Abstract
South Africa’s migration policy has evolved over time to become increasingly restrictive, and the latest proposed legislation reflects this trend, which closely traces a global increase in restrictions on movement. The first half of this article briefly traces the history of intraregional migration in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in order to lay the groundwork for a longer and more detailed analysis of the existing migration regime in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) because they offer a clear contrast—ECOWAS has embraced and institutionalized freedom of movement, whereas SADC states have imposed very severe restrictions on transnational mobility. The second half of the article links these findings to the experience of migrants and refugees living in Johannesburg. Here it is shown that foreigners face systematic violence, exclusion, and exploitation. Hostility toward foreign nationals on the part of the South African government at least partially explains both the absence of regional governance of migration and the failure to protect or provide for foreign nationals in the country.
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Notes
- 1.
Oucho and Crush (2001) are blunt in their assessment of South Africa’s role in this regard, arguing that the South African government unilaterally “aborted”, “stymied” and “blocked” SADC’s efforts to realize free movement in the region.
- 2.
See Landau and Vanyoro (2014) for the full text of the Framework, and a more detailed analysis.
- 3.
These regulations are stipulated by the Immigration Act no. 13 of 2002, as amended in 2011.
- 4.
The recent furore over conditions in Australia’s detention camps on Nauru island has highlighted the fact that, even in highly developed destination countries, “processing centres” are typically intended as a deterrent to potential asylum seekers rather than as a safe or habitable environment. See The Guardian (2016).
- 5.
A 2015 investigation into the Lindela centre by the South African Human Rights Commission found prima facie violations of sections 10 (the right to human dignity), 12 (the right to freedom and security of the person), 27 (the right to health care, food, water and social security), 33 (the right to just administrative action) and 35 (the rights of arrested, detained and accused persons) of the Constitution.
- 6.
South Africa signed the two international legal documents concerning refugees in 1996: the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.
- 7.
The survey included 928 people who were either already granted asylum or still awaiting a decision. The study was grounded on a narrow definition of corruption as it only included “a request for money” (Amit 2015a, p. 13).
- 8.
The number of submitted applications reached its peak in 2009 with more than 223,000 applications (Amit 2015a, p. 18).
- 9.
For the purposes of this article, the following experts were interviewed on the base of a semi-structured questionnaire: Asmita Parshotam (South African Institute of International Affairs, SAIIA), Johan Viljoen (Jesuit Refugee Centre Johannesburg).
- 10.
Focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 50 refugees at Arrube Women’s Centre Johannesburg on 21 March 2017.
- 11.
Arrupe Women’s Centre is an initiative by the Jesuit Refugee Centre Johannesburg. The vocational training courses last 3 months and aim to enhance women’s chance to have a steady job. While it first started in 2015 as a program only for refugees, it now also includes South Africans and thereby tries to contribute to the integration of non-nationals in South African society. In 2016, 300 women were trained. Misereor International is one of the donors of the centre.
- 12.
Nonetheless, variations exist looking for instance at the education level of the analyzed group, it becomes obvious that the higher educated the people are, the more likely they are accepting foreigners (Gordon 2015, p. 501).
- 13.
In accordance with this, South Africans hold a more positive attitude towards Europeans and North Americans in comparison to those originating from African countries (ibid., p. 497). In 2012, for instance 55% of South Africans stated that African foreigners were the least favored group (ibid., p. 499).
- 14.
Important to notice, the tensions have not only been erupting between non-nationals and South Africans but have also been noticeable between different foreigner groups. It seems to suggest itself, that conflicts that have been prevalent in the countries of origins also play a role if people from opposing groups clash on a different terrain.
- 15.
Here, especially Zimbabweans are generally much better educated than South Africans.
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Feltes, T., Musker, S., Scholz, P. (2018). Regional Governance of Migration in the Southern African Development Community: Migration Regimes and Their Implications for the Experience of Refugees and Migrants in South Africa. In: Kury, H., Redo, S. (eds) Refugees and Migrants in Law and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72159-0_24
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