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VIEWS ON MIGRATION
IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Proceedings of an
African Migration Alliance Workshop
Edited by
Catherine Cross
Derik Gelderblom
Niel Roux
Jonathan Mafukidze


Published by HSRC Press, Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa,
www.hsrcpress.ac.za
in association with
Department of Social Development, Private Bag X901, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa,
www.population.gov.za
© 2006 Human Sciences Research Council and Department of Social Development,
South Africa
First published 2006
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and should not be considered to imply the views held by the Department of Social Development.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission

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Contents

List of tables v

List of figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
Acronyms and abbreviations x
1

Introduction 1
Catherine Cross and Elizabeth Omoluabi

PART 1: CONTINENTAL OVERVIEWS
2

Leading issues in international migration in sub-Saharan Africa 25
Aderanti Adepoju

3

Levels of urbanisation in Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone
African countries 48
Oumar Bouare

4

Migration between Africa and Australia: Patterns, issues
and implications 74
Graeme Hugo

PART 2: REGIONAL VIEWS ON MIGRATION IN AFRICA
5

A discussion of migration and migration patterns and flows

in Africa 103
Jonathan Mafukidze

6

Migration and refugees in Eastern Africa: A challenge for the East
African Community 130
John O Oucho

7

A new challenge for the international community: Internally displaced
people in the Great Lakes Region 148
Franck Kamunga Cibangu


8

The INDEPTH Network: A demographic resource on migration and
urbanisation in Africa and Asia 159
Mark Collinson and Kubaje Adazu

PART 3: SOME CLOSER VIEWS OF COUNTRIES AND ISSUES
9

Migrants’ contribution to rural development in southwestern Nigeria 175
Akinyemi Akanni, Olaopa Olawale and Oloruntimehin Funmi

10

Spatio-temporal patterns and trends of international migration in
Botswana and their policy implications 186
Thando D Gwebu

11

Francophone Africans in Cape Town: A failed migration? 207
Rodolf Lekogo

12

Myth and rationality in Southern African responses to migration,
displacement, and humanitarianism 220
Loren B Landau

13

Synthesis and conclusions: What are Africa’s issues in migration? 245
Catherine Cross, Elizabeth Omoluabi, John Oucho and
Franck Kamunga Cibangu

Contributors 290


List of tables

Table 3.1
Table 3.2
Table 3.3
Table 3.4

Table 3.5
Table 3.6
Table A3.1
Table A3.2
Table A3.3
Table 4.1
Table 4.2
Table 4.3
Table 4.4
Table 4.5
Table 4.6
Table 4.7
Table 4.8
Table 4.9
Table 4.10
Table A4.1

Urbanisation levels of Anglophone, Lusophone and
Francophone countries in study (percentage) 50
Estimated number of rural-urban migrants, 1985–1990 54
Estimated number of rural-urban migrants, 1985–1990 to
2000–2005 55
Coefficients of correlation between urbanisation levels and
GDP growth rates 59
Share of rural-urban migrants in the urban population
(percentage) 62
Urbanisation rates, 1985–2005 (percentage) 65
Estimated number of rural-urban migrants, 1990–1995 68
Estimated number of rural-urban migrants, 1995–2000 69
Estimated number of rural-urban migrants, 2000–2005 71

Stocks of Africa-born persons in OECD nations around
2000 76
African countries: size of diaspora in OECD nations, 2000 79
Change in the composition of the Australian population by
place of birth, 1947–2001 84
Australia: Number of persons born in Southern and Eastern
African nations, 1986–2001 85
Settler arrivals born in sub-Saharan Africa compared with total
intake according to eligibility category, 2003–2004 87
Arrivals and departures of skilled health workers in Australia,
1993–2004 88
Settler arrivals in Australia from Africa under the RefugeeHumanitarian Program, 1997–2003 89
Settler arrivals in Australia from Africa, 1993–1994 to
2003–2004 90
Australia and sub-Saharan Africa-born: selected occupational
and educational characteristics, 2001 94
Employment experience of immigrants to Australia 95
Australia: Africa-born population, 1996–2001 97

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V I E W S O N M I G R AT I O N I N S U B - S A H A R A N A F R I C A

