Migration in Southern Africa. A paper prepared for the Policy Analysis and Research Programme of the Global Commission on International Migration
- Document number
- 2276
- Date
- 2005
- Title
- Migration in Southern Africa. A paper prepared for the Policy Analysis and Research Programme of the Global Commission on International Migration
- Author/publisher
- Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams, Sally Peberdy
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures,
- Summary
- Cross-border migration for employment within SADC was prevalent long before the drawing of colonial boundaries, dating back at least 150 years. The countries of Southern Africa have been sending and receiving migrants since the midnineteenth century when labour migrants came to work on the Kimberley diamond mines, including from modern-day Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand changed the entire pattern of labour migration in the sub-continent. Initially most migrants came independently. Male labour migration to the mines (South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and commercial farms and plantations (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Swaziland) is the most enduring form of legal cross-border labour migration within the region. Mine migration was the most highly regulated, through systems of recruitment under a single agency, the Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA).
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