Migrants In South Africa Research Articles

‘Loboko Ya Mama’: Homemade recipes of belonging

abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants in South Africa were not only exempted from social allowances such as food parcels but also targeted by xenophobic sentiments. Consequently, migrants who were already pushed to the margins of society experienced an increased sense of alienation from South African society. Based on Food for Change, 1 an online project in which eight forced migrant women from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda living in Gqeberha, South Africa, shared cooking recipes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article approaches the cultivation of a sense of home and belonging through food. Using the concept of visceral politics, it analyses how food created a visceral experience in which embodied subjects acquire personal pleasure, affiliation with other embodied subjects and a sense of connectedness to their places of origin and South Africa. This approach documents how women exercised creative agency through their cooking by implementing knowledge from their home countries, acquiring new knowledge from other cuisines and adapting local ingredients and techniques to create meals that unite their households around the pleasure of eating ‘exactly like home’. In this way, they were able to reduce the impact that the alienating anti-migrant discourses outside their homes had on the everyday life inside them.

Church Ramification to Peace and Justice for Migrants in South Africa

Church Ramification to Peace and Justice for Migrants in South Africa

Competing marginalities and precarious politics: a South African case study of NGO representation of transgender refugees

On the 26th of November 2012, the South African transgender rights organisation Gender Dynamix (GDX), Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), and the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) met with the South African states Portfolio Committee for Home Affairs. The purpose of their meeting was to discuss issues regarding the Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act 49 of 2003, statelessness and the closure of Refugee Reception Offices in metro areas. The organisations involved play a critical role in representations and understandings of ‘transgender’ and ‘refugees and asylum seekers’ in South Africa, respectively. The meeting offered, I suggest, the perfect platform for organisations who, in their day-to-day work, assist transgender people seeking asylum in South Africa to come together, using the transgender refugee as an intersectional subject, around which their separate presentations might have easily coalesced. Yet, curiously, this did not happen. Extending transgender geographies in the Global South and offering an opening towards a broader conversation regarding advocacy for transgender refugees, I argue that transgender refugees represent a zone of precarious politics for organisations in South Africa dealing with competing marginalities. Indeed, it is not simply that transgender refugees are transgender but transgender and migrants, a dual precarity. This alignment with the migrant body is perceived as threatening by transgender organisations to the already precarious nature of transgender visibility. At the same time, given the increased global precarity of transgender rights, the inverse is true for refugee organisations.

Intergenerational Kinship Networks of Support Within Transnational Families in the era of COVID-19 in the South Africa–Zimbabwe Migration Corridor

ABSTRACT Intergenerational support is a common cultural expectation and obligation in most African families. It is a form of reciprocal solidarity wherein a generation uses its privileges to assist a generation in need. This is typical of care and support relationships between parents and their children. As parents care and provide for their children, the unspoken expectation is that they are investing as their children will be obliged to take care of them in the future. In Zimbabwe, the obligations of this social contract have led many to migrate to other countries in search of economic opportunities. However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant economic hardships, these reciprocal relationships have been negatively impacted. This paper assesses the impact of COVID-19 and the economic difficulties faced by migrants in South Africa, drawing from the life histories of dyads of five parents and five adult children. It explores how the governance systems implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and the precarity of transnational migrants in South Africa affected intergenerational material support within transnational families. Findings reveal that the pandemic significantly affected intergenerational support within transnational families. The restrictive measures crafted to curb the spread of the pandemic led to notable adaptations in the provision of parental support by migrant children in South Africa. Parental support went beyond reciprocity and altruism, exhibiting a profound moral value embedded in the moral economy perspective, where children remain committed to providing support to their parents despite the economic struggles presented by the pandemic.