Table 6.1
Table 6.2
Table 6.3
Table 6.4

Table 9.1

Table 9.2

Table 9.3

Table 10.1
Table 10.2
Table 10.3
Table 10.4
Table 10.5

vi

Refugee population in the GLR, East Africa and the HOA, 1995
and 2001 134
Number of people requiring relief in 2002 due to conflict 138
Percentage distribution of immigrant population in Uganda,
1969–1991 140
Issues, policies and key gaps in international migration and
refugee concerns in selected countries of the GHA region 142
Percentage distribution of respondents by background
information 177
Percentage distribution of assessment of service delivery
and investment portfolios in place of residence and home
town 179
Percentage distribution by assessment of associations’
contribution to home-town development 184
Growth in paid employment and labour force, 1964–1976 187
Sex ratio of absentees by age 189
Percentage of absentees by marital status 189
Percentage of absentees by destination and socio-economic

activity 190
Percentage of de facto population by region of origin in 2001
196


List of figures

Figure 3.1

Urbanisation levels in Africa, 2004 52

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.8

Distribution of South Africa-born, Nigeria-born, Congo
Democratic Republic-born and Angola-born expatriates in
OECD nations, 2000 77
Africa-born population in Australia, 1861–2001 81
Immigrants to Australia from Africa, 1945–2004 83
Immigrants to Australia from Africa as a percentage of total
immigrants, 1945–2004 83
Distribution of birthplace of settlers to Australia, 1970 91
Distribution of birthplace of settlers to Australia, 2004 91
Age and sex distribution of the Africa-born permanent and
long-term arrivals, 1994–1995 to 2003–2004, and the total
Australian population, 2001 92
Africa: origins of settler arrivals, 1993–2003 93

Figure 8.1

A global perspective on INDEPTH 168

Figure 10.1
Figure 10.2
Figure 10.3
Figure 10.4
Figure 10.5
Figure 10.6

Potential destinations of skilled emigrants 191
Percentage of absentees, 1971–2001 193
Pull factors on potential migrants 194
Number of non-Batswana, 1971–2001 196
Total arrivals, 1992–2003 197
Deportees, 1993–2004 198

Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Figure 4.4
Figure 4.5
Figure 4.6
Figure 4.7

vii


Acknowledgements

The editors wish to thank the following persons for their contributions to

the production of this volume and to the March 2005 founding workshop of
the African Migration Alliance (AMA) on which this book is largely based.
Aside from the authors themselves – several of whom also made substantial
contributions beyond their papers alone – they are, in alphabetical order:
• Sofiane Boudhiba who was informed at the last minute that he could not
travel to South Africa to present his paper on migration to North Africa;
• John Daniel who kindly offered the HSRC Press services to produce this
volume and was willing to give an important extension of time for the
manuscript to be submitted for copy editing and publication;
• Mike de Klerk who secured HSRC funding to cover a large component
of the workshop expenses;
• Pieter Kok who assisted with the planning of the workshop and played
an important part in the preparations for the production of this book;
• Welhelminah Ledwaba who was co-responsible for all travel and other
logistical arrangements before and during the workshop;
• Olga Mabitsela who assisted with the planning of the workshop and
chaired the opening session;
• Wesley Malebo who assisted with the planning of the workshop but
could not attend due to severe illness;
• Simphiwe Mini who assisted with the planning of the workshop and
chaired a workshop session;
• Hester Roberts who assisted with logistical arrangements and invitations
to release this publication;
• Leon Swartz who assisted with the planning of the workshop and gave
the official opening address at the founding workshop;
• Jennifer van Rensburg who was co-responsible for all travel and
other logistical arrangements before and during the workshop and has
provided indispensable secretarial and other services during the process
leading up to the production of this monograph;
• Linda van Staden who played an important part in the production

of this publication and the planning and strategic arrangements for
its release;

viii


•

•

Jacques van Zuydam who assisted with the planning of the workshop
and secured the funding required to host the founding workshop
producing this publication and the event for its release, from the
Department of Social Development;
Marie Wentzel who assisted with the planning of the workshop and was
responsible for the initial invitations and strategic arrangements, and also
played an important part in the preparations for the production of this
publication.

