Bongani Moyo
Marshall Ndlela [email protected]
SOUTH Africa’s migration debate is often presented as a 21st-century crisis driven by illegal immigration, unemployment, pressure on public services and rising social tensions.
Yet this narrative overlooks a critical historical reality: migration is not new to South Africa. Rather, it has been one of the principal drivers of the country’s economic development for more than 140 years.
Long before the democratic era, the economies of Southern Africa were interconnected through the movement of labour, trade and capital.
South Africa’s rise as the continent’s most industrialised economy was built not only on its vast mineral wealth but also on the contributions of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers drawn from across the region.
To understand today’s heated debates on migration and the economic implications of South Africa’s increasingly Afrophobic posture, it is necessary to revisit the historical forces that shaped regional labour mobility and economic integration.
The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed South Africa into one of the world’s leading mining economies. These discoveries triggered one of the largest labour recruitment programmes ever witnessed on the African continent.
The mining industry required vast numbers of workers to sustain production, yet the local labour supply was insufficient to meet rapidly growing demand. Mining houses, working alongside colonial administrations, therefore established organised labour recruitment systems that extended throughout Southern Africa.
Workers were recruited from present-day Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia), Mozambique (then Portuguese East Africa), Malawi (then Nyasaland), Lesotho (then Basutoland), Botswana (then Bechuanaland), Eswatini (then Swaziland) and Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia). They travelled hundreds of kilometres to work in South Africa’s gold and diamond mines, commercial farms, railway construction projects, manufacturing industries and later the country’s expanding urban infrastructure.
This movement of people was not accidental. It was carefully organised through institutions such as the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA) and later the Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA), which coordinated labour recruitment across colonial borders.
These organisations became central pillars of Southern Africa’s labour economy, facilitating the movement of hundreds of thousands of workers on fixed contracts each year. The migrant labour system enabled South Africa’s industries to flourish while simultaneously creating economic lifelines for neighbouring countries through wages and remittances.
For many rural households across Southern Africa, migration represented the difference between poverty and survival. Earnings made in South Africa financed the construction of homes, the purchase of livestock, children’s education, healthcare and small businesses. Entire rural communities became dependent on income earned in South
African mines and industries. Remittances circulated through local economies, stimulating agricultural production and rural commerce long before formal regional development programmes existed.
Colonial administrations actively supported this arrangement because it generated mutual economic benefits. South Africa secured a reliable and relatively inexpensive labour force that fuelled industrial expansion, while neighbouring territories benefited from foreign earnings that strengthened household incomes and local economies. Although the system was characterised by exploitation, racial discrimination and unequal bargaining power, it nevertheless created a deeply interconnected regional economy whose legacy continues to shape Southern Africa today.
The introduction of apartheid in 1948 institutionalised racial segregation and political exclusion, but it did not reduce South Africa’s dependence on foreign labour. In fact, migrant workers became even more important to sustaining economic growth. Gold mining, agriculture, construction and manufacturing all continued to rely heavily on workers recruited from neighbouring countries despite their exclusion from political participation and permanent residence.
This contradiction lay at the heart of apartheid’s economic model. The South African economy depended on regional labour while simultaneously restricting the rights of those whose labour sustained its industries. Migrant workers were expected to contribute economically but remain socially and politically invisible. Nevertheless, they played a significant role in building roads, railways, factories, power stations, dams, commercial farms and some of the country’s largest mining operations.
When apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa re-entered the international community and resumed its place within the African continent.
Democratic governance transformed the country’s political landscape and strengthened regional cooperation through the Southern African Development Community (SADC). South Africa increasingly became the region’s financial, industrial and commercial centre, attracting investment, expanding trade and creating employment opportunities that far exceeded those available in neighbouring economies.
Migration patterns also evolved. While mining remained an important employer, increasing numbers of migrants entered retail, hospitality, construction, domestic work, logistics, transport, higher education and the informal economy.
Others established small businesses, particularly in township retail and neighbourhood convenience stores, contributing to local economic activity while creating employment and expanding consumer access to affordable goods.
The acceleration of migration after 2000 reflected broader regional developments rather than changes within South Africa alone.
Zimbabwe experienced prolonged economic decline characterised by industrial contraction, hyperinflation, currency instability and high unemployment. International sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, though targeted at individuals and specific entities, coincided with wider economic deterioration and remain the subject of continuing debate regarding their broader economic effects.
At the same time, Mozambique faced armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado, while recurrent droughts, food insecurity and the devastating impacts of Cyclones Idai and Freddy displaced hundreds of thousands of people across
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The Covid-19 pandemic further weakened regional economies, disrupted informal livelihoods and intensified migration pressures.
Against this backdrop, South Africa’s relatively diversified economy naturally became the primary destination for migrants seeking employment, safety and improved living standards. Economists have long explained this phenomenon through the Harris–Todaro migration model, which argues that migration decisions are driven by expected income rather than guaranteed employment. Even where unemployment is high, workers often migrate if they believe the probability of earning a higher income exceeds opportunities available in their home countries.
This economic reality explains why migration has remained resilient despite South Africa’s own economic challenges. Migrants have continued to contribute to sectors experiencing labour shortages, including agriculture, domestic work, hospitality, construction, transport, security services and the informal economy. They are not only workers but also consumers, tenants, entrepreneurs and taxpayers through value-added tax and other indirect taxes, participating in local supply chains and supporting township commerce.
The historical relationship between migration and economic development therefore presents a complex policy