South Africa

Geographical Information

Population: 56,978,635

Capital City: Cape Town (political) Pretoria

Independence from UK from the 31 May 1961 and majority rule from the 27 April 1994

Government type: Parliamentary republic

Main Party/Dominant Party: African National Congress

President: Cyril Ramaphosa (since 2018)

Economic activities: The South African economy is diversified with key sectors including energy, transport, communication, financial, and legal sectors

Transport: Well developed transport infrastructure network

Climatic/environmental issues: Mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights. Natural hazards include droughts, floods, major fires, major oil spills and earth quakes. Environmental issues include air and water pollution, lack of energy and deforestation.

Ethnic groups: Black African 80.9%, Colored 8.8%, White 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.5%.

Official languages: There are 11 official languages in South Africa which include isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Setswana, English, Sesotho, Xitsonga, SiSwati, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, other languages include Khoi, Nama, and San

Religions: Christian 86%, ancestral tribal, animist or other traditional African religions 5.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other 1.5%, nothing in particular 5.2%.

Social issues: Unemployment, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and unacceptable levels of crime and violence.

Neighbouring countries: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini.

Historical Background

International migration into South Africa is an old phenomenon. As a white settler colony in the 19th century – South Africa attracted thousands of European migrants who permanently migrated into South Africa during colonial rule (Peberdy, 1997). The opening of the diamond fields in Kimberly and Witwatersrand precipitated a huge demand of unskilled and cheap labour readily available in the neighbouring SADC countries. According to Van der Horst (1971), by 1899, there were about 97,000 foreign mineworkers in South Africa. According to Wenzel and Tlabela (2006), before 1963 when the fist migratory law came into effect, there were no statutory differentiation between workers from other African countries and indigenous South Africans. However, the apartheid migratory policies in South Africa had four distinctive characteristics: racist policy and legislation, the exploitation of migrant labour from neighbouring countries, tough enforcement legislation, and the repudiation of international refugee convention.

The ushering of a new political dispensation in 1994 whose doctrine was grounded on building an inclusive society motivated a new wave of migration into the country. Given its advanced economy and relative political stability, South Africa remain one of the migration hub in Africa, attracting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from within and outside Southern Africa. In the opinion of Crush et al (1913), the end of apartheid rule created new prospects for internal and international migration and a new inducement for movement. Other key factors that influence migration into South Africa from other parts of Africa include globalization, economic, political, and social crisis. It is important to note that after the demise of apartheid and its racial segregation policies, South Africa, led by the ANC government, still retained the old immigration policy (Alien Control Act of 1991), though with some changes like the cancellation of the Population Registration Act, pass laws and the Bantustan Act, and also the opening of the country to other African migrants as enshrined in the Refugee Act 130 of 1998. In the opinion of Wentzel and Tlabela (2006), three streams of movement from Africa to South Africa can be identified from the colonial to post-colonial era: contact migration, other categories of voluntary migration, and refugee migration.

 Migration Policies

The primary legislation governing refugees and asylum seekers is the 1998 Refugees Act (Act 130 of 1998). The Act extends the protection of forced-migrants. It applies a rights-based approach to asylum that rejects camps and allows asylum seekers to move freely. It grants the right to work and study to refugees and asylum seekers and deliberately refuses to make a distinction between asylum seekers and refugees in many respects. The Act additionally defines - who is a refugee and sets out the refugee status determination process, and sets out and affirms the principle of non-refoulement and the non-penalisation of irregular entry or presence of anyone in South Africa seeking asylum. The 2008, 2011, and 2017 Refugees Amendment Acts; all amended the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. The amendments were signed along with corresponding requisite regulations in 2019 and came into force in January 2020. The 2017 Refugees Amendment Act is the most extensive of the amendments which adds extensively to provisions on the exclusion of refugee status, excludes asylum seekers from refugee status if they haven't reported to a Refugee Reception Office within five days of entering the country, and limits the right to work for asylum seekers to those who are unable to support themselves and their families after four months and those who are not supported by an NGO or UNHCR. Asylum-seekers must also be able to provide a letter of employment within six months of being granted the right to work. The amendment extends the time limit before refugees may request permanent residence from 5 to 10 years. It also provides for a fine or prison sentence (up to five years) for persons in possession of an expired asylum-seeker's visa allowing for asylum applications to lapse and the removal of asylum seeker's registration in the status determination process. The lapsing of asylum permits and de-registration of applications is currently suspended and the subject of current 2020 and 2021 litigious challenges.