The editors would also like to extend special thanks to all the members of the
AMA Steering Committee, for their hard work before and since the workshop
itself, which has contributed greatly toward this volume. Spanning the whole of
the continent from government bodies to the non-governmental organisation
sector, they are Elizabeth Omoluabi, John Oucho, Franck Kamunga Cibangu,
Carol Lombard, Niel Roux and Catherine Cross. Phambili ukucwaninga!

ix


Acronyms and abbreviations

ACAP
AFRD
AMA
AU
COMESA
DDNA
DFID
DoHA
DRC
DSS
EAC
ECOWAS
EU
FARDC
FDLR
FGD
GDP
GHA
GHAMP
GLR
HDSS
HOA
HRDC
HSRC
ICCPR
IDP
IMP

x

African Census Analysis Project
African Foundation for Research and Development
African Migration Alliance
African Union
Common Market for East and Southern Africa
Digital Diaspora Network Africa
Department for International Development (United
Kingdom)
Department of Home Affairs (South Africa)
Democratic Republic of Congo
Demographic surveillance system
East African Community
Economic Community of West African States
European Union
Forces armées de la RDC
Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda
Focus group discussion
Gross domestic product
Greater Horn of Africa
Greater Horn of Africa Migration Project
Great Lakes Region
Health and Demographic Surveillance System
Horn of Africa
Human Resources Development Centre
Human Sciences Research Council
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights
Internally displaced person
International Migration Policy

INDEPTH
IOM
LGA
LSIA
MDB
MIDA
MIDSA
MINESA
NEPAD
OECD
PMU
PRSP
SADC
SAFPAD
SAMCPD
SAMP
SANSA
SFSA
SSA
UKIDC
UL
UN
UNHCR

International Network for the Demographic Evaluation
of Populations and their Health
International Organization for Migration
Local government area
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Australia

Movements Data Base
Migration Initiative for Development in Africa
The Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa
Migration Network for Eastern and Southern Africa
New Partnership for Africa’s Development
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
Poverty Monitoring Unit
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
Southern African Development Community
Southern African Forum for Population and
Development
Southern African Ministers’ Conference on Population
and Development
Southern African Migration Project
South African Network of Skills Abroad
Somali Financial Services Association
Sub-Saharan Africa
United Kingdom International Development Committee
Urbanisation level
United Nations
United Nations High Commission for Refugees

xi



CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Catherine Cross and Elizabeth Omoluabi

Why an African Migration Alliance?
Through the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development,
Africa is committed to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals,
and through these to lifting the region’s population to a high standard of
prosperity and democratic development. In order to meet these goals, stability
must be achieved, and a matching high standard of planning data needs
to flow to the governments of the region. Accordingly, Poverty Monitoring
Units are being established in Africa in compliance with the international
thrust toward development of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, though this
process is far from complete.
In this light, a critical area in data and policy which has not yet been fully
addressed in dealing with poverty is that of population migration on the
African continent. Migration is one of the most direct outcomes of poverty
and social disturbance, and the continent of Africa is a major theatre of
migration activity – probably no other social or demographic process has
as much potential to disrupt and destabilise this continent. At the same
time, migration can have many positive effects by increasing population
concentration, thereby facilitating service delivery, increasing the market for
goods and creating an active citizenry.
However, little is known about residential African migration flows, in spite
of the importance of population movement for development policy work
and for the work of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Food security, education and institutional development, along with public
health and public order, are among the goals threatened by migration
processes which are currently largely beyond the scope of inter-governmental
intervention because migration is so little understood.

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V I E W S O N M I G R AT I O N I N S U B - S A H A R A N A F R I C A

