The Process Of Immigration In South Africa
Immigrations policy in South Africa remains an area of need to be developed. The exercise of immigration during the apart heid was based on racial discrimination. It focused tight on control intentionally written to encourage immigration of skilled white people and keeping blacks out. Black workers on temporary contracts were allowed in the mining and agricultural sectors. With the new government elected in 1994 the new immigration policy of South Africa is now based on a principle of non-racialism and whilst maintaining employment preference for South Africans.
Even though this move is positive for international migration standards but it has resulted to a problem of immigrant’s influx in large numbers. It has been reported that more than 1, 5 – million Zimbabweans live in South Africa or that almost a third of Malawi’s population live and work in South Africa. The 2011 census reported that more than 75% of foreign-born (international) migrants living in South Africa came from the African continent. African migrants, which are from SADC countries, contributed the vast majority of this, making up 68% of total international migrants. Immigrants from African countries outside of the SADC region made up just 7, 3 % of all international migrants.
Initial statistical reports from The Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) 2016 Community Survey show that Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Namibia were among the top 10 “sending countries” (countries of origin of migrants) in 2016, together with the United Kingdom, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and India. “While Zimbabwe and Mozambique are the largest [ international migrants ] by number, Lesotho is the highest by proportion; almost half of working age Basotho men work in South Africa,” said Professor Loren Landau, the South African research chair in mobility and the politics of difference at the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for Migration and Society.
The increasing number of immigrants has put pressure to national government of South Africa put to manage the movement of new and more mobile groups of people and resulting in a number of challenges. Immigration to South Africa has aggravated xenophobic tensions domestically, increased the number of asylum and refugee applicants, and tested the capacity of immigration and political officials. Additionally, large migrant flows into the country have tested South Africa’s ability to uphold its human rights commitment while adequately providing appropriate health care, education and protection to the incoming migrants and South African citizens.
