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Recent Trends and Prospects of Black Migration to South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Fion De Vletter
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Extract

Migrant labour from external sources has been exploited by South Africa during the past century for obvious economic reasons: it is cheap, easily available, and largely controllable. Short-run fluctuations may arise for a variety of reasons, but in the long run, as W. G. Martin has attempted to demonstrate, demand patterns for foreign migrant workers, particularly on the mines, have generally reflected prevailing economic conditions.1. Events over the past decade or so have, however, made it difficult to distinguish between the effects of economic and political influences which have so dramatically altered the face of migration in Southern Africa.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 1985 , pp. 667 - 702
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

page 667 note 1 Martin, W. G., ‘Cycles, Trends or Transformations? Black Labour Migration to the South African Gold Mines’, in Bergquist, C. (ed.), Labour in the Capitalist Economy (Beverly Hills, 1984).Google Scholar

page 668 note 1 The Nkomati accord was largely the consequence of the ‘no-win’ situation of military intervention through the support of anti-Frelimo rebels. Mounting costs and little promise of a more palatable régime led to increasing concern amongst South African policy-makers, while the war-ravaged and economically crippled Frelimo Government had little option but to sign a pact which initially held promise of peaceful restoration and a significant inflow of South African capital.

page 671 note 1 Stahl, loc.cit.

page 671 note 2 According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1982 (Johannesburg, 1982), p. 85,Google Scholar there were 646, 504 foreign black workers in 1975. In relation to other years, this figure would appear to be far too high, albeit adopted by Roger Southall, ‘Labour Migrancy and the Independent Trade Unions in South Africa’, 26th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Boston, December 1983.

page 671 note 3 South African Police along the Eastern Transvaal border claimed that at least 1,000 Mozambicans were caught every month during 1982 while trying to enter illegally; A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1982.

page 672 note 1 Source: South African Yearbook (Johannesburg), 1973–1984.Google Scholar

page 673 note 1 Source: Republic of South Affica, Depatment of Co-operation and Development, ‘Registered Black Migrant Workers and Commuters in White Areas– 30 June 1983’, Johannesburg, 1983.

page 674 note 1 Mozambique alone is estimated to account for about 15,000 illegal workers in the agricultural sector, mostly in the Eastern Transvaal; The Citizan (Johannesburg), 6 11 1984.Google Scholar

page 674 note 2 Since there were 302,000 foreign migrants in 1980, according to A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1981, Southall, op. cit. divided this figure into the 4,414,000 Africans that he calculated were employed in ‘white areas’ by using the officially estimated unemployment rate of 7·3 per cent for an economically active African population of 4,764,000.

page 675 note 1 Source: Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (W.N.L.A.), Annual Report (Johannesburg),Google Scholar and The Employment Bureau of Africa Limited (T.E.B.A.), Annual Report (Johannesburg), both 1970–1983, passim.Google Scholar

page 676 note 1 Source: as for Table 2.

page 677 note 1 A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1983, and Cooper, Carol, ‘Bantustan Attitudes to Trade Unions’, in South African Review (Braamfontein), 2, 1984.Google Scholar

page 677 note 2 Southall, op. cit.

page 677 note 3 Financial Mail (Johannesburg), 2 03 1984.Google Scholar

page 678 note 1 Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg), 29 10 1984.Google Scholar

page 678 note 2 Stahl, loc. cit.

page 678 note 3 Johann Maree, ‘Trade Unions, Redundancies and New Technology Agreements’, Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, Conference Paper No. 122, Cape Town, 1984.

page 678 note 4 Sunday Tribune (Johannesburg), 2 12 1984.Google Scholar

page 679 note 1 Joanne Yawitch, ‘Tightening the Noose: African women and influx control in South Africa, 1950–1980’, Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, Conference Paper No. 82, Cape Town, 1984.

page 680 note 1 Southall, op. cit.

page 680 note 2 The Wiehahn Commission of Enquiry into Labour Legislation and Other Related Matters was appointed in 1977 to investigate improvements as regards the regulation of labour relations in South Africa; the adjustment of existing machinery for the prevention and settlement of disputes; the elimination of bottlenecks and other problems which were being experienced within the entire sphere of labour; and methods and means by which a foundation for the creation and expansion of sound labour relations may be laid for South Africa. Results were tabled in 1979.

page 680 note 3 The one-man Commission of Enquiry into Legislation Affecting the Utilisation of Manpower by P. J. Riekert, economic advisor to the Prime Minister, was appointed in 1977 to cover omissions from the terms of reference of the Wiehahn Commission. It concentrated largely on the position of the urban blacks and aspects of influx control, and tabled its findings in 1979.