Additionally, international migrants are governed by the Immigration Act which refines migration policy to ensure various forms of migration including visits and sojourns, study, and the migration of skilled labour. The Act also provides for identification and deportation processes. It implements different categories of work permits to facilitate access to foreign skills for South African employers primarily on a temporary basis. The Act also reinforces temporality, control, and deterrence of migration. In general, it strengthens border surveillance and immigration law enforcement, read with the South African Border Management Authority Act 2 of 2020, to curb irregular migration and reduce associated "pull factors". In 2004 the Immigration Amendment Act was passed which reinforced the restrictive nature of the original Immigration Act and included an extension in the powers of the Minister and Director-General of Home Affairs, reduced the number of permits available, and adjusted the work permit policy to apply only to persons in a particular "occupation or class". The 2007 Immigration Amendment Act brings about changes in favour of cross-border merchants, particularly women, and relaxed the obligation for African students to pay repatriation fees.

There were government dispensation projects and permits starting with the 2010: Zimbabwean Dispensation Project followed by the Zimbabwean Special Permits, the Angola Special Permits, the Lesotho Special Permit process, aimed at regularising and documenting generally low skilled international migrants from SADC countries with documentation that enabled permit holders to work or study in South Africa without the complexity of the Immigration Act visa options. Some of these special permits have already expired, for example, the Angola and Lesotho Special Permits that expired in 2021 and 2019 respectively and the Zimbabwean Special Permit will also expire by the end of 2022 – putting permit holders in a very precarious position. The majority of the provisions in the South African Constitution relate to everyone within the country including international migrants. The Births and Deaths Registration Act and the Citizenship Act also relate to people on the move. South Africa is also a party to several international instruments that relate to refugees and migrants. South Africa is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention. South Africa has signed the 2005 South African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons which allows visa-free travel between SADC States for up to 90 days and aims to promote a liberal policy of permanent and temporary residence and a work permit policy between SADC States, but the protocol is yet to come into force due to the limited number of ratifications. South Africa is not a party to the Statelessness Conventions of 1954 and 1961, nor is it a party to the 2009 Kampala Convention on IDPs. To prevent and combat the trafficking in persons, there is the 2013 Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons (PACOTIP) - although the regulations for the act’s immigration provisions are yet to be promulgated.

 Governmental Institutions

The Department of the Home Affairs is the primary government Ministry concerning refugees and migrants and is responsible for the identification and documentation, grants refugee status, and deals with border control and migration matters. There are several other relevant government departments including the Department of Social Development, The Department of Basic Education, The Department of Health, and the Department of Labour. The Department of Home Affairs contains various directorates including the Immigration Inspectorate that works with the South African Police Service, and the Asylum Seeker Management. The Director-General of Home Affairs determines the need and location of Home Affairs Refugee Status Determination offices in consultation with the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs. Refugee Status Determination, is heard by Refugee Status Determination Officers (RSDOs) and RSDO’s rejection decisions which are appealed go before the Refugee Appeal Board or are subject to review by the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs.

 Internal Migration

Internal migration within the context of South Africa is predominantly rural-urban migration. During the apartheid era, due to the restrictive apartheid legislation, South Africa experienced circular internal migration as black recruited South African men oscillated between their permanent rural environment and the urban mining areas as they were restricted from permanently settling in the urban areas where they work. Post-apartheid South Africa is experiencing a more permanent relocation from rural areas to urban areas that exceed cross-border migration. For example, according to Statistics South Africa (2011), 5% of the population has experienced some form of internal migration as compared to 1% having immigrated outside the country (Ginsburg, et al, 2021). Similar to the apartheid era, internal migration in contemporary South Africa is largely labour-related. However, unlike the apartheid era when internal migration was male-dominated, recently, there is an increased feminization of internal migration. According to the Population Census (2011), age, gender, and education are key individual-level predictors of internal migration, and such migration are intricately linked to employment and job-seeking motives – with municipalities with high unemployment experiencing high levels of out-migration. A quarter of all internal migration occurs between Gauteng and Limpopo and Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal - with Gauteng having 45% of the total internal migration population.

