled migrants (Khan, 2008; Mawadza, 2008; Neocosmos, 2010), whereas the number of studies on skilled migrants is limited (Dodson, 2001; Rasool & Botha, 2011; Tinarwo, 2011)
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