page 681 note 1 The deferred-pay agreement originates with the Mozambique Convention of 1928, wherein it was agreed that 60 per cent of the wages of miners would be transferred to the Government in gold at the official price. Until the decision was made that individual mines would have to bear the extra expenses of recruiting Mozambicans, these costs were paid from the Reserve Bank.

page 681 note 2 Malawian workers were summoned back following the death of over 70 miners in a plane crash in Francistown in 1974. Shortages of foreign exchange, however, made the Malawian Government change its mind towards migration, and within a few years negotiations were opened with the Chamber of Mines. But because of the success of the internalisation policy, a quota was imposed on the number of Malawians to be recruited, resulting in barely 10 per cent of the former flows.

page 682 note 1 The Citizen, 6 November 1984.

page 682 note 2 James Cobbe, ‘Consequences for Lesotho of Changing South African Labour Demand’, 26th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Boston, December 1983.

page 682 note 3 Personal communication.

page 683 note 1 Surplus People Project, ‘Forced Removals in South Africa’, as quoted in Platzky, Laurine and Walker, Cherryl, ‘Review of Relocation’, in South African Review, 1, 1983.Google Scholar

page 683 note 2 Financial Mail, 29 June 1984.

page 683 note 3 Mare, Gerald, ‘Africans Under Apartheid in the 1980s’, in South African Review, 1, 1983.Google Scholar

page 683 note 4 Marian Lacey, ‘Feudalism in the Age of Computers: an analysis of recruitment strategies to reserve and allocate labour’, Black Sash Conference, Cape Town, March 1983.

page 684 note 1 Source: Mare, loc. cit.

page 684 note 2 Southall, op. cit.

page 684 note 3 Finance Week (Booysens), 11–17 10 1984.Google Scholar

page 685 note 1 Financial Mail, 12 October 1984.

page 685 note 2 Ibid. 28 September 1984.

page 685 note 3 C. L. McCarthy, ‘Industrial Decentralisation – Tentative Thoughts on its Effects on Employment Creation’, Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in South Africa, Conference Paper No. 244, Cape Town, 1984.

page 685 note 4 Rand Daily Mail, 29 October 1984.

page 686 note 1 B.E.N.S.O., Statistical Survey of Black Development (Pretoria, 1982), parts 1 and 2; and Cooper, loc. cit.Google Scholar

page 686 note 2 Southall, op. cit.

page 686 note 3 Mare, loc. cit.

page 686 note 4 Financial Mail, 20 July 1984.

page 686 note 5 Clive Thompson in Ibid. 12 October 1984.

page 687 note 1 Haysom, Nicholas, ‘The Industrial Court: institutionalising industrial conflict’, in South African Review, 2, 1984.Google Scholar

page 687 note 2 Hermann Giliomee, as quoted by the Financial Mail, 14 September 1984, from Giliomee, and Schlemmer, Lawrence (eds.), Up Against the Fences: poverty, passes and privilege in South Africa (Cape Town, 1984).Google Scholar

page 687 note 3 Phase one of the project will consist of: a survey of relevant literature; an examination of labour agreements and legislation in the various states; an identification of the major differences between them and the problems that so arise; and an analysis of the implications for governments, employers, and employees.

Phase two will focus on the micro-level: problems identified earlier will be studied in depth, and fieldwork will be done on case-studies, including factors (economic, social, and political) affecting dependence/interdependence in the medium-and long-term in labour relationships between South Africa and (a) the ‘national states’ and (b) the S.A.L.C. countries. In respect of the latter, and evaluation will be made of the national development plans of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland, mainly in order to assess the possibility of creating more employment and reducing dependence on labour exports to South Africa.

page 688 note 1 Extracted from Alan W. Whiteside, ‘Labour Relations Between South Africa and Neighbouring States – Legislation, Agreements and Related Issues’, Economic Research Unit, University of Natal, Durban, 1984. See also Sam Rugege, ‘Legal Aspects of Labour Migration from Lesotho to the South African Mines’, International Labour Office, World Employment Programme Working Paper, Geneva, 1979.

page 689 note 1 Rugege, op. cit.

page 690 note 1 A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1984.

page 690 note 2 A report in the Sunday Express (Johannesburg), 2 12 1984,Google Scholar alleged that, in an attempt to empty prisons of illegal aliens, up to 500 Zimbabweans a week were being repatriated, some having been waiting a year in jail. The delay was attributed to the South African Department of Home Affairs being unable to cope with the number of illegal migrants.