Interestingly, there is also rural-rural migration in South Africa. High levels of unemployment and scarcity of jobs in the cities are some of the drivers of this type of migration.  People are now migrating into peri-urban settlements (Smaller towns) where they could get better access to government services and where the cost of living is low comparatively to urban settlements.  People also migrate from rural to other rural areas – especially where there are employment opportunities (Atkinson, 2014). For example, migration from other rural areas into the Mpumalanga farms and game farms because of the growing tourism sector in the area.  Lack of opportunities in urban settlement and the growing cost of living has also seen urban-rural migration though at a small scale.

 Internally Displaced Persons

As of December 2019, there were a total of 14 people displaced as a result of disasters and 5,000 people displaced as a result of conflict and violence (IDMC, 2020).

 Conflict

Historically, South Africa has been characterized by forced removals grounded in the apartheid policies driven by the desire of the government to provide separate development for different races – Whites, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds through the creation of Bantustan Homelands. With the demise of apartheid and the subsequent repealing of laws that were the basis of forced removals, for example, the Group Areas Act (GAA), and Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (PISA) and the promise of the providing a better life for every South African by the new democratic led ANC government created a beacon of hope to all disadvantaged South Africans. However, things have not materialized so well for most disadvantaged South Africans as they are still a subject of forced removals in the “new” South Africa. 

 Disaster

Natural disasters, for example, floods, hail storm, tornado, and wildfire has also contributed to internal displacement in South Africa. For example, flooding in areas of Ivory Park northeast of Johannesburg destroyed homes and left at least 187 people homeless (Floodlist, 2022). In April 2022, the province of KwaZulu-Natal experienced floods that killed 443 people and displaced more than 40,000 people (Reliefweb, 2022).

 Immigration

In 2010, the international migrant stock was estimated to be 2,114,800 (4.1% of the South African population). In 2015, it was 3,816,700 (6.9% of the South African population). In 2015, it was estimated to be 4,224,300 (7.2% of the South African population). This reflects a steady increase from 2010 to 2015 (UNDESA, 2019). However, an estimated 2.9 million migrants resided in South Africa at mid-year 2020 (Migration Data Portal, 2022).

With the exception of the United Kingdom with slightly more than 100 thousand immigrants, all other immigrants come from other African countries – precisely other SADC countries. Mozambique has more than 700,000 immigrants in South Africa, while Zimbabwe has almost 400,000 immigrants, Lesotho has about 350,000, and Namibia has about 200,000 immigrants (UN DESA, 2019). The recent increase is informed by South Africa's comparatively more industrialised economy, more stable democratic institutions, and South African status as a middle-income country. 

 Female Migration  

In 2010, 42.2% (888,216) of the international migrant stock were women. In 2015, the female international migrant stock stood at 44.4% (1,694,614). In 2019, it was estimated to be 44.4% (1,875,588) 0f the international migrant stock (UN DESA, 2019). The steady increase of female migrants into South Africa – especially from other parts of Africa is informed by the continuous marginalization and impoverishment of women and the increasing demand for female-related work in the service sector in the industrialized South African economy.

According to the Institute for Security Studies (2019), because of their vulnerabilities, women migrants are at heightened risk of sexual violence, exploitation, forced labour, abuse, and health vulnerabilities. The Institute further states that migrant women in South Africa face triple discrimination with xenophobia, racism, and misogyny.

 Children

According to a UNICEF report 2020, there were more than 642,000 migrant or displaced children in South Africa, making it the country on the continent with the largest child migrant population. This mixed movement includes unaccompanied and separated minors, smuggled migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and victims of human trafficking. Within the context of South Africa, the care and protection of unaccompanied and separated migrant children are determined by the courts and they are placed in child and youth care centers (CYCC), or temporary community-based foster care. There are several challenges confronting migrant children in South Africa which include documentation that prevents them from accessing several services, for example, the child support grant. Child migrants are also subjected to detention which makes them vulnerable to the violation of their human rights, deprive of education, health, adequate food, clean water, and proper housing (Gadisa et al, 2020).