Effective spending on human development and infrastructure in line with
NEPAD goals requires taking account of migration flows – avoiding waste
of public funds, ensuring anticipated outcomes and promoting lasting
effects on people’s lives means bringing migration data into poverty and
development policy. Collecting comprehensive data on population movement
and mobilising this data into policy-accessible formats will be key to
Africa’s future capacity to address migration processes and the threats and
opportunities they carry.
At present, governmental programmes working to obtain official migration
data in Africa’s diverse and varied country contexts are limited, and sometimes
isolated. Migration data collection is highly uneven. Limits on capacity, in
relation to identifying indicators and also in data collection, capture and
processing, are often a factor in the lack of hard data on African migration
both within and outside the continent.
This is not to say that Africa currently has little capacity to develop data
on migration and development: this is not the case. Significant work on
population migration is already being done by researchers and institutions
in Africa, but not all areas are represented and available data does not always
link up. Meanwhile, international attempts at collecting migration data for the
African continent have not been conspicuously successful to date.
In order for African capabilities in the field of economic development
and anti-poverty work to receive due recognition in international forums,
there is a need to develop a migration research initiative which will bring
together researchers from across the continent. Such an initiative will furnish
governments and inter-government institutions with information on Africa’s
current migration situation as well as on emerging trends, opportunities and

threats, and will be able to build toward a picture of migration trends for the
entire continent.
The African Migration Alliance (AMA) – a network initiative for migration
researchers across Africa – was established to help fill these gaps. Alliance
members gathered to kick off formally at an international workshop held in
Pretoria in March 2005, with sponsorship from South Africa’s Department
of Social Development. This volume offers a range of formal papers from the
workshop, which summarise the views of established experts in the African
migration field, as well as presenting contributions from younger researchers.

2


INTRODUCTION

Sixteen papers and presentations were read, representing all the regions of
sub-Saharan Africa. Papers dealt with a broad range of migration aspects,
including data issues, child trafficking and xenophobia, but the main emphasis
was on flows between countries and regions on the African continent, and
on the policy issues raised by these flows. Together, the chapters presented
selected here provide an overview of the main issues in African migration, as
seen by some of the best known researchers in the field.
In this introductory chapter, the context of African migration will be briefly
examined, before proceeding to look at the evolving international policy
context and some of the key debates.

Scope and focus of the book
To achieve its aims of contributing to more complete and better quality data on
migration in Africa, the AMA will need to relate to the priorities established by
government-level developmental bodies on the continent. At present, although

the steering committee represents East, West and Central Africa as well as the
Southern Cone, the Alliance is based in Southern Africa; the Secretariat is located
at the Human Sciences Research Council/Department of Social Development
in Pretoria.
The Southern African Ministers’ Conference on Population and Development
(SAMCPD) is the regional co-operation body for government agencies
dealing with population issues in the Southern Cone of Africa, and its remit
includes migration. SAMCPD has reconfirmed its commitment to addressing
the nexus of population and poverty, specifically referring to migration in this
context, and noting it as an indicator in respect of poverty and inequality.
SAMCPD began to recognise migration as a regional priority in 1999,
when its population forum Southern African Forum for Population and
Development (SAFPAD) began promoting migration research to establish the
causes of international migration within the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) region. At this time, SAFPAD took a resolution
that ‘member states should attempt to establish the relationship between
demographic parameters, poverty and migration’ and drew attention
particularly to ‘the influence of push factors on rural-to-urban migration and
its relation to gender and poverty’.

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V I E W S O N M I G R AT I O N I N S U B - S A H A R A N A F R I C A

SAFPAD has also adopted a number of commitments to inter-governmental
co-operation that are relevant to the enterprise of developing migration data.
These include:
• Promoting and disseminating population research;
• Capacity building in the region;

• Mobilising resources for population studies;
• Incorporating population issues in international development plans;
• Sharing of expertise in the population field.
In a nutshell, these are some of the objectives of the AMA in relation to
migration. In particular, the Alliance would like to work toward providing
a solid information base to assist in the development of common policy
positions on migration-related issues, both at NEPAD level and at subregional level. This will entail active research and mobilisation of resources,
capacity, a shared appreciation of the central importance of migration for the
future development of the continent, and most of all, the development and
active sharing of expertise in population issues among the countries of Africa.
Toward this end, copies of this volume will be available to SAMCPD as well as
to other interested governmental bodies and development partners in Africa
on the occasion of World Population Day in 2006.

