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2018 | Book

Crisis, Identity and Migration in Post-Colonial Southern Africa

Editors: Dr. Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha, Prof. Nene Ernest Khalema, Dr. Lovemore Chipungu, Tamuka C. Chirimambowa, Tinashe Lukas Chimedza

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development

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About this book

This book offers a socio-historical analysis of migration and the possibilities of regional integration in Southern Africa. It examines both the historical roots of and contemporary challenges regarding the social, economic, and geo-political causes of migration and its consequences (i.e. xenophobia) to illustrate how ‘diaspora’ migrations have shaped a sense of identity, citizenry, and belonging in the region.

By discussing immigration policies and processes and highlighting how the struggle for belonging is mediated by new pressures concerning economic security, social inequality, and globalist challenges, the book develops policy responses to the challenge of social and economic exclusion, as well as xenophobic violence, in Southern Africa.

This timely and highly informative book will appeal to all scholars, activists, and policy-makers looking to revisit migration policies and realign them with current globalization and regional integration trends.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Erratum to: Crisis, Identity and Migration in Post-Colonial Southern Africa
Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha, Nene Ernest Khalema, Lovemore Chipungu, Tamuka C. Chirimambowa, Tinashe Lukas Chimedza

Conceptualisation and Overview of Migration Patterns in Southern Africa

Frontmatter
Crisis, Identity and (Be)longing: A Thematic Introduction of the Vestiges of Migration in Post-independent Southern Africa
Abstract
Whilst the notion of migration in the Southern African region underscores the permeability of borders, its historiography has been compartmentalised in academic circles and, as a result, has failed to capture the complexity of human mobility in its various forms. Here, we must consider the often neglected relations between multiple communities (e.g. different migrant groups) in the process of (un)settlement but also bear in mind that people co-exist and interact with a myriad of other elements themselves in circulation, from objects and merchandise to non-human actors. Building on these premises, this introduction introduces important themes of the vestiges of migration in post-independence Southern Africa. Drawing on numerous debates around the political economy of migration as crisis, identity formations, citizen and belonging, this introduction addresses how critical border-making and border-crossing processes have been, and still are, shaping trajectories of movements in Southern Africa.
Nene Ernest Khalema, Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha, Lovemore Chipungu, Tamuka C. Chirimambowa, Tinashe Lukas Chimedza
Decolonising Borders, Decriminalising Migration and Rethinking Citizenship
Abstract
This chapter underscores how the crisis of ideas continues to make it difficult for African leaders to rethink and redefine postcolonial border regimes in such a way that they facilitate pan-Africanism. There is urgent need for a paradigm shift in understanding the purpose of borders, meaning of nation, notions of belonging and criteria of citizenship in postcolonial Africa. A crisis of ideas also informs the ironic situation of an Africa that is open to Europeans, Asians and North Americas whilst remaining closed to Africans. As tourists, investors and experts, Europeans and North Americans continue to be welcomed into Africa without visas whilst mobile black people are still perceived as aliens, undesirables, asylum seekers, refugees and carriers of pathologies such as crimes and disease subject to strict visa regimes. All this underscores the urgent necessity for a decolonial epistemological paradigm shift in African leaders’ thinking about borders, nation, state and belonging, which enables the emergence of Africanity as a transnational pan-African citizenship.
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Uneven Development and Conflict in Southern Africa: Interrogating the Patterns and Accumulation Processes
Abstract
Over the past two decades, Southern Africa has witnessed economic growth powered by relative political stability. Development has occurred at varying pace in different parts of the region on the foundation of unequal share of resources, opportunities and benefits. In most cases, politically and economically privileged elites are reaping the economic benefits whilst exploiting and excluding millions of the disenfranchised poor. This paper interrogates development patterns, mechanisms of resource allocation and the conflicts associated with uneven geographies of income and poverty. This paper draws exclusively from secondary data on urban, economic and social development between 2000 and 2015 in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Observations show that more and more poor Africans are forced to migrate to better performing economies as a sheer survival strategy. The paper concludes by discussing why the competition for opportunities in receiving countries has witnessed negative responses characterised by xenophobic attacks on foreigners in some instances. In doing so, it highlights the difficulties that governments in southern African face in reconciling the redistributive priorities of the urban poor with strategies to maintain long-term economic and political stability.
Calvin Nengomasha, Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha
Migration and Public Service Delivery: The Status Quo and Policy Responses in Sending and Receiving Countries
Abstract
Migration has significant effects on public service delivery both in sending countries and in receiving countries. This contribution explores the effect of migration on public service delivery from both ends of the spectrum. It explores specific challenges in the public service sector of both sending and receiving countries. The discussion also focuses on the need to better manage the interface between migration and public service delivery through, amongst other things, better policy responses and further research. This chapter also shows that both emigration and immigration have a great impact on service delivery in the region and beyond. Whilst national level policies were expected to be effective in reducing the rate of emigration from sub-Saharan Africa, domestic conditions were not adequately matched along global trends. The implication of this is that domestic conditions have to be approached from the global perspectives on migration. Whilst the consortium for refugees and migrants in South Africa advocates for a paradigm shift in the policy framework—from controlling to managing, this chapter embraces a trade-off between domestic policy frameworks on migration and attitudes to migrants as a necessary step to correcting some of the existing challenges in both sending and receiving countries.
Betty Mubangizi, David Mwesigwa
Gender, Migration and Crisis in Southern Africa: Contestations and Tensions in the Informal Spaces and ‘Illegal Labour’ Market
Abstract
Southern Africa has a long history of migration, but less has been documented about the feminisation of this phenomenon. Globally, there is evidence of the increase of migrant flows, with women increasingly migrating as independent migrants in their own rights. This change of migration dynamics is also observable in Southern Africa. As the standards of living continue to deteriorate within some Southern African countries, women have also been forced to migrate in pursuit of greener pastures. With cultural problems and discriminatory policies and practices in host countries, the situation of women can be precarious and more traumatic. Migrants and refugees who are not considered citizens with full rights face xenophobic reactions from the local population and may be expelled when economic and political conditions deteriorate. Owing to unanticipated hardships in destination countries, migrant women are seen concentrated in the informal sectors of the economy, doing informal activities and or in worst cases involved in illegal and immoral practices to make ends meet. It is from this perspective that issues of gender in migration are given full attention in this chapter.
Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha

The Post-colonial Political Economy of Development, Governance and Nation-State Formation

Frontmatter
Migration, Logics of Inclusion and Exclusion and Xenophobia: The Case of African Migrants in Post-apartheid South Africa
Abstract
This contribution explores xenophobic tendencies in post-apartheid South Africa through historical sketches that revolve around debates of belonging, inclusion and exclusion. Such a historicity has created a legacy of suspicion and stigmatisation of migrants from within and without the country resulting in a fractured society with some implicit or explicit ‘othering’ on the basis of suspicion and fear. This has provided a template for exclusion of African migrants through promotion of indigeneity and/or reconfiguration of an exclusivist South African identity, which relegates migrants from other African countries to the subaltern, second and third classiness—a site for xenophobia. On the other hand, South African authorities are faced with a dilemma: they find it difficult to acknowledge the reality of xenophobic hostilities. Doing so would force them to accept that an underlying and continuing exclusivist narrative exists. If xenophobia contributes to the promotion of an exclusive South African identity, we question the approaches that have been adopted to try and resolve the xenophobic challenge and argue that the first real step towards dealing with xenophobia does not rest in denouncing it. Rather, the solution lies in engaging and investing in concerted efforts that ‘clean up’ the image of the African migrant.
Inocent Moyo, Christopher Changwe Nshimbi, Trynos Gumbo
Migrant Labour and Social Construction of Citizenship in Lesotho and Swaziland
Abstract
South Africa has always been the economic power of the southern region of Africa. It is therefore not surprising that some countries such as Lesotho and Swaziland (amongst others) have been integrated into the South African economy as mere labour appendages. This practice, whose origin dates back to colonial times, also witnessed the integration of citizens of these countries into the South African social ranks. It is from this perspective that this chapter interrogates the impact of migrant labour in Lesotho and Swaziland. It questions the implications of this practice on the development and construction of citizenship in these countries. In pursuing this line of diagnosis, the author largely depended on desktop research and used documented evidence to provide insight into these developments. Centring its arguments on the dependency theory, observations from this evidence show that migrant labour has positive and negative connotations on countries that ‘export’ labour. Whilst it can economically empower migrants, it can also destroy social ties amongst communities, thus resulting in identity crisis. It concludes by arguing that migrant labour practices can be beneficial to both countries if concerted effort is undertaken by both countries to regularise and harmonise the whole practice.
Lovemore Chipungu
From Reservoir to Corridor: Changing Patterns of Migration in Mozambique
Abstract
This contribution discusses the significance of Mozambique in the historical evolution of labour migration patterns in Southern Africa. The preponderance of this place in the development of labour migration has been assured by its geographical location, historical chance as well as political and institutional features. From our perspective, the inclusion of Mozambique in this collection should consider at least four structural aspects, of which three have received scant attention in the regional migration debates. The first is the usual historical migration patterns of people, predominantly men. Here, we remind the reader that to call these migrants ‘Mozambicans’ and their hosts ‘South Africans’ is anachronistic. In so doing, we take the reader through a line of flight from the careless use of colonial identifications to describe both the migrants and their hosts. The second is the significance of Mozambique’s geographical location in Southern Africa as the proverbial path to the Promised Land, that is, South Africa, for migrants from all across this continent and Asia. The third is the problematic economic development within Mozambique as a contributor to the broader lines of flight within the story of labour migration in the Southern African region.
David M. Matsinhe, Nene Ernest Khalema, Maximino S. G. Constumado
Migration, Marginalisation and Oppression in Mangaung, South Africa
Abstract
Since the dawn of humanity, people have migrated, seeking new opportunities or fleeing from economic, social or political distress. Not all migrants, however, possess official documentation, nor do they possess the South African Identity Document (ID) that gives them access to basic social services, housing or land. Consequently, such ‘illegal’ immigrants are forced to rent backyard shacks or set up shanties in informal settlements, such as those in Grasland, Mangaung (Bloemfontein). The perceived ‘illegality’ of migrants generates contestations around the right to ‘belong’, expressed as the right to access to basic services. This chapter demonstrates how belonging is contested in Mangaung, through the application of the criteria of ‘belonging’, but also that the construction of those criteria produces other forms of contested belonging. The chapter also asks what alternative interpretations of belonging or merit should be applied and how? This chapter therefore situates social justice—defined in terms of values, processes and practices for empowerment to disallow oneself to be oppressed, the promotion of values that disincline one to oppress others and practices that enable equality and justice—as a useful concept or way to explain the contestation of belonging as lived experiences for the Lesotho immigrants (Basotho) in Grasland.
Thulisile N. Mphambukeli, Verna Nel