 Refugees and Asylum seekers

Current statistics on number of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa is not readily available. Refugees and Asylum seekers are protected in terms of the Refugees Act of 1998 and accompanying regulations and in terms of extensive amendments to the Act and regulations that came in to force in January 2020 (Refuge Act 130 of 1998 & Refugee Amendment Act 11 0f 2017, and additionally the 2011 and 2008 amendments). Refugee status determination is done by the South African Department of Home Affairs and consists of two to five stages including potential reviews and appeals. Refugees and asylum seekers have freedom of movement in South Africa and, generally have the right to seek employment or self-employment although the aforementioned amendments limit certain categories of asylum seekers’ right to work (Refugee Amendment Act 11 0f 2017). 

The refugee population in South Africa gradually increased from 6.8 thousand in 1997 to 66 thousand in 2013 and then rose fairly substantially to 112 and 121.6 thousand in 2014 and 2015 respectively (Migration Data Portal, 2021). Since 2015, the refugee population dropped to 91 thousand in 2016 and stabilised at about 89 thousand each year from 2017 until 2019. Refugees in South Africa are primarily from Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Burundi and Zimbabwe (Scalabrini Centre Statistics, 2021). There is a similar trend with asylum seekers, with 463.9 thousand asylum seekers in 2014 and then a substantial rise and peak of 1.1 million in 2015 and there after plummeting to 218.3 thousand in 2016 and gradually dropping to 188.3 thousand in 2019 (Migration Data Portal, 2021). 

Asylum applications are made by a predominantly young asylum population with 71% of asylum applicants aged 19 to 35 and 17% being minors aged 0 to 18 years (Auditor-General Report, 2019). The number of asylum applications being processed plummeted over 8 years from 223,324 in 2009 to 24,174 in 2017 (Ibid). The majority of asylum applications in the refugee determination process in 2017 were Ethiopian (26%), followed by DRC (17%) Bangladesh (14%), Zimbabwe (10%), and Pakistan and Nigeria (each at approximately 5%) with the balance from other countries (Ibid). There is a substantial backlog of asylum cases that have been escalated to the internal government appeal or review authority and remain undecided, amounting to 188,120 active cases at the end of 2017 (Ibid). While under apartheid South Africa was a clear refugee-producing country, with about 38,600 refugees from South Africa in 1984, the number of Refugees from South Africa dropped substantially since independence in 1994, and currently there are only approximately 453 refugees from South Africa globally (Ibid).

 Emigration

The total number of emigrants from South Africa in mid-2020 was 914.9 thousand (Migration Data Portal, 2021). In the post-apartheid period, increasing numbers of highly skilled white workers emigrated, citing disillusionment with the government, load shedding, high unemployment, poverty, crime, poor services, and a reduced quality of life (CIA World Factbook, 2022). The 2002 Immigration Act and later amendments, were intended to facilitate the temporary migration of skilled foreign labour to fill labour shortages, but instead, the legislation continues to create regulatory obstacles (Ibid). The 2017 White Paper on International Migration from the Department of Home Affairs stated that South Africa loses a significant percentage of its skilled workforce every year. An estimated 520 000 South Africans emigrated between 1989 and 2003, with the numbers increasing by approximately 9% annually (Department of Home Affairs, 2017). Around 120 000 of those emigrants had professional qualifications that represent about 7% of the total stock of professionals employed in South Africa and is more than eight times the number of professionals in the same period immigrating to South Africa (Ibid). Although the education system has improved and the brain drain has slowed in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, South Africa continues to face skills shortages in several key sectors, such as health care and technology (Ibid). The South Africa-Australia migration corridor is among the top 10 migration corridors involving Oceania countries with the migration of almost a quarter of a million South Africans to Australia.

 Labour Migration

Like any other aspect of movement regulated during the apartheid era, labour migration was no exception. Labour migration during this era was circular - with black migrant labourers oscillating between their temporary work places and their permanent homes (Posel, 2006). While the nature of this movement has changed within the country with more people migrating from the rural areas together with their family to permanently reside in the urban areas where they are employed, little has changed with international migrants as they still consider themselves temporary migrants (Posel, 2006). There is also a growing number of skilled South Africans leaving the country (see section on emigration)

However, it is important to note that through its regional economic formation – SADC, there is an express intent to facilitate the movement of migrant labour within the region. For example Article 2.1 (C) promotes “labour policies, practices, and measures, which facilitate labour mobility, remove distortion in labour markets and enhance industrial harmony and increase productivity, in SDAC member states” (Charter of Fundamental Social Rights in SADC, 2003:3). Paradoxically, the establishment of the framework is meet with increase border securitization and border management approaches that do not only delay but prevent the free movement of people (Tevera, 2020).

