Report on the Migration Policy Institute’s Roundtable

November 9, 2004

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) hosted a roundtable on “Regional Integration and Migration Policy Challenges in Southern Africa” on November 9, 2004. The Roundtable was moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI, and it featured Dr. Loren Landau, Acting Director and Research Coordinator of the Forced Migration Studies Program at the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The roundtable was attended by representatives of a broad spectrum of government, research, and humanitarian organizations. 

Background

Migration, both forced and voluntary, is becoming more and more a fact of life in Southern Africa. The region’s largest country, South Africa, was host to 40,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the year 2000. By 2004, this number had more than doubled to 104,000. The ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe continues to generate mass movements of people within the region, while thousands of Southern Africans seek further opportunities in the UK, US and elsewhere.

In this context, policymakers are, increasingly, finding it necessary to address the implications of the large-scale movement of people through both domestic and regional instruments, including the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Presentation

Dr. Landau set the stage for a discussion by outlining the trends and policy implications of migration faced by South Africa, the region’s primary destination for migrants. De facto regional integration is progressing through im/emigration. Large numbers of exiles and otherwise displaced people have gone in and out of South Africa in the last few decades; a large proportion of workers in industries such as mining and agriculture are immigrants; 50 percent of Lesotho men are in South Africa at any given moment. Despite such trends, most policy discussions on migration within the country have had a mercantilist focus, promoting investment but not the free flow of people. Immigration is a pressing yet challenging issue for a xenophobic country. In light of these trends, there are two main points that should be realized:

1) Migration is a perennial and indelible part of the Southern African political economy. Moreover, much of this migration will continue to take place outside of state regulation.  Efforts to control or halt migration will, consequently, simply drive the processes further underground;

2) Migration policy can no longer be formulated effectively only by national governments. Regional migration instruments are needed to manage these movements.  As political decentralization and devolution continue, the impact of migrationwill increasingly fall on provincial and municipal governments.  Cities may be involved with global and regional networks in ways that often circumvent national policy. Effective immigration and asylum policy must be developed together with local authorities and in line with local priorities.

Discussion

Four main themes guided the discussion which followed: recent Southern African migration trends; current policies; the social and political consequences of unmanaged migration; and considerations for local and international policy responses.

Recent Southern African Migration Trends

Discussion among roundtable participants first focused on migration trends related to labor in the region and South Africa’s response. Although South Africa has been noted as a force that could lead an “African Renaissance” whereby it would lift other countries in the region up with it, there is a resistance to immigration policies that would allow foreign labor, due to a fear of “flooding” as well as a sense of nationalism. In reality, foreign workers from the region exhibit characteristics beneficial to the South African economy: they take jobs which natives do not fill; they tend to have more education, linguistic, and business skills than natives; and those who are business owners create jobs which are most often filled by South Africans. Another irony highlighted was the better treatment which whites immigrating to the country receive, mainly due to the perception that native South Africans have weaker skills due to the lack of training for blacks in previous decades.

Economic integration of migrants varies widely across regions and economic sectors: while Johannesburg’s Operation Go Back Home in the mid-1990s sought to expel foreigners, farmers in agricultural regions prefer laborers from Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Current Policies

One of the main weaknesses of the migration policies in South Africa is the absence of legal channels for low-to-moderate skilled workers. This is the cause of significant dysfunction in the asylum process, which is for many people the only option for legal entry.  The asylum system is thus open to widespread inefficiency and abuse: its caseload suffers a backlog of approximately 8,000 applications, and perhaps only ten percent of claims are actually based on a well-founded fear; corruption most notably in the form of bribery is rampant.

The absence of appropriate legal channels also contributes to a huge number of illegals, as evidenced by the fact that the government annually deports approximately 150,000 people, some of whom view the government-funded train ride back home as a free trip.

