Migration policy implementation and its politics in South Africa
Abstract
Globally, migration is to a certain degree an important and highly debated political topic among scholars because of its peculiarity to human movement and relationship between states. Migration is fundamental to liberal democracies and a function of the international system of states. Following the demise of the apartheid system and the adoption of inclusive governance in South Africa in 1994, the country has continued to witness an influx of migrants. However, the call for the deportation and rejection of migrants amongst South Africans has continued to increase with black foreign nationals at the receiving end, sometimes openly or clandestinely done by government officials. Using a qualitative research method, underpinned by the following questions (i) Is South Africa playing politics with its migration policies, while surreptitiously legalizing xenophobism? (ii) Can well-managed migration policies allay the fears of foreign nationals, particularly the blacks in South Africa? (iii) What effects would anti-immigrants’ laws and attitudes have on South Africa’s relations with other [African] countries? The paper argued that South Africa’s preoccupation with restrictionism policies, driven by xenophobism and political interest, seems to have compromised inroads for immigrants that are very important to its economic growth, concluding that unless the rhetoric of a perceived socio-economic threat, posed by migrants, is countered effectively, South Africa’s economies stand to lose out substantially from the implementation of anti-immigration policies.
Downloads
References
Hollifield, J. F. (2004). The Emerging Migration State. International Migration Review, 38 (3), 885–912. doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00223.x
Betts, A. (2011). The International Politics of Migration. St Antony’s International Review, 6 (2) 134–50.
Hollifield, J.; Ueda, R. (Ed.) (2007). The Politics of Immigration and the Rise of the Migration State. A Companion to American Immigration. Oxford: Blackwell.
Heather, J. (2021). Immigration and International Relations. Iobo in Political Science. doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0204
Kielmaan, K., Cataldo, F., Seeley, F. (2012). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methodology: A Training Manual. London: Department of International Development.
Bryman, A. (2004). Social research methods. New York: Oxford University Press
Hornby, A. S. (2020). Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press.
Mbanefo, O.; Okeke-Uzodike, U., Onapajo, H., Ihuoma, C. (Eds.) (2021). Migration and the Dislocation of Nigeria’s Social Fabric: The Governance Question. In Migration and Governance in Africa: Lessons for Policymakers. Nigeria: African Heritage Institution Enugu, 19–33.
Song, S. (2018). Political Theories of Migration. Annual Review of Political Science, 21 (1), 385–402. doi: http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-082317-093019
Walzer, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. New York: Basic Books, 345.
Evans, G., Newham, J. (1998). Dictionary of International Relations. Penguin Books.
Adamson, F. B., Tsourapas, G. (2019). The Migration State in the Global South: Nationalizing, Developmental, and Neoliberal Models of Migration Management. International Migration Review, 54 (3), 853–882. doi: http://doi.org/10.1177/0197918319879057
Sassen, S. (1996). Beyond sovereignty: Immigration policymaking today. Social Justice, 23 (3), 9–20.
Joppke, C. (1998). Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration. World Politics, 50 (2), 266–293. doi: http://doi.org/10.1017/s004388710000811x
Zogata-Kusz, A. (2012). Theoretical Perspectives on Immigration Policy and Politics. Contemporary European Studies, 1, 5–21.
Meyers, E. (2000). Theories of International Migration Policy – A Comparative Analysis’. International Migration Review, 34 (4), 1245–1282. doi: http://doi.org/10.1177/019791830003400407
Hollifield, J. F.; Brettel, C. B., Hollifield, J. F. (Eds.) (2000). The Politics of International Migration: How Can We Bring the State Back In? Migration Theory: Talking across Disciplines. New York: Routledge, 137–185.
Weiner, M. (1995). The Global Crisis: Challenge to State and to Human Rights. New York: HarperCollins.
