Concerns about the negative impact of the “brain drain” of health professionals from Africa have led to a dominant narrative in which those who migrate are a permanent, and costly, loss to the country of origin and a permanent, and valuable, gain for t …

The purpose of this brief has been to draw attention to the complex new forms of migration and immigration that are transforming traditional migration dynamics to South Africa. Our intention, in doing so, is to contest the view that there is any necess …

The primary goal of this study is to present the results of a comprehensive scope of key opportunities and challenges for harnessing migration for inclusive growth and development at the regional level in Southern Africa. The first two sections of the …

This report compares the business operations of over 2,000 South Africans and refugees in the urban informal economy and systematically dispels some of the myths that have grown up around their activities. First, the report takes issue with the percept …

This report examines the impact of xenophobic violence on Zimbabweans who are trying to make a living in the South African informal sector and finds that xenophobic violence has several key characteristics that put them at constant risk of losing their …

The primary aim of this report is to examine what we call “refugee entrepreneurial economies” in urban South Africa. Within the informal sector, refugee enclaves have often been viewed as stagnant pools of desperation, providing narrow opportunities an …

To understand the policy environment within which refugees establish and operate their enterprises in South Africa’s informal sector, this report brings together two streams of policy analysis. The first concerns the changing refugee policies and the e …

Against the backdrop of ongoing hostility towards migrant entrepreneurs in the corridors of power and on the streets of major cities, the partners in the Growing Informal Cities Project convened a policy workshop on migrant entrepreneurship in South Af …

“The post-apartheid history of antipathy towards migrants and refugees is pronounced and well documented. A study by SAMP in 2006 of citizens’ attitudes to migrants reached the gloomy conclusion that South Africa continued to be a society in which xeno …

“This report focuses on understanding the nature and implications of the most recent phase of movement from Zimbabwe to Botswana. The first section of the report examines the evidence for the number of Zimbabweans in Botswana. As in South Africa, the n …

“Studies of the Zimbabwean diaspora tend to focus on migrants in South Africa and the United Kingdom. This is the first major study of Zimbabwean migration to Canada. The report presents and discusses the findings of a SAMP survey conducted across Cana …

“In 2008, South African Brandon Huntley was given refugee status in Canada by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). The unprecedented decision, based on Huntley’s claim that as a white South African he was the victim of racial persecution i …

“Medical tourism has become a major focus of research and policy interest in the Global South in recent years. Much of the discussion focuses on the motives and impact of Europeans and North Americans who travel to developing countries for lower cost m …

“The first section of this paper briefly reviews the post-apartheid decline in permanent immigration and legal temporary labour migration to South Africa. The next section examines some of the new migration trends that have become increasingly importan …

“The African diaspora is increasingly viewed as a key to realizing the development potential of international migration. At the same time, there remains considerable confusion about who exactly constitutes the diaspora and which groups should be target …

“This report examines the obstacles to access by Zimbabwean children and students to schools and tertiary institutions in South Africa. There is a common assumption in South Africa that these children and students have no right to an education in South …

“Hostility towards migrants and refugees makes South Africa one of the most migrant-unfriendly countries in the world. In May 2008, the country was rocked by violent attacks on the lives and property of Africans from other parts of the continent. Over …

“Since 1990, there have been major changes to longstanding patterns of intra-regional labour migration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). At the same time, new channels of migration to and from the region have opened. Labour migr …

“South Africa’s gold mining workforce has the highest prevalence rates of tuberculosis and HIV infection of any industrial sector in the country. The contract migrant labour system, which has long outlived apartheid, is responsible for this unacceptabl …

“Lesotho is one of the most migration dependent countries in the world. Migrant remittances are the country’s major source of foreign exchange, accounting for 25% of GDP in 2006. Lesotho is also one of the poorest countries in the world due to high dom …

“The world recently watched with dismay as South African citizens violently attacked foreign nationals in communities across the country. Tens of thousands of migrants were displaced, amid mass looting and destruction of foreign-owned homes, property a …

“The health sector has been especially hard hit by the brain drain from South Africa. Unless the push factors are successfully addressed, intense interest in emigration will continue to translate into departure for as long as demand exists abroad (and …

“In order to better understand the relevance of the Convention to South Africa, it is necessary to examine the history of the ICMW and why other countries have been so hesitant to ratify it. Second, it is necessary to provide an overview of migrant rig …

Remittances by migrants are now a focus of attention of governments and development agencies worldwide. Globally, cash remittances by international migrants now exceed $250 billion per annum, easily outweighing the value of development assistance. Over …

“Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. Migration was probably the single most important factor tying together all of the various colonies and countries of the sub-continent into a sin …