Explaining the Impasse of Circular Migration in Southern Africa

Abstract

Circular migration (CM) is not a trendy concept in Southern Africa. This is in spite of over a century of circular labour migration to the South African mining and agricultural sectors strictly regulated by bilateral agreements. In the post-apartheid period, outsourcing of the core industrial sectors (mining) and liberalisation in agriculture and services have resulted in a structural shift in labour demand. Drawing on a range of ecumenical data (recent statistics releases, interviews, and empirical research), this paper examines existing policy and management contradictions in the facilitation of regional labour movement towards South Africa. The paper sets out on a critical examination of existing statistics before turning to a review of South African policy instruments showing the use of deportation and regularisation schemes as unofficial but de facto CM mechanisms. The paper then examines regulatory frameworks for skilled migration from the region showing the barriers to facilitated movement. It then closes on an analysis of the protracted deadlock at sub-regional level. The paper finds that CM is only beginning to be considered as a policy option by Southern African policy-makers as a labour instrument. The paper concludes that South African policy-makers have protected the vested interests of the mining sector and commercial agriculture about fifteen years into the post-apartheid period and have no yet fully embraced a regional approach to labour migration.