African migration and the world
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, governments are beginning to
address migration as a priority in Africa and worldwide. To a considerable
extent, this new focus on population movement as a factor in world and
regional affairs stems from fears of the destabilising consequences of human
flows at different scales. An uneasy recognition is emerging that the tide of
human movement from the developing world to the developed world is on
the rise everywhere.
At the moment, there are acute fears in the European Union (EU) of rapid
migration from Eastern Europe, the Far East, North Africa and other poor
regions overwhelming budgets and services in the destination countries and
overbalancing job markets. In the United States, there is a continuing search
for how to deal with immigration from Latin America in ways that will be just,
and will also sustain continuing economic expansion. This rising anxiety is
also serving to direct policy attention to the relation of migration to poverty,

4


INTRODUCTION

which is the underlying factor motivating people to leave their communities
and go elsewhere in the world in an attempt to improve their lives.
In Southern Africa, the ministers of the SADC countries have been meeting
to discuss population issues generally, and have passed resolutions on their
conference themes, looking to bring these issues into mainstream SADC
deliberations. These gatherings have been institutionalised as the SAMCPD.
Migration is one of the population issues the SAMCPD delegates are looking
at: this is mainly internal rural-to-urban migration, but also to some extent
international migration, and women’s right to mobility as a gender priority.
All of these issues are set in the overall context of poverty and the Millenium
Development Goals.
As a regional organisation, a resolution has also been taken to integrate
SAMCPD and its daughter organisation SAFPAD into SADC structures and
programmes. This move towards integration will help to bring population
issues, including migration, into the mainstream of regional policy formulation.
A key goal will be promotion of a regional position on issues of population
and development.
In Britain, the government has formed an International Development Committee
to address the fear of waves of international migration arriving in Britain and
absorbing services, housing and other government benefits. The parliamentary
committee has produced a report aimed at allaying anxieties in government
circles and among the general population, and reassuring British and EU citizens
that migration offers important benefits to the receiving countries. In this respect,
the report also speaks to South Africa as a nervous destination country.
Word is also out that migration will be a major World Bank priority in

the upcoming year, and the Bank is now quickly collecting information on
migration flows. With international precedents set by the expansion of the EU
to the east, migration is becoming a hot button topic.
There is a rising sense of urgency about addressing this topic: in 2005,
second-generation North African immigrants in France attacked buildings
and burned cars across the country, revealing the perilous state of the civil
peace where migration is concerned, and 11 Africans, desperate would-be
immigrants to the EU, were shot dead by troops as they attempted to fight
their way across barbed wire into the Spanish African enclave of Melilla. What
does this signal from a regional African viewpoint?

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Migration and poverty in Africa
Some recent observations from the international research community qualify
the assumed simple and direct link between poverty and migration, with
poverty simply being seen as a cause of migration. In this light, poverty
can also be seen as a result of migration, and there are a number of ways in
which migration can relate to poverty. In particular, the assumed relation
between poverty and migration, on which much international aid is based, is
often faulty.
Conceptualising impacts

The World Bank (Adams & Page 2003) has recently pointed out that over
time migration is both poverty-driven and poverty-limited: that is, it starts
to happen as incomes begin to rise and people in disadvantaged communities
become aware of opportunities outside their own localities. Up to this point,

poverty is an obstacle to migration. As incomes increase, migration tails off
and stops when local incomes have risen past a point of relative adequacy.
This point is reached as the area becomes relatively developed and offers its
own competing opportunities. The conceptual model is one of a fairly steep
curve that rises sharply and then falls. Outside of the developed countries of
the West and the Far East, most parts of the world are on the up curve, but
far from the threshold point at which migration will begin to fall. In the rich
destination countries, increasingly concerns are being raised about what can
be done to curb immigration.
Quoting Hatton and Williamson 2003, the United Kingdom International
Development Committee (UKIDC) points out that from a policy
standpoint, migration and poverty are not the same – policies that help
migration do not necessarily help the poor, and policies that help the poor
are likely to accelerate rather than reduce migration. It is well known that
the very poor usually do not have the resources to migrate, and that
international migrants in particular do not usually come from this grouping.
People who migrate are most often those who have begun to raise their
expectations, have accumulated some resources and some information, and
also have access to trans-local networks – they are the middle poor and
upwards, not the destitute.