 Human Trafficking

For the past five years, South Africa has been classified as a country of origin, transit, and destination for trafficking. This means victims are trafficked from South Africa and moved through the country to other areas for exploitation and foreign victims are also brought to the country as their final destination. Trafficking is not generally reported to the police, because victims fear retaliation, and thus, exact statistics are not available. South Africa is also a Tier 2 country as the Government is making significant efforts in some respects but does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but to do so. 

Police statistics reflect that 2 132 cases were reported to the South African Police Service from 2015 to 2017. Traffickers recruit victims from poor countries and rural or poor areas within South Africa to urban centres, like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, and Bloemfontein, where traffickers force victims into forced labour in domestic service, criminal activities, and agriculture and into sex trafficking. Women from Lesotho are forced by traffickers into sex trafficking in South Africa (US Department of State, 2020). Traditional spiritual practices are used by traffickers to coerce some victims (Ibid). Foreign males aboard fishing vessels in South Africa’s territorial waters are exploited by traffickers with approximately 10 to 15 victims of labour trafficking disembarking each month in Cape Town (Ibid). Young men from neighbouring countries who migrate to South Africa for farm work are exploited by traffickers and some are then arrested and deported as undocumented immigrants (Ibid). Traffickers subject Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to forced labour through debt-based coercion in businesses owned by their co-nationals (Ibid).   

Bello & Olutola, (2022), argue that despite the existence of a good legal framework established to fight against human trafficking in South Africa, for example, the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Person (PACOTIP) Act of 2013, aimed at criminalizing trafficking, strengthen law enforcement capacity to combat human trafficking and deter criminals from engaging in it, unfortunately, these measures have not reduced the rate of human trafficking significantly. 

 Remittances

According to the World Bank (2022a), South Africa received its highest remittances payment in 2011 which amounted to 1.16 billion and since then, it has experienced a sharp decline to 755,434,048.95 in 2016 and a slight increase in 2018 (929,043,381.127) and has declined recently in 2019 (890,059,293.728) and 2020 (810,881,603.953). Within South Africa, remittances constitute less than 3% of GDP from 2000 to 2022 (World Bank, 2022b). 

Musukwa & Odhiambo (2020) argued that even though the impact of remittances on poverty is sensitive depending on the poverty proxy used in South Africa, for example, household consumption and mortality rate, remittances, generally, can be of great importance to South Africans in poverty reduction.

Returns and Returnees

In 2022, a joint effort from the Department of Home Affairs and UNHCR facilitated the voluntary repatriation of forty-nine of the more than 600 Congolese refugees who volunteered to return home (UNHCR, 2022 & Mail & Guardian, 2022). The coronavirus pandemic in South Africa worsened the already precarious economic situation in the country forcing millions of people to lose their job and precipitating the return of thousands of migrant workers from South Africa. For example, according to VOA (2022), the Immigration Department of Malawi indicated that more than 10,000 Malawians returned home since the start of the Pandemic. It is also important to note that with the recurrent xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, many foreign migrants are returning home without the support of international organizations like IOM or UNHCR.

 International Organisations

The most important international organizations dealing with migration in South Africa are the IOM (International Organization for Migration) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ILO and Doctors with Out Borders (MSF). The IOM aims to improve the collection of data regarding migratory movements and internal displacements as well as to better manage situations at the borders, where the majority of the population lives and where the presence of refugees and asylum seekers is more relevant.

UNHCR has an important role with respect to Protection, Education, and Social assistance of refugees and asylum seekers, IDPs and Stateless persons. UNHCR pursues international protection for asylum‐seekers and refugees to ensure that the Governments respect their obligations to protect refugees and people seeking asylum in South Africa, chairs the Protection Working Group which is working with the South African Police Services to ensure timely intervention to prevent and respond to xenophobic attacks and advocates for conducive reception conditions to ensure all refugees have access to seeking asylum. UNHCR, implementing partners run education programmes that offer education assistance to refugees and asylum‐seekers and social assistance is granted to the most vulnerable refugees and asylum‐seekers through implementing partners and in the form of food vouchers, non‐food items, sanitary materials, social grants and the like (UNHCR, 2015).