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Profiling Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa
Daniel Makina, University of South Africa
September 26, 2007

http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/11806

While the Zimbabwe crisis is well documented, the victims who have fled the country to neighbouring countries and abroad remain largely undocumented. It is this realization that has motivated civil society organizations in South Africa under the umbrella of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum to team up with the Mass Public Opinion Institute, IDASA and universities to document Zimbabwean migrants.

Their objective is to collect information that would be used by stakeholders to feed into design of policies and civic interventions in the host country. The ultimate goal is to promote efforts that would empower Zimbabweans so that they could meaningfully contribute to the development of their country.

As a precursor to a national survey, a pilot study was recently conducted in three suburbs of Johannesburg to ascertain the profile of migrant Zimbabweans. Using a structured questionnaire, a total of 4,654 migrant Zimbabweans (excluding mere visitors) were randomly interviewed face-to-face by civil society activists trained for the exercise. What follows are the key findings.

Migration Patterns

The survey showed a changing migration pattern of Zimbabweans to South Africa since 2000, the year when the controversial land reform programme was launched. The survey sample of 4,654 migrants captured arrivals since 1979 of which 4,300 (92%) migrated between 2000 and mid-2007. This pattern is sharply contrasted with migrant arrivals between 1979 and 1999 that were a mere 8% (354) of the total sample. The graph below shows annual new migrant arrival figures for the surveyed area since 1998. The figure for 2007 is an estimate based on prior year trends.

It is evident that since 2000, the year on year increase of migrant arrivals became almost exponential. Assuming that the sample is fairly representative of migration trends in the entire country, and given that the Statistics South Africa census figure of migrant Zimbabweans stood at 131,886 in 2001, it is estimated that the present Zimbabwean population lies between 800,000 and 1,000,000. While the estimate could be taken as indicative until confirmed by a national survey, it is within the possibilities that can be gleaned from an analysis of the Zimbabwe population breakdown of employable people.

Demographic Characteristics

Over 85% of respondents are below 40 years old, indicating that the most active working population is the one leaving Zimbabwe in droves. The gender breakdown of respondents is 41% female and 59% male. Their marital statuses are respectively 36% single, 55% married, 3% widowed and 6% divorced or separated. While the majority of migrants leave their families home, there is a trend of whole families moving. For instance, 45% of migrants do not live with their dependants in South Africa while, on the other hand, 43% do live with one to two family members.

Migration Driving Forces

On the basis of multiple responses given as reasons for leaving Zimbabwe, political reasons had frequency of citings of 58% while economic crisis and employment reasons had respectively frequencies of 51% and 31%. Political reasons cited included political beatings, persecution, intimidation, torture, rights abuses, operation Murambatsvina and Gukurahundi.

When analysed on year to year basis, the reasons given for migrating were observed to vary over the years. From 1979 to 2001 the search for better employment was the major reason given for migrating. Political reasons only became predominant from 2002 onwards, peaking in every election year. However, since the first half of 2007 (period covered by this survey) employment and economic reasons have since overtaken political reasons, indicating that bread and butter issues are now predominant.

The most cited assistance required by surveyed migrants was securing refugee status cited by 57% of respondents. Incidentally, the cited percentage more or less tallied with 58% cited under political reasons for leaving. Also, another status related issue cited often was assistance to secure a work permit (37%). Organizations cited as rendering some assistance included Zimbabwean NGOs (including churches) based in South Africa (29%), South African NGOs (5%), South African Government (3%) and South African Churches (2%).

Skills Level and Economic Activities

Nearly 40% of the respondents had completed post-secondary education in the form of diplomas/certificates, degrees and professional qualifications while over 60% had completed secondary education before leaving Zimbabwe. Over 15% of respondents reported that they had acquired additional qualifications and training in various technical and non-technical fields in South Africa, which have helped them to be gainfully employed. However, despite the high literacy rate of the migrants, the majority are engaged in jobs not commensurate with their qualifications, a reflection of their undocumented status.

Notably, 35% of respondents cited the difficulty in getting jobs commensurate with qualifications as a serious constraint. About 20% of respondents reported to be self-employed while the rest are in formal employment either on a temporary or contractual basis. Some of the cited constraints to self-employment included lack of access to credit (62%) and harassment by locals and the police (18%) and lack of skills (12%).

Nearly 60% of the migrants survive on monthly earnings below of US$300, possibly an indication of exploitation by virtue of having no legal status or it could be purely a measure of desperation after fleeing from a desperate situation. Despite having to survive on meagre earnings, nearly 90% of respondents remit some money every month and/or groceries back home to support their family. On average each respondent remits US$40 every month.

The channels through which remittances are sent home are largely informal, as only a mere 2% of them are sent through official banking channels. Access to financial services for these migrants is very limited so that 59% of respondents reported as having no bank accounts. Financial exclusion correlated with legal status since the percentage is close to that requiring assistance to secure refugee status (57%). It is therefore not surprising that over 40% of the surveyed migrants save through informal savings clubs, while 50% do not save at all. It is evident that due to immigration legalities, there is a huge unbanked market of migrants presently untapped by the banking sector

Long-Term Aspirations

The desire to participate in a future democratic Zimbabwe is not lost. In the event of normalization of the political and economic situation, the majority of the migrants (66%) reported that they intend to go back and be economically active in their own country. Indeed, home links are still very strong as 58% of respondents do visit home at least once every year while the rest do so either more regularly or irregularly.

Policy Implications

The survey gives an insightful glimpse of the plight of migrant Zimbabweans in South Africa and the increased rate at which the migration is taking place of late. A notable feature is that the majority of migrants surveyed left Zimbabwe because of political reasons and lack legal status in South Africa. As a result, the majority are in dire need of assistance to secure refugee status or work permit.

Lack of legal status means there are many migrants who are undocumented, which is an undesirable situation for the host country. It negatively impacts on migrant employment, remuneration, skills retention, crime control, and repatriation. This will remain a challenge for both policy makers and civil society in the host country for as long as the crisis is not resolved.

Daniel Makina is an associate professor at the University of South Africa and can be contacted at makind@unisa.ac.za

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