6


INTRODUCTION

It follows that rich countries should not expect to reduce international
migration into their borders by working to reduce poverty in poor countries,
since an improvement in incomes away from real destitution brings migration
more within the options of the middle poor at the source end, and may

well result in higher migration rates. The UKIDC’s argument concludes
that aid programmes aimed at controlling rapid migration rates would be
better targeted on measures that improve employment conditions, economic
activity and economic opportunity at the source end, in the sending countries.
This would imply concentrating on issues such as governance, rather
than on the more usual kinds of poverty reduction measures (Hatton &
Williamson 2003).
Unfortunately, it can also be said that distinguishing between helping the
poor and increasing economic opportunity for poor areas is likely to be
difficult in practice. Likewise, it can be added that aid programmes of a kind
that would be capable of making large changes in economic opportunity
in rural and urban source areas have not yet reached Africa, if they have
arrived anywhere.
The implication would appear to be that once it starts from any given source
country, migration will continue to rise for the foreseeable future – unless
international aid to poor countries improves its efficiency greatly in the short
to medium term. Relative to the state of play in international aid programmes
with an interest in curbing migration, Africa is likely to continue needing
migration research aimed at an information base for poverty reduction policy,
and will continue needing it for a very long stretch into the future. This kind
of information base will therefore be worth the investment involved.
Against these concerns about limiting migration, any answers to the question
of the impact of migration flows on receiving areas or host countries remain
equivocal. For the World Bank, Hatton and Williamson also argue that
increasing the share of migrants from a poor country will have some impact
on poverty levels in the receiving population, and the recent DPRU/SAMP
report (2004) on migration into Gauteng makes the same point. However,
Hatton and Williamson imply that the impact at country level is relatively
small even if the number of additional migrants is relatively significant.

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On related lines, US research seems to indicate that the impact of migration
as a whole on the host country is not very positive, at least in the initial
generation, though it is not negative – on average, most of the short-term
benefit of migration goes to the migrants, and presumably to their networks,
communities, and countries. How far this limitation holds would depend
on the education level and qualifications of the migrants. More immediate
positive economic impact might be expected from the well-qualified and
highly educated migrants that are sought by host countries, and less on
average from unskilled workers – that is, benefits to the hosts come from the
elite and not from the relatively poor. However, the relatively poor are the
migrants who most often come from poor countries.
Therefore, it would appear that the impact of migration would depend
significantly on the qualifications of the migrants involved, but that migration
from poor countries could possibly have a negative effect if the blend of
qualified and unqualified migrants tips far enough toward the unqualified.
However, on the strength of the above, it looks as if the numbers of migrants
involved would have to be extremely large in order to make a dent in the
prevailing state of national well-being. This is sometimes the case with
internal, rural-to-urban migration, but rarely so for international migration.
Impacts on the sending countries would probably be in the opposite direction.
Results in terms of remittances would be generally positive and even vital, but
outcomes of brain drain and loss of capacity can also follow. Poor countries
can often spare large numbers of unqualified workers, but may suffer if
educated people leave. The UK is now considering means of limiting the
recruitment of qualified medical staff from developing countries, in response

to protests from source countries about shortages of capacity and loss of
expected returns on their scarce education funding.
Which way the cost-benefit equation tips for the sending countries would
therefore depend on the characteristics of the migration stream, but seems
generally to be much more positive than negative. If this is so, Africa may
wish to support policies that promote international labour migration and/or
settlement; how far this will imply serious risks of losing educated human
capital is not clear in advance of the data.

8


INTRODUCTION

The policy context in Africa

Migration enables people who face difficulties or hold rising aspirations to
change their constraints completely. At the same time, migration can also
cause individuals and families to lose all their previous resources, creating the
need to find and survive on new resources. In this light, migration tends to be
a high-risk, all-or-nothing kind of strategy, one that carries risks for regions
and countries as well as for migrants themselves.
Governments need to meet these risks, and hard data is needed. Early
information indicates that some African migration data is being gathered now
in relation to policy for poverty and economic development, but this datagathering process is patchy, and does not appear to be progressing effectively
in most parts of the continent south of the Sahara. This volume, drawn from
papers presented at the African Migration Alliance’s Pretoria workshop, helps
to shed light on the situation in regard to data, toward the ultimate aim of an
inventory of the existing migration data and data-collecting structures.
However, it seems that the mainstreaming of migration issues into African