Re-magining Migration, Citizenship, Identity, Formation and Development

Frontmatter
Between Neoliberal Orthodoxy and Securitisation: Prospects and Challenges for a Borderless Southern African Community
Abstract
This contribution considers the possibility of a borderless Southern Africa—under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This is done against the realities and understandings of migration and contested notions of citizenship and development in Southern Africa. A thorough review of legislative and policy frameworks of different types of migration at the regional and national levels in Southern Africa was conducted. Primary data were obtained through personal interviews with policy-makers, migrants and other non-state actors whilst participant observations were also conducted at border posts, government immigration offices and refugee application centres. The chapter proffers that Southern Africa is characterised by open borders, with substantial formal and informal cross-border movements that have political and socio-economic costs. However, the most preferred destinations by migrants in the region have systematically opposed the establishment of a formal free-movement-of-people regime across the region for over 20 years. Still, regional legislation and the realities of formal and informal movement across national borders in the SADC region show the necessity for member states to establish a migration management regime devoid of borders. This, however, will have to be carefully crafted, fully considering the region’s history and the challenges associated with migration.
Christopher C. Nshimbi, Inocent Moyo, Trynos Gumbo
Migration Policies in the Region: Thinking Beyond the Enclaved Political Economy
Abstract
In general, migration represents an important livelihood and coping strategy due to ecological and economic downturns in the region. Migration flows in Southern Africa consist of millions of economically active people and an unspecified number of undocumented migrants who comprise of many vulnerable populations. This complex and mixed pattern of migration poses a number of challenges for migrants and receiving communities. On the flip side of the same token, if managed properly, migration has been proved to contribute to positive outcomes in both sending and receiving countries. It is therefore not a caricature for one to say that there is a thoughtful need of regionally crafted migration policies which address the problem on mutual and common grounds. The migration policy formation discourse has been marked by a bone of contention in the region in the twenty-first century due to the fact that some countries’ favourable migration policies might not be favourable to other countries. It is therefore fundamental for countries within the region to be bound by common policy frameworks rather than a concoction of national policies which neither speak to each other nor aim to harmonise the region in all sectors of interest.
Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha
Disaggregated Development: Between ‘Trade, Industrialisation and Migration’
Abstract
Regional development in today’s society is critical. It should be viewed from regional integration lenses informed by trade, migration and industrialisation. Regional integration has earned political support in African Union member states, but why is it stalling at implementation level? One argues that trade and industrialisation initiatives across the continent are only possible if regional integration and development agenda could gain traction. Employing qualitative methodologies, the study disaggregates development by exploring trade, migration and industrialisation across borders to underscore the causal effect and dividends of regional integration and economic development. The study argues that Africa needs active industrial policy encompassing effective implementation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) and protocols on trade and development as stimulus to creating a conducive trade environment across the regional borders and beyond. This requires collaboration of states and the business community to facilitate such a policy to ensure transformation and economic recovery in the region. Besides states collaborative support, capabilities and technical support (including infrastructure and information technology) should be further developed and improved. Migration issues also deserve disaggregated attention to have a clear picture of why African migrants migrate since they have the potential to disrupt or strengthen the African regional integration project.
Modimowabarwa Kanyane
Regeneration and Integration in Southern Africa: Concluding Comments on Contemporary Challenges and Possibilities
Abstract
The Southern African region provides the backdrop that informs much of the complexities of mobility, border making and border crossing that the world is currently grappling with. With the global migration crisis intensifying, the movement of men, women and children in search of better opportunities will deepen and host countries will be challenged to integrate and revitalise new societies that will emerge as a result. It summarises seminal arguments around the possibilities of regional integration in Southern Africa as a regenerative mechanism. It further builds an ambitious imagining framework and reflects how the region can re-imagine borderless citizenship moving forward.
Nene Ernest Khalema, Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha, Lovemore Chipungu
Metadata
Title
Crisis, Identity and Migration in Post-Colonial Southern Africa
Editors
Dr. Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha
Prof. Nene Ernest Khalema
Dr. Lovemore Chipungu
Tamuka C. Chirimambowa
Tinashe Lukas Chimedza
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-59235-0
Print ISBN
978-3-319-59234-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59235-0