The book's broad theme is that the evolution of the power to control labour flows among different territorial jurisdictions was of major importance in the formation of a system of states. Labour export policy in eight countries in Southern Africa is examined over roughly the century 1890-1990 in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The proportion of the total population absent working in another country is graphed for each, and combined, over the same period.
Building on global interest in migration development, the volume draws attention to one of the most important migration systems in sub-Saharan Africa. It reviews South Africa’s approach to international migration in the post-apartheid period from a regional development perspective, highlighting key policy issues, debates, and consequences. The authors find at least three areas where migration is resulting in important development impacts. First, by offering options to those affected by conflict and crises in a region that has limited formal disaster management and social protection systems. Second, by mitigating shortcomings and distortions in regional labour markets. Third, by providing support to struggling rural economies and ever expanding urban areas in terms of livelihoods and social capital transfers. Chapter One consists of a study of the country’s historical experience of migration and, in particular, analyses the changes in official attitudes throughout the twentieth century, indicating the roots of contemporary ideas and policy dilemmas. Chapters Two, Three, Four and Five complement this analysis of the South African State’s capacity to reform and manage the South African migration situation by looking at often neglected dimensions: the first explores the question of skilled labour, a crucial question given the unbalanced structure of the South African labour market; the second examines the impact of migration on local government in South African cities and specifically implications for urban planning, service delivery, health, security, and political accountability; the third analyses the nature of undocumented migration to South Africa and the challenges it raises to both State and non-State actors; The book concludes with an examination of health as a critical issue when examining the relationship between migration and development in South Africa, in light of recent empirical data.
The first comprehensive and authoritative history of work and labour in Africa; a key text for all working on African Studies and Labour History worldwide.
This book explores the social and economic development of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi over the course of the twentieth century. These three countries have long shared and interconnected pasts. All three were drawn into the British Empire at a similar time and the formation of the ill-fated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally linked these countries together for a decade in the mid-twentieth century. This formal political relationship created dynamics that resulted in yet closer economic and social links. After Federation, the economic realities of industry, transport and labour supplies meant that these three countries continued to be intricately interconnected. Yet despite these connected pasts, comparative work on the economic histories of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and how these change over time, is rare. This book addresses the gap by providing the first comprehensive collection of labour and census data across the twentieth century for these three countries. The different economic models and performances of these states offer good comparison, allowing researchers to look at different models of development, and how these played out over the long-term. The book provides data on population growth and change, industrial and occupational structure, and the various shifts in what the economically active population did. It will be useful for historians, economists, development studies scholars and non-governmental organisations working on twentieth-century and contemporary southern Africa.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of post-war labour market reconstructions, in the context of a regional bloc whose member states have experienced conflict. Focusing on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, the book explores how major conflicts often expose shortcomings in affected countries particularly on their post-war labour market reconstruction processes. The authors discuss how countries in the SADC region in particular are equipped to navigate such processes. This key question drives the overview of relationships between labour market issues and wars of liberation from colonial rule and apartheid, rights to self-determination and racial (in)equality and the need to succinctly explain how labour market issues shaped civil wars in some post-independent SADC member states. The book examines the role of the state in reconstruction processes of post-war labour markets and the contribution of labour market institutions to these reconstructions. It further analyses private sector participation in remaking labour markets and workers’ experiences in finding employment in labour markets under reconstruction. The book provides specific insights from experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
This volume addresses the topic of circular migration with regard to its multiple dimensions and human, political and civil rights implications from a global perspective. It combines theoretical and empirical studies and presents different case studies illustrating circular migration patterns and policies in different world regions. Circular migration processes – understood as the back-and-forth movement of people between countries and regions- form part of the changing nature of migration movements across the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Over the past decades, international, regional and internal migration flows have shown a quantitative increase and have changed in scope, context, origin and nature. Migration projects are every time more open-ended, multi-directional and flexible and often include some type of circularity. Instead of mere “push-pull-scenarios”, people migrate for many different reasons, including personal, family, professional, academic or political ones. In the 21st century migration journeys and the reasons underlying them are multiple and more diverse than ever before.
There is a striking scarcity of work conducted on rural labour markets in the developing world, particularly in Africa. This book aims to fill this gap by bringing together a group of contributors who boast substantial field experience researching rural wage employment in various developing countries. It provides critical perspectives on mainstream approaches to rural/agrarian development, and analysis of agrarian change and rural transformations from a long-term perspective. This book challenges the notion that rural areas in low- and middle-income countries are dominated by self-employment. It purports that this conventional view is largely due to the application of conceptual frameworks and statistical conventions that are ill-equipped to capture labour market participation. The contributions in this book offer a variety of methodological lessons for the study of rural labour markets, focusing in particular on the use of mixed methods in micro-level field research, and more emphasis on capturing occupation multiplicity. The emphasis on context, history, and specific configurations of power relations affecting rural labour market outcomes are key and reoccurring features of this book. This analysis will help readers think about policy options to improve the quantity and quality of rural wage employment, their impact on the poorest rural people, and their political feasibility in each context.
How Immigrants Contribute to South Africa’s Economy is the result of a project carried out by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organization, with support from the European Union.
Labour migration from Malawi to South Africa is a century-old phenomenon. It dates as far back as the 1880s following the establishment of diamond and gold mines. In the period up to the 1980s, this migration took either formal or informal nature whereas in the post-1990 period it became exclusively informal, popularly known as selufu in Malawi. This book is an attempt to shed light on both forms of migration over time. By using the case of Mzimba, one of the major labour migration districts in Malawi, Perspectives of Labour Migration shows that migration, especially in the post-1990 period, remains a preoccupation of the different categories of both men and women in selected areas in the country. A cross-section of Malawians continue to regard emigration to South Africa as a means to an end: a way of fulfilling their heart-felt and life-time goals at household and societal levels. Because of their distinguished and unparalleled determination, these labour migrants continue to flock to South Africa in the midst of such challenges as xenophobia, crime, arrests and deportations. The book advances the argument that Malawian labour migrants are purposive and rational human beings who are ready to overcome these challenges, at times using the most improbable means, for example, through the use of mankhwala gha mwabi (luck medicine).
With the end of apartheid rule in South Africa and the ongoing economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the border between these Southern African countries has become one of the busiest inland ports of entry in the world. As border crossers wait for clearance, crime, violence, and illegal entries have become rampant. Francis Musoni observes that border jumping has become a way of life for many of those who live on both sides of the Limpopo River and he explores the reasons for this, including searches for better paying jobs and access to food and clothing at affordable prices. Musoni sets these actions into a framework of illegality. He considers how countries have failed to secure their borders, why passports are denied to travelers, and how border jumping has become a phenomenon with a long history, especially in Africa. Musoni emphasizes cross-border travelers' active participation in the making of this history and how clandestine mobility has presented opportunity and creative possibilities for those who are willing to take the risk.