Tsoukala, A.; Bigo, D., Guild, E. (Eds.) (2005). Looking at Migrants as Enemies. Controlling Frontiers: Free Movement into and within Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate, 161–192. doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315259321-5
Karyotis, G. (2012). Securitization of Migration in Greece: Process, Motives, and Implications. International Political Sociology, 6 (4), 390–408. doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12002
Balzacq, T.; Balzacq, T. (Ed.) (2011). A Theory of Securitization: Origins, Core Assumptions, and Variants. Securitization Theory: How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve. New York: Routledge, 15–44. doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9780203868508-8
Matema, T. (2021). South Africa’s policy on migrants is inadequate and at odds with the Freedom Charter Mail & Guardian Online. Available at https://mg.co.za/opinion/2021-05-27-south-africas-policy-on-migrants-is-inadequate-and-at-odds-with-the-freedom-charter/
IOM UN Migration. Making migration work for all. Available at: https://www.iom.int/countries/south-africa#rm
Segatti, A. (2011). Reforming South African Immigration Policy in the Post-apartheid Period (1990 – 2010). Contemporary Migration to South Africa, 31–65. doi: http://doi.org/10.1596/9780821387672_ch01
Lennep, T van (2019). Migration II: The South African migration policy landscape Helen Suzman Foundation. Available at: https://hsf.org.za/publications/hsf-briefs/the-south-african-migration-policy-landscape
Mahlakoana, T. (2022). SA’s unemployment rate crosses the dreaded 35 % threshold: Stats SA. Eye Witness News. Available at: https://ewn.co.za/2022/03/29/sa-s-unemployment-crosses-the-dreaded-35-threshold-says-stats-sa
Mutizira, K. (2021). How immigrants contribute to South Africa’s economy. The Daily Vox. Available at: https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/how-immigrants-contribute-to-south-africas-economy/
OECD/ILO (2018). How Immigrants Contribute to South Africa’s Economy. Paris: OECD Publishing, 153.
Parliamentary Monitoring Group (2017). Question NW1615 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services. Available at: https://pmg.org.za/committee-question/5880/
Flagg, A (2019). Is there a connection between undocumented immigrants and crimes? New York Times. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/upshot/illegal-immigration-crime-rates-research.html
Department of Home Affairs (2022). Immigration Act (13/2002): Critical Skills List Gazette No. 45860. Available at: http://www.dha.gov.za/images/notices/Gazetted_Critical_Skills_List_2022-compressed.pdf
Cohen, S. (2013). The Importance of Immigration. HuffPost. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-importance-of-immigra_b_2566100
Okeke-Uzodike, U., Onapajo, H., Ihuoma, C. (2021). Migration in Africa: Role of Leadership. Migration and Governance in Africa: Lessons for Policymakers. African Heritage Institution.
Adetiba, T. C. (2021). Public Diplomacy and South Africa’s Response to Xenophobia. African Renaissance, 18 (3), 59–80.
Barron, L. (2018). A New Low. The World Is Furious at Trump for His Remark About Shithole Countries. Time. Available athttps://time.com/5100328/shithole-countries-trump-reactions/
Nyamjoh, F. (2006). Insiders and outsiders: Citizenship and xenophobia in Southern Africa. London: Zed Books.
Mabuza, E. (2022). Journalist SAHRC condemns Diepsloot vigilantism that led to Elvis Nyathi's killing. Times Live. Available at https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-04-08-sahrc-condemns-diepsloot-vigilantism-that-led-to-elvis-nyathis-killing/
Castles, S., Kosack, G. (1985). Immigrant workers and class structure in Western Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.
Copyright (c) 2022 Toyin Cotties Adetiba
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Our journal abides by the Creative Commons CC BY copyright rights and permissions for open access journals.
Authors, who are published in this journal, agree to the following conditions:
1. The authors reserve the right to authorship of the work and pass the first publication right of this work to the journal under the terms of a Creative Commons CC BY, which allows others to freely distribute the published research with the obligatory reference to the authors of the original work and the first publication of the work in this journal.
2. The authors have the right to conclude separate supplement agreements that relate to non-exclusive work distribution in the form in which it has been published by the journal (for example, to upload the work to the online storage of the journal or publish it as part of a monograph), provided that the reference to the first publication of the work in this journal is included.