policy-making has not proceeded far in the SADC region to date. Few of the
most recent SAMCPD country reports (2004) mention migration as a policy
priority under that label, though the region is an intensive sector of migration
activity, and much of the economic performance and balance of trade
depends on migration processes and the migrant earnings of SADC citizens.
Inequality – and by implication poverty – is sometimes named as the major
driver of regional instability, but it is less clearly recognised that migration is
the legitimate child of inequality.
On the data side, the 2004 country reports refer repeatedly to problems with
obtaining population data, and make regretful mention of how far:
… even in this era of information technology, our countries’
scientific communities still mostly work in isolation from each
other… We believe that we should get our population and
development researchers to collaborate.
But beyond the broad desire for collaboration, some of the different country
reports published in the 2004 SAMCPD report also shed considerable light
on the way Southern African countries are seeing national migration issues
currently. Representing the continent as far north as Tanzania, these reports

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V I E W S O N M I G R AT I O N I N S U B - S A H A R A N A F R I C A

frame how the countries of this region perceive and prioritise migration in
relation to the more traditional population concerns of mortality/morbidity
and fertility:
Namibia: The Namibia country report does not discuss migration under
that label; however, it does so by implication when it reports an urban/rural
employment differential at about 25 per cent overall, or about a third of those

employed. The implications of a job differential on this scale for catalysing
rural-to-urban migration are easy to see and are likely to be very powerful,
although the migration consequences are not specifically stated, and the
report seems uncertain around how to frame and deal with the issue.
Mozambique: In contrast, the Mozambique country report is strongly
preoccupied with migration: it discusses as a major concern the effects of
sudden urbanisation, war-related mobility and the resulting large shift in
the spatial distribution of the country’s population. The report focuses on
the demographic explosion in the cities, tracing it to increased internal
population movement following the peace agreement of 1992, and it
underlines the negative planning and delivery impact of this rapid urban
growth. Destabilisation and food shortages caused by the recent war are
identified as the major cause of this large-scale movement out of rural
areas, with desperate people coming to the cities looking for livelihoods.
This process has led to congestion/ densification in the urban areas and an
emptying/hollowing out of the rural areas, which have seriously affected
government activities. Government has had to respond with the promise to
build housing that is accessible, healthy and meets other conditions, with
apparent implications for budget allocation.
The Mozambican report follows its discussion of migration by noting that
this official effort to provide for rural-to-urban movement has increased
government concern for collection of accurate population and migration
data, in that the government recognises that provision of basic services –
including education, health and clean water – in a context of high mobility,
rests directly on good data from national statistics.
Swaziland: The country report notes that the Swaziland government is
working on an overall action plan for population issues, which will pull
together all existing programmes and address the urgent population concerns.
Again, the report does not directly mention migration: instead, it lists high

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INTRODUCTION

rates of fertility and mortality/morbidity, high teenage pregnancy, low use
of contraception, high dependency rates, environmental degradation, and
increasing pressure on fertile land – all of which add up to a recipe for ruralto-urban push migration. On top of this, the Swaziland report mentions
institutional capacity as a problem for implementation.
Tanzania: While Tanzania’s country report makes no mention at all of
migration, rather stating its population problems in terms of birth and death
rates and reproductive health, it notes another key problem:
Tanzania has continued to receive large numbers of refugees from
the neighbouring Great Lakes states. The impact of these refugees
is devastating in terms of environmental degradation, disruption
of peace in the area, spread of communicable diseases, and the
burden on scarce resources.
Tanzania’s report seems to indicate cross-border migration taking place on a
considerable scale.
Zambia and Malawi: On the other hand, the Zambian and Malawian country
reports contain nothing about migration at all. The Zambian report only
refers to fertility and disease, especially AIDS. The Malawian country report
does not refer to migration either. However, it gives considerable attention to
the data side of population, emphasising inadequate capacity to co-ordinate
collection of relevant population data, and notes the need to strengthen the
institutions that collect this population data. The Namibian report concurs,
and goes on to list the following constraints the country faces in getting to
grips with population and development issues:
• Inadequate number of staff in institutions dealing with population
matters;