page 691 note 1 In accordance with section 10(I)(b) of the Urban Areas Act, the ‘right’ of ‘permanent residence’ was only granted to those who had worked continuously in an urban area for 10 years for one employer or for several employers for 15 years. Legislation in 1968 made the attainment of this status impossible for migrants, as they were compelled to return to their Homelands every year and to re-apply for their jobs through their labour bureau.

page 692 note 1 In 1980, the Appeal Court upheld an appeal by V. Komani that his wife be considered qualified to remain in the prescribed area of Cape Town in terms of section 10(I)(c) of the Black (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, No. 25 of 1945, in view of the fact that he was living there legally. It also set aside the requirement in terms of Regulation 20(I) of Government Notice R1036 of 1968 that a lodger's permit be obtained before the person concerned be granted permission to live in the urban area.

In September 1981 a further precedent-setting judgement was made when it was ruled in the Rand Supreme Court that M. Rikhoto, a Germiston contract worker, was entitled to live permanently in the city with his family in accordance with the terms of section 10(I)(b) of the Urban Areas Act. A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1981.

page 692 note 2 Previously the West Rand Administration Board had allowed workers to take up a new job if they had permission from their employers, and if the work was in the same category as that for which they had been given permission to work under contract in the area concerned.

page 693 note 1 In 1954 the Government decided that the presence of Africans in the Western Cape would be carefully controlled because the area (later defined by the Secretary for Native Affairs, and hence known as the ‘Eiselen Line’) should be considered the preserve of coloured workers. It was stated that the Government planned to remove ‘foreign’ Africans, to ‘freeze’ the existing position as regards families, to send back to the reserves all women and children who did not qualify to remain, and to allow only the controlled entry of migrant workers. Horrell, Muriel, Laws Affecting Race Relations in South Africa, 1948–1976 (Johannesburg, 1978).Google Scholar

page 693 note 2 Rand Daily Mail, 6 December 1984.

page 694 note 1 After widespread opposition to the Orderly Movement and Settlement of Black Persons Bill, No. 113 of 1980, this was referred, along with other legislative proposals that needed to be changed, to a select parliamentary committee that reported in May 1981. Some of the more stringent proposals were adopted, but more lenient qualifications for acquiring urban rights were rejected.

page 694 note 2 Financial Mail, 16 March and 11 May 1984.

page 694 note 3 An example of how seriously some Homelands take this is given by Cooper, loc. cit. In 1983 Lt.-General Charles Sebe of the Ciskei said that his country's prime export – its men and women, willing and able to work – was the best available on the market. He was therefore intending to establish a centralised labour information bureau, and if workers were found to be union members or to have participated in a strike, they would be bypassed by official recruitment channels. The Ciskei Manpower Development Centre is now apparently monitoring reports from employers, and workers who have ‘misbehaved’ are being labelled as ‘unreliable’. In 1983 the Ciskei Minister of Manpower said punishment camps were likely to be introduced, with disciplinary measures to be taken against workers who broke their contracts for no valid reasons.

page 694 note 4 Cooper, loc. cit.

page 695 note 1 Ibid.

page 696 note 1 Shorter contract periods reflected both the increased number of novices who saw the mines as a temporary means of acquiring cash, and the significantly higher wages, which allowed miners to work less time to attain a certain level of remuneration.

page 696 note 2 Stahl, loc cit.

page 697 note 1 Personal communication.

page 697 note 2 Rand Daily Mail, 1 May 1984.

page 697 note 3 Ibid.

page 697 note 4 A radio commentary by the South African Broadcasting Corporation on 19 April 1984 suggested that unless Lesotho joined the current peace initiative in Southern Africa, the 140,000 migrant Basotho could be forced into undergoing stringent security checks at border posts – ‘a measure that would reduce the traffic of people and goods to a fraction of what it is now’.

page 698 note 1 Rand Daily Mail, 1 May 1984.

page 698 note 2 Personal communication.

page 698 note 3 Sources: Stahl, loc. cit. and T.E.B.A., Annual Reports, various issues.

page 701 note 1 Efforts towards improving the conditions on the mines have been initiated, inter alia, by Danida in Lesotho, and by the I.C.F.T.U. in Botswana. In late 1984 the I.L.O. project on ‘Assistance to Migrant Workers in Southern Africa’ was started in collaboration with research institutes in Mozambique and Botswana in order not only to examine working conditions and legislation affecting the migrants from these countries, but also to formally establish, in conjunction with their respective governments, the structure to monitor conditions and to heighten the awareness of outgoing migrants of what their rights are, and the legal channels available to them (such as the N.U.M.) through which they can exert pressure to improve their conditions.