THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF UNDOCUMENTED MOZAMBICAN LABOUR MIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA

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THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF UNDOCUMENTED MOZAMBICAN
LABOUR MIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA

• Presentation
• Workshop on Demography of Lusophone African
  Countries
• CEDEPLAR
• Belo Horizonte, 22nd to 24th of May, 2007
• By
• Ramos Cardoso Muanamoha
• Center for Population Studies
• Eduardo Mondlane University
• Maputo, Mozambique
• May 2007

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OUTLINE OF TOPIC AREA / RESEARCH PROBLEM

• New contours of Mozambican labour migration to
  South Africa
• Decrease of contract labour migration (docum.)
• Increase of undocumented labour migration
• Estimates (SAMP Migration News, 01/03/2003)
• over 75 000 Mozambicans working legally in South
  Africa
• more than 145 000 Mozambicans working illegally
  only in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces.

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OUTLINE OF TOPIC AREA / RESEARCH
PROBLEM(continued)

• New contours of Mozambican labour migration to
  South Africa
• Estimates (SAMP, Migration News, July Nov
  2006)
• Between 10,000 to 80,000 Mozambican farm workers
  only in Limpopo province.
• 46,256 Mozambican mineworkers in SA (46 of
  mining workforce from SADC countries).

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OUTLINE OF TOPIC AREA / RESEARCH
PROBLEM(continued)

• The main concerns in the context of socioeconomic
  development in Mozambique
• The Agricultural sector basis of Mozambican
  economy.
• More than three-quarters of the population are
  rural-based and largely dependent on subsistence
  agriculture (De Vletter, 2000).
• The development of human capital in rural areas
  constitutes one of the fundamental elements for
  the reduction of poverty.

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OUTLINE OF TOPIC AREA / RESEARCH
PROBLEM(continued)

• The main concerns in the context of socioeconomic
  development in Mozambique
• Great changes in the structure of Mozambican
  rural population composition by age and sex
• Estimates (De Vletter, 2000)
• 36 of households in southern Mozambique were
  female-headed (versus 15 in the north)
• Findings from this study (2004)
• 45 of the current migrants households were
  headed by married women whose husbands were away
  in SA
• Great impact on Mozambican agriculture (mainly in
  southern region Gaza, Inhambane and Maputo
  provinces) increase of labour shortage.

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OUTLINE OF TOPIC AREA / RESEARCH
PROBLEM(continued)

• Main concerns in South Afica
• Social pressure, migrants seen as taking jobs
  from locals
• Rise of xenophobia (migrants regarded as
  criminals, responsible for HIV/AIDS spread)
• Administrative measures (deportations, strict
  control of borders) do not stop illegal
  immigration into SA

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LITERATURE ON MOZAMBICAN LABOUR MIGRATION

• Two main types of circumstances within which the
  undocumented labour migration has been taking
  place
• voluntary decision to migrate because of lack of
  jobs and of material living conditions at home,
  and need for money for survival
• forced decision to migrate, because circumstances
  force people to abandon their habitual places of
  residence and to move to other places where they
  can feel free from danger.

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TYPOLOGY OF MOZAMBICAN LABOUR MIGRATION TO SOUTH
AFRICA AND ITS DETERMINANTS
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LITERATURE ON MOZAMBICAN LABOUR
MIGRATION(continued)

• (e.g. Covane, 2001 Crush, 2000 De Vletter,
  2000 Dodson, 2000 Dolan, 1995 Minnar and
  Hough, 1996 Taylor and Barlow, 2000)
• Thought the belief that social networks support
  and sustain migration by making subsequent entry
  and stay in South Africa easier, cheaper and less
  risky (Minnaar Hough, 1996 McDonald et al.,
  2000 Crush Williams, 2001), the literature
  shows little or nothing about the dynamics of
  undocumented labour migration.
• The knowledge of the mechanisms through which
  these social processes facilitate, support and
  sustain the migration, is very limited .

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AIM OF THE PRESENTATION

• To show
• the social dynamics of undocumented labour
  migration from Mozambique to South Africa and its
  implications for policy-making decisions
• which social factors and how do they facilitate
  and sustain the migration, contributing to its
  persistence and perpetuation over time and space
  .

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KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Why and how has undocumented Mozambican labour
  migration to South Africa been taking place?
• How do the experiences and support offered in
  South Africa assist and, possibly, sustain the
  migration process?

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RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

1. Undocumented Mozambican labour migration to South
   Africa has been difficult to control and is a
   self-sustaining social process.
2. Social networks, some concentrated in South
   Africa, sustain migration over the time by making
   subsequent entry and stay in South Africa easier,
   cheaper and less risky.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

• The study drew on the current worldwide debates
  around the contemporary trends and patterns of
  international labour migration which have led to
  new theoretical perspectives, where the emphasis
  for this presentation is given to the
• - social capital theory
• - theory of cumulative causation
• (Ammassari and Black, 2001 Massey, 1998 Massey
  et al., 1998 1993 1987 Montanari, 2002) .

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METHODOLOGY

• Research sites
• Magude and Chókwè districts in southern
  Mozambique
• Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces in South Africa

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Research sites
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METHODOLOGY (continued)

• Sources of information
• Fieldwork
• (A) Qualitative data in Moz SA
• In-depth interviews with key informants
• (community leaders, administrators, directors of
  labour, border officers, labour migrant
  recruiting agency)
• Selection of Key informants based on purposive
  or judgmental sampling method
• Life histories analysis of undocumented labour
  migrants
• (35 current and returned migrants)

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METHODOLOGY (continued)

• Sources of information
• Fieldwork
• (B) Quantitative data
• Sample survey in Mozambique
• in 45 survey areas selected randomly from a list
  of the national population census enumeration
  areas compiled by the Mozambican National
  Institute for Statistics (1997).
• survey areas distributed proportionally among the
  two districts, according to the weight of their
  population (Magude 15 Chokwe 30).
• 15 and 20 households (units of observation) were
  selected randomly in each rural and urban survey
  area, respectively.
• the sample included a total of 745 households in
  the two districts.
• a survey questionnaire was applied to each of the
  selected households.

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METHODOLOGY (continued)

• Sources of information
• Fieldwork
• (B) Quantitative data
• The Survey questionnaire was composed of three
  parts
• Basic social and demographic data collected from
  all people in the household, and identification
  of people with prior experience of undocumented
  labour migration to South Africa (returned
  migrants)
• Data on returned undocumented labour migrants
  (profile, remittances, labour migration
  experience)
• Information on the socioeconomic status of the
  household.

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DATA ANALYSIS

• After coding, the survey data were entered onto
  computer by use of the Statistical Package for
  the Social Sciences (SPSS).
• Qualitative data were analyzed in terms of the
  themes of the study.

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RESULTS

• Sample population 4645 people (1.5 of the total
  population of the two districts), enumerated as
  members of 745 sample households.
• The survey identified 107 working-age people who
  in the course of the reference period (1980-2004)
  had left undocumented to get job in South Africa.

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Forces sustaining support and continuity of
undocumented Mozambican labour migration to South
Africa
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SOME FINAL REMARKS

• Poverty, primary motivation for leaving home, but
  decision to migrate encouraged by assistance
  (social capital) offered throughout the movement
  and at the destination.
• Repeated movements, because of experience and
  skills acquired in the earlier trips (human
  capital) social contacts already established on
  the borders and at the destination (social
  capital) ? Circular migration.
• Labour migration process and emergence of a kind
  of social division of labour in migrant
  households.
• Gender-differentiated friendship networks.

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