Transnational Family Practices and Use of Polymedia Methods for Inter-Family Communication among Zimbabwean Women Migrants in South Africa

ABSTRACT This article investigates the transnational family practices among Zimbabwean migrant women living in South Africa. The study draws on polymedia theory to examine two sets of research on Zimbabwean women in South Africa. The first set of research results, conducted in 2011, using in-depth interviews with 10 Zimbabwean refugee mothers living in Hillbrow, looks at transnational family practices and discusses intergenerational support from adult children to elderly parents and between grandparents and grandchildren. Building on this, the second set of research results on 10 Zimbabwean women living in South Africa examines how platforms such as WhatsApp, Mukuru and Malachia are key to experiencing a sense of intimacy and virtual care, particularly among Zimbabwean transnational families. As mobile phones increasingly evolve, there is a continuous need for up-to-date research on contemporary transnational family practices, and comparing these two data sets, over a 10-year period, shows how transnational care practices evolve over time. The findings reveal several examples of care practices toward their children, siblings and elderly parents who remained in Zimbabwe and to maintain a sense of togetherness. Findings indicate that transnational family practices are not free from challenges and issues such as Internet access, connectivity and affordability, which remain core issues for both the migrant women in South Africa as well as the families left behind in Zimbabwe. This article contributes to international literature about women migrants from countries of the South and for the African continent about intergenerational relationships and care practices in transnational families.

Ethnic minority media as counter-hegemonic and agents of participation for minority communities

This article interrogates the extent to which ethnic minority media acts as tools for preserving minority cultures and identities and as counter-hegemonic to mainstream media’s representations of migrants in South Africa. It also discusses how diasporic ethnic media function as agents of participation for diasporic communities that are struggling to find a ‘home’ away from home. Mainstream media in South Africa, particularly tabloids, tend to represent the diasporic communities as petty criminals, prostitutes, robbers and accuse them of stealing the locals’ jobs. Most of these communities comprised by people of Asian descent – Pakistan, India – and the majority from African countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopic, Nigeria, Somalia and Mozambique. Migrants are often labelled as ‘aliens’, and the entrepreneurship associated with these minority migrants is rarely reported by South Africa’s mainstream media. The article deploys the digital public sphere theory and the four models of alternative journalism. Using textual analysis of purposively selected stories and programmes of an online radio station, Radio Mthwakazi, this article concludes that ethnic minority media in South Africa challenges the hegemonic tendencies of mainstream media and, in the process, constructs multi-ethnic subaltern public spheres and acts as agents of participation.

Global Warming and Psychotraumatology of Natural Disasters: The Case of the Deadly Rains and Floods of April 2022 in South Africa

Climate change and global warming have led to an increased incidence of flooding across the world. Against the backdrop of the recent devastating floods in the Kwazulu-Natal province of South Africa, this paper explores psychotraumatology of natural disasters. In particular, we explore the impact of internal migration in South Africa, as well as apartheid spatial planning and inequality on the consequences of the flooding. We also focus on the psychotraumatology resulting from flooding, in general, and in particular on the victims of the flooding in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. We conclude that the psychopathological consequences of such natural disasters are ignored even though they seriously affect the people concerned. The development of specific trainings for psychologists in psychotraumatology and the care of victims should be a priority in the future.

Addressing the migrant gap: maternal healthcare perspectives on utilising prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa

ABSTRACT Background The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programming in South Africa. In 2020, it was estimated that there were 4 million cross-border migrants in South Africa, some of whom are women living with HIV (WLWH), who are highly mobile and located within peripheral and urban areas of Johannesburg. Little is known about the mobility typologies of these women associated with different movement patterns, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mobility typologies of women utilising PMTCT services and on how changes to services might have affected adherence. Objective To qualitatively explore experiences of different mobility typologies of migrant women utilising PMTCT services in a high mobility context of Johannesburg and how belonging to a specific typology might have affected the health care received and their overall experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 40 pregnant migrant WLWH were conducted from June 2020-June 2021. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling at a public hospital in Johannesburg. A thematic approach was used to analyse interviews. Results Forty interviews were conducted with 22 cross-border and 18 internal migrants. Women in cross-border migration patterns compared to interprovincial and intraregional mobility experienced barriers of documentation, language availability, mistreatment, education and counselling. Due to border closures, they were unable to receive ART interrupting adherence and relied on SMS reminders to adhere to ART during the pandemic. All 40 women struggled to understand the importance of adherence because of the lack of infrastructure to support social distancing protocols and to provide PMTCT education. Conclusions COVID-19 amplified existing challenges for cross-border migrant women to utilise PMTCT services. Future pandemic preparedness should be addressed with differentiated service delivery including multi-month dispensing of ARVs, virtual educational care, and language-sensitive information, responsive to the needs of mobile women to alleviate the burden on the healthcare system.

Toward a trauma-informed qualitative research approach: Guidelines for ensuring the safety and promoting the resilience of research participants

ABSTRACT Qualitative researchers frequently conduct studies with individuals who have experienced various types of trauma, including those who have been historically marginalized and oppressed. However, in-depth discussions of how to conduct trauma-informed qualitative research do not exist. Thus, we lay the groundwork for a trauma-informed qualitative approach and then outline five guidelines for conducting research: (1) preparing for community entry: Learning about the impacts of traumatic events and historical trauma on individuals and communities; (2) preparing for the qualitative interview or focus group: Establishing safety and trust in the research environment; (3) extending safety and trust into the qualitative interview or focus group; (4) knowing when to change course to avoid re-traumatization in the interview or focus group; and (5) committing to regular and radical self-reflection and self-care in the research process. To demonstrate their applicability, we use an example from our own research with multiply-marginalized queer and transgender migrants in South Africa. This article advances the study of qualitative methods, offering researchers an opportunity to incorporate these guidelines into their study design and implementation to ensure participant safety and promote their resilience.

Re-reading xenophobic discourses from an ubuntu perspective: a study of the plight of ‘makwerekwere’ in Mhlongo’s After Tears

ABSTRACT Classification of African migrants in South Africa as undesirable, economic parasites, illegals, among other derogatory terms, characterises current xenophobic discourses and foregrounds frontiers that divide people in Africa. Xenophobia violates the philosophy of ubuntu/Vumunhu/Umunhu and the parable of the Good Samaritan which define humanity as diverse but collective. Drawing from this philosophy and parable as prisms through which xenophobic discourses can be analysed, we interrogate notions of African/ness and neighbour/liness in contemporary South Africa. African humanity is heterogeneous and existing xenophobic attitudes and practices provide sites for academic inquiry to generate deep understanding. Mhlongo’s After Tears identifies fault lines which need to be sutured vis-à-vis the current fear and hatred of strangers. The varied forms of xenophobia reflect nuanced but interconnected dynamics, such as historical legacies and socio-economic divisions that mask differences, which feed into makwerekwere metadiscourse. African immigrants become imagined as real sources of problems in South Africa today.

Economic threat, new nationalism and xenophobia in South Africa: Some reflections

ABSTRACT The perceived economic threat has given rise to narrow nationalism in South Africa, which has given birth to direct, cultural and structural forms of violence, commonly referred to as xenophobia, which is actually Afrophobia. The main argument is that in as much as there is evidence of the influx of mainly African migrants in South Africa, and these have been largely accused of various crimes and contributing to rising unemployment, this perception trivialises the need for a multipronged and people-centred approach to South Africa’s and Africa’s underlying domestic challenges. Xenophobia should not be seen as only a South African but also an Africa problem, which consequently requires a national and continental response strategy. This then implies that South Africa has a role in stemming the challenges that have given impetus to a new form of narrow nationalism. On the other hand, the article attempts to explain what a continental response strategy might entail. In fact, the narratives of African migrants as pervasive criminals and job snatchers conveniently relieves the post-apartheid government which is expected to enhance service delivery and create opportunities for the locals, as well as giving dignity to the immigrants.

Pushed to the Margins

Ethiopian immigrants in South Africa are increasingly occupying informal trading space in townships, rural areas and in select central business districts across the country. This article documents the experiences of Ethiopian migrants in the informal sector in South Africa. Theoretically, the article rests on the concept of everyday life. It draws on data from interviews, focus group discussions and observations carried out between October 2020 and September 2021. This signals a period in which everyone was challenged by COVID-19, especially migrants, which compounded the hierarchies of marginality in which Ethiopian migrants in South Africa are situated. Coupled with this, Ethiopian migrants face two broad levels of marginality: firstly, marginality from state policies and the communities in which they reside and work; and secondly, marginality from gendered and class-based inequalities within the Ethiopian community. The structural and hegemonic barriers range from lack of documentation to regularize residency status and business respectively, extortion by gangs in the name of “protection fee,” exploitation by local level state/community structures and women restricted to female roles. By the same token, we see the creativity and ingenuity of this community, that focuses on their personhood, to make sense of their lives and create conditions to live meaningful lives. This article explores some of the core contestations emerging out of these twin marginalities the ways in which Ethiopian migrants structure their lives and livelihoods in South Africa.

