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Migration in Southern Africa
A paper prepared for the Policy Analysis and Research Programme
of the Global Commission on International Migration
Jonathan Crush, University of Cape Town & Queens University
Contact:
Vincent Williams, Institute for Democracy in South Africa
Contact:
Sally Peberdy,Wits University
Contact:
September 2005
SARPN acknowledges the Global Commission on International Migration as the source of this document - www.gcim.org
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Introduction
Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration, dating back to the midnineteenth
century. Migration was probably the single most important factor tying
together all of the various colonies and countries of the sub-continent into a single
regional labour market during the twentieth century. However, entrenched patterns of
migration have undergone major restructuring in the last two decades. Southern
Africa is now a region on the move.1 Several broader changes underly this shift
towards greater and greater intra-regional mobility:
First, the end of apartheid, a system designed to control movement and exclude
outsiders, produced new opportunities for internal and cross-border mobility and new
incentives for moving. The ensuing integration of South Africa with the SADC
region brought a major increase in legal and undocumented cross-border flows and
new forms of mobility. Second, the region’s reconnection with the global economy
has opened it up to forms of migration commonly associated with globalization.2
Third, growing rural and urban poverty and unemployment have pushed more people
out of households in search of a livelihood. One aspect of this has been a significant
gender reconfiguration of migration streams.3 Fourth, HIV/AIDS has also impacted
considerably on migration. Not only is the rapid diffusion of the epidemic
inexplicable without reference to human mobility but new forms of migration are
emerging in response.4 Finally, the countries of the SADC are still dealing with the
legacy of mass displacement and forced migration. The impact of the Mozambican
and Angolan civil wars continue to reverberate. Recurrent civil strife in the rest of
Africa has generated mass refugee movements and new kinds of asylum seeker to and
within the region. The cessation of hostilities and threat has confronted countries of
asylum with issues of repatriation and integration
Policy responses as the local, national, regional and continental scale must take into
account the extraordinary dynamism and instability of migration forms and patterns in
the region. Governments wedded to legal frameworks of control and exclusion are
finding it increasingly difficult to cope. The fundamental policy challenge is to move
the states of Southern Africa to a regionally-harmonized and consistent set of policies
that emphasize good governance, sound management and client-centred service
delivery.5 In addition, because migration is a cross-cutting phenomenon, it needs to
be integrated into all facets of state policy-making and planning, including programs
and strategies to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. For this to happen,
migration’s key role needs to be documented by researchers and recognized by
policy-makers.
Footnotes:
David McDonald, 2000
Jonathan Crush and David McDonald, 2002
Belinda Dodson, 1998
Brian Williams, Mark Lurie, Eleanor Gouws and Jonathan Crush, 2003
Jonathan Klaaren and Bonaventure Rutinwa, 2004
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