• Insufficient number of qualified personnel and expertise;
• Lack of a proper institutional framework for the implementation of
population-related programmes and projects;
• Poor transfer of skills of international experts to national professions.
Putting these reports together, it can be seen that concern about migration
flows surfaces repeatedly in the SAMCPD deliberations, though this concern
is not always separately labelled and categorised. Namibia, Mozambique and
Swaziland either refer directly to rural-to-urban migration or to the root
conditions that cause it, including rural/urban employment differentials, the

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V I E W S O N M I G R AT I O N I N S U B - S A H A R A N A F R I C A

disruption of the rural production economy, land degradation, high rural
fertility rates and pressure on remaining arable land. Tanzania speaks in
emphatic terms about international conflict migration as a major national
problem, and the Tanzania and Mozambique reports refer very specifically
to war-related conflict migration as provoking a population-related resources
crisis in both rural and urban areas.
The kinds of migration most often recognised at policy level appear to be
international migration and rural-to-urban migration. Not much has been
said until very recently about the new international issues of trafficking,
people smuggling, and related concerns of the rich countries. Some countries
continue to prioritise mortality and fertility concerns, partly because of high
rates of population increase, partly because of the devastating impact of
AIDS, but perhaps also because migration is not yet seen as being as central to
population issues as those older concerns around overall population growth.
It seems as if, given the current state of the data, it may be difficult

for overburdened government population agencies to clearly lay out the
implications of migration unless, firstly, the numbers are available and
comparable, and secondly, they are available and comparable in a graphic,
convincing form accessible to policy makers. This is what we want to promote
through the new AMA.
Migration debates

To get a more complete model of migration and its poverty-related outcomes,
it is possible to split migration up analytically in order to see determinants
more clearly.
A number of different kinds of migration are widely known: these include
voluntary and forced migration – which are not always easy to separate even
analytically – as well as migration following from economic determinants,
conflict, trade factors, human trafficking, rural-to-urban interchange, and
environmental factors. Different kinds of migration flows are likely to be
dominant in different parts of each country, and may require an approach
to research that make distinctions at sub-regional level as well as between
countries and individual places. Once migration researchers over the entire
continent can collectively perceive, grasp and identify migration at different
spatial levels, we can start to work with it in terms of policy alternatives.

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INTRODUCTION

Migration theory largely originates from early models of competing economic
opportunities and constraints in the rural and urban sectors and in different
localities. Against Todaro’s (1976) early work stressing job access, Lipton
(1995) emphasises that migration is about competitive labour absorption

between different areas, and not just about jobs at the urban end. Areas that
cannot absorb their own labour – whether into paid work or into any other
activity that yields household support – tend to become sending areas.
To this, Bryceson (1998, 2000) and the Leiden University group add that the
rural economy in Africa is changing rapidly as land comes under pressure and
the international terms of trade have moved against African small producers.
Instead of African families relying on what is now often an inadequate income
from the food crops produced by the family along with any migrant earnings
from the male head, contemporary families in much of Africa are diversifying
their support base – women and children are involved in cash earning, and
non-farm activities are becoming increasingly central. Women’s role in
economic activity is tending to expand and become less circumscribed. It is
often reported that the need for income diversification and increased access
to cash incomes drives increased female migration. For South Africa, recent
research by Posel (2004) highlights a trend for women migrants to succeed,
and to some extent replace male migrants at household level. This kind of
family support structure, long familiar in South Africa, tends to go along with
high levels of both labour migration and population movement.
What may be critical is how far people in different categories actually move in
relation to the resources they can mobilise to send and support one or more
migrants (Kok et al. 2003). International migration often takes place over
great distances and needs really substantial resources, while rural-to-urban
and rural-to-rural migration within the country of origin are less demanding.
A great deal also depends on information resources, which are mostly found
by way of network connections. Once sending localities have established
trans-local networks connecting them with the outside world, the way is
open for both temporary and permanent migration to rise rapidly if local
conditions promote this trend.
In the larger African context, migration work needs to take account not only
of economic conditions on the ground, but also of social conditions that

determine who can migrate and which families have access to the kind of
resources and connections that facilitate migration. To conceptualise African

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