Navigating Livelihood and Belonging: The Everyday Realities of African Migrant Women in Cape Town
“When I hear the word Home Affairs I run the other way.” – Patricia, a Zimbabwean migrant woman Patricia’s words capture both a personal fear and a systemic reality. They reflect not...
Migration in Somalia: People on the Move
Somalia has long been a country in motion. Its people move within its borders, across to neighbouring countries, and along major international migration routes, driven by a mix of necessity, aspiration, and circumstance. Understanding migration in Somalia means listening to two voices at once: the migrant seeking safety or opportunity, and the communities and institutions that receive, support, or manage their movement. A Developing Migration Policy Framework Somalia has...
Feminisation of Migration: Reflections from the SIHMA Public Lecture at UWC
Migration has long been framed as a predominantly male phenomenon, shaped by narratives of labor mobility and economic survival. However, the trends and patterns of migration has shifted over the centuries with more women migrating as the economic providers of their families. Building on the relationship that the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) has with the University of the Western Cape, and bringing non-academic setting experience, SIHMA delivered a lecture...
Report on the SACBC Meeting on Migration, Refugees, and Human Trafficking
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) recently convened a multi-day meeting addressing migration, pastoral care, and the Church’s response to human trafficking. The gathering brought together clergy, religious, lay leaders, and representatives from civil society organizations, with discussions structured around pastoral, theological, and legal dimensions of migration in Southern Africa. Opening Reflections Sr. Neide Lamperti (SACBC) welcomed participants and noted that materials were available...
Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Recent weeks have seen a troubling surge in xenophobic activity in South Africa, particularly targeting foreign nationals’ access to public healthcare a phenomenon now termed “medical xenophobia.” Despite constitutional guarantees and legal precedents affirming healthcare rights for all, activists have illegally blocked clinics, harassed staff, and removed patients, claiming foreigners are overburdening the system. These actions, fuelled by political rhetoric and misinformation, have spread from Gauteng to other provinces and are increasingly normalized in public discourse....
African Migration Trends, Q2 2025: Regional Dynamics and Global Implications
Migration across Africa in 2025 reflects one of the most dynamic and consequential population movements worldwide. While public discourse often canters on irregular journeys to Europe, the empirical evidence demonstrates a more complex reality, the vast majority of African migration remains intra-continental, shaped by overlapping drivers such as conflict, climate change, economic disparities, and evolving policy frameworks. Recent regional updates from North, West, and East Africa to Southern Africa, Egypt, and Yemen reveal how mobility patterns are being...