Social and Political Consequences of Unmanaged Migration

In addition to labor abuses and a dysfunctional migration processes, roundtable participants noted several other negative social and political consequences. One of the notable stigmas faced by foreigners in South Africa is that they are more likely to be associated with crime.  For instance Nigerians and other West Africans have a reputation for organized crime. It is clear that criminal syndicates from around the world have entered the country since elections in the mid-1990s. However, they are often used by the police to legitimize the failure of the public safety services. In fact, police statistics show that immigrants are responsible for a small proportion of criminal activity. 

While there have been recent campaigns to combat xenophobia, they have largely been ineffective because they are wrongly designed on the premise that the root of xenophobia is racism. In fact, the issue is more related to nationalism. Interestingly, businesses have been vocal against xenophobia, noting that it hampers investment and economic activity. 

Considerations for Local and International Policy Responses

The discussants reflected on several important considerations for policy development, using as a starting point the realization that there is a de facto open system with migration patterns not reflected in the current policies.

Designing Legal Channels that Reflect Migration Realities

Several comments focused particularly on migration patterns of Zimbabweans. Nearly three-fourths of the households in Zimbabwe have family members in South Africa. In the late 1990s, a limited number of long-term Zimbabweans in South Africa were allowed to bring family members into the country, but this was met with strong resistance from the Zimbabwean government because they feared the loss of remittance money.  Also, industries such as agriculture favor Zimbabwean workers because they are seen as more docile. However, Zimbabweans are more vulnerable to labor abuses from farmers because of their immigration status. Interestingly, South African trade unions would like to recognize Zimbabweans in order to strengthen their organizations.

Further discussion noted that appropriate policy responses must differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate migration. Legitimate migration includes workers that meet the demands of the labor market when South Africans are not interested in doing so. Illegitimate migration would include criminal activity ranging from bribes to syndicate activity.

Other realities not reflected in the current immigration system are migration patterns which do not involve South Africa as a final destination. Circular migration is a long-standing and continuing pattern. Also, many migrants in South Africa actually hope to migrate out of the region to Canada and the United States, although most do not actually leave and instead remain in a “state of permanent transit.”

Integration of Migrants

Another set of considerations focused on the current barriers to integration which immigrants faced. Some discussants noted that migrants are traditionally denied access to capital.  More fundamentally, many banks do not even let migrants open accounts, thereby decreasing the ability of migrants not only to save for themselves but also to contribute investment dollars to South Africa. Also, by denying service to migrants, banks seem to be missing an opportunity with a large market segment. There are some notable exceptions, such as Durban’s enfranchisement of foreign street hawkers (which allows the city extra revenue through a daily operating fee). 

Designing intelligent policies concerning property ownership and citizenship rights are another challenge in migrant integration. If such policies are set by local governments, there is the added challenge of not having a national framework, resulting in cases of quasi-legalization. Such issues should be resolved so that no long-term weakness is established which could set South Africa up for a situation similar to the recent conflict in Cote D’Ivoire.

Another important set of concerns has to do with migrants’ access to public services, especially health care in light of the AIDS epidemic. Under current laws, everyone is entitled to emergency health care regardless of immigration status (however, someone on a tourist visa faces a prohibitively high fee for a standard doctor’s visit). Refugees have all the rights of citizens except for the vote. Everyone of school age is entitled to education. There is, however, a strong sense that foreigners should not be entitled to social services that are already strained.

Liberalizing Movement of Workers

An interesting proposal, put forward several times, has called for a SADC worker identification which would allow citizens from SADC countries to work throughout the region. It would also allow for legalization of migrants without citizenship.  Political realities, however, have not allowed for it.

One concern about such a plan was whether or not it would compound the current crises of high-skilled migration out of the region. Of particular note is the shortage of health care workers, many of whom have gone to the UK.  However, it may be preferable for countries in Southern Africa to have their workers employed within the region rather than on other continents.

Local Government Discretion with Migration Management

A final consideration concerned the role of local governments in migration management.  Cities may be involved with global and regional networks in ways that often circumvent national policy. Previous examples of this include towns along the Texas-Mexico border that had provided public services to citizens from both sides. Indeed, local governments have had a strong role in migration management: perhaps not in regards to admissions, but definitely in regards to integration matters such as voting and law enforcement.  

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