Beyond Economics

Migration processes are often explained in economic terms both at the level of aspiration and capability. This is reflected in the claim that people migrate because of an absolute or relative deprivation and that who migrates depends on who can afford to cover the cost of migration. Economic factors certainly play an important role in why people migrate, however the fixation on economic factors has come with a reality cost to the extent that the non-economic factors in migration processes are not given the attention they deserve. This contribution seeks to fill this gap. It examines socio-political factors in migration processes and the various forms of inequality they take through a case study of Hadiya migration to South Africa. Specifically, mobility norms, spirituality of migration and sociopolitical networks are examined to explain why there is a geographic concentration in the place of origin of Ethiopian migrants in South Africa. While Hadiya mobility norms construe their migration to South Africa as part of the natural order of things, an overarching spiritual frame of reference represents migration as an enactment of a divine script: a prophecy fulfilled. Unequal access to political and social networks on the other hand have partly determined who migrates. While political networks are mobilized to leverage migration to redress historically shaped regional inequality, social networks are crucial in building capability and easing the process of adaptation in places of destination which further engender increased migration from places of origin.

Shifts in the Trend and Nature of Migration in the Ethiopia-South Africa Migration Corridor

Over the past 25 years a significant (but unknown) number of migrants from Ethiopia have been migrating to South Africa through the “southern route.” This male-dominated migration is becoming more and more irregular and includes multiple transit countries, largely controlled by human smugglers. The size of the Ethiopian immigrant population in South Africa has increased. The profile of individuals on the move has also changed in terms of migrants’ age, ethnicity, place of origin, gender and socioeconomic status. Youth from rural areas have joined the migration trail, and, increasingly, women are migrating for marriage in South Africa. Today, migrants from southern Ethiopia (Hadiya and Kambata) dominate Ethiopian migration to South Africa. The age and socioeconomic status of the migrants have also changed where teenagers, college graduates and civil servants are entering the migration stream in recent years. Equally changing is the nature and operation of the smuggling and settlement processes. Like the broader field of migration studies in which source and destination countries receive the overwhelming focus, the multiple transit countries Ethiopians on the move to South Africa travel through, and the migration journeys themselves, have not received adequate research attention. The effects these journeys have on the settlement processes are also largely ignored. This article, therefore, explores these emerging patterns with a view to understanding the inequalities faced by Ethiopian migrants on their journey to South Africa and the factors behind it. With the intensification of border closures due to multiple factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine the shift in the nature and trend of smuggling and how it is reflected in inequalities experienced by Ethiopian migrants in South Africa.

Combattants and Baswahili: Beyond Ethno-regional Tensions among Congolese Immigrants of Cape Town, South Africa

This paper focuses on the combattants (French for “fighters”), a diaspora group from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and their activities in Cape Town, South Africa. While the combattants publicly identify as socio-political activists, for ordinary Congolese (especially eastern Congolese) they are simply a Congolese gang because of the violence that characterises their modus operandi. This research focuses on understanding the combattants’ antagonism toward eastern Congolese, especially in the last term of President Joseph Kabila in office. While acknowledging that the politics of the DRC largely shape the everyday lives of Congolese migrants in South Africa, this paper looks more into the role played by the host country—South Africa—in intra-Congolese migrants’ identity conflicts and the formation of gang-like groups such as the combattants. This paper stresses the links between the South African migration system that favours some Congolese ethno-regional groups (mainly those from the war zones—the eastern region/Kivu) over others (from the relatively peaceful western region that Kinshasa incarnates) and the hatred the combattants have towards eastern Congolese. Focusing roughly on the period between 2011 and 2018, the paper argues that feuds between the combattants (from western Congo) and eastern Congolese are also a struggle between the “winners” and the “losers” produced and reproduced through South African migration laws and policies.

Contours of Urban Violence and Insecurity: Digital Media Technologies and Mitigation of Urban Violence Among Undocumented African Migrants in South Africa

This is a qualitative exploratory investigation into the use of digital media technologies in the mitigation of security concerns among undocumented migrants in the informal settlements within urban South Africa. The article acknowledges that adaptation of migrants in new environments is generally compounded by a myriad of challenges most of which are linked to lack of access to government systems and social capital or survival networks. This is particularly applicable to the urban settings where rampant violent crime and insecurity concerns are often laced with outbursts of xenophobia, which contribute to further uncertainties among migrants. Extensive literature review and social media theory are used to explore the potential for digital media tools to mitigate violence and insecurity among migrants. A piloted in-depth interview was used to collect data from undocumented immigrants based on a snowballed sample to saturation levels. Data were analyzed thematically to generate themes from which study findings were derived. Study findings show that, undocumented migrants suffer inexplicable barrages of social injustice due to violent crime and other insecurity concerns largely because they are scared to report cases to law enforcement agents, who in turn arrest them for being illegal in the country. Subsequently, the advent of digital and social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp helps them to create a survival network that provides a sense of security and to foster collaborations that deal with their safety concerns, uncertainty, and support for victims of violent crime.

Tied Migrant Labor Market Integration: Deconstructing Labor Market Subjectivities in South Africa.

The South African labor market is characterized by a high degree of inflexibility and complexity which poses significant challenges for both indigenes and migrants looking to be integrated into the labor market. These challenges are likely to be more poignant for international migrants as they face additional barriers owing to a chronically high employment rate, xenophobic sentiments, and racial exclusion. For female tied migrants, gender bias, expressed through migration policies and legislation, adds yet another layer of complexity to long-term aspirations of settling in South Africa. How well tied migrants fare in the South African labor market is an important matter for consideration. Using an intersectional approach and the theory of governmentality, this study sought to deconstruct the labor market subjectivities of tied migrants in South Africa. This paper used a qualitative approach, with a narrative and interpretivist research paradigm, on female tied migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa who either accompanied their husbands or followed them to South Africa in a process of family reunification. Although 13 interviews were carried out in total, as part of a broader study, the narratives of six participants were included in this study, to zone in on labor market experiences. The study found that despite their high human capital, tied migrants are not likely to be well integrated into the South African labor market. Their inequality in the South African labor market was attributed to their gender, ethnicity, race, migrant status and locality and various intersections thereof through which they are subjected to informality, immobility and precarity.

Mental and Physical Health Effect of Rural-Urban Migration in South Africa: A Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation Study

Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) longitudinal dataset, this study undertakes a difference-in-differences (DiD) evaluation of the impact of rural-urban migration on mental and physical health in South Africa. The contribution of the study is in considering sample selection bias as well as the causal direction of the relationship through the use of propensity score matching techniques and restricted sample DiD estimation. This study finds that the rural-urban migrants, within the South African NIDS sample, experience a decline in reported physical and mental health outcomes. The study identifies social isolation and difficult living conditions as some of the factors behind the adverse health outcomes. The findings underscore the fact that while favourable economic outcomes will likely occur as a result of migration efforts (such as employment opportunities and increased income), it comes at a cost of both physical and mental health.

Labour/Employment Relations of Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa

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.

Factors Underlying Return Migration Decisions among Nigerian Victims of 2019 Xenophobic Violence in South Africa

Abstract Studies on xenophobic violence have mainly focused on their causes and effects, but have yet to probe how victimisation experiences of xenophobia trigger migration intentions and actual practices. In a balance of tales, I examine how families contributed to staying put/return decisions by Nigerian migrants in South Africa following the September 2019 xenophobic violence. The study asks: to what extent do family facilitate and/or contribute to the decision to return? And how do return strategies unveil the centrality of family in taking migration decisions? Data emerged through online interviews with Nigerian immigrants in South Africa who stayed put, and six family members in Nigeria were reached through snowball sampling. This was supplemented with secondary interviews conducted with Nigerian returnees in three National newspapers (The Punch, Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation newspapers). Findings show the centrality of family in both migration intentions, staying-put, and the actual practices of Nigerian victims of xenophobia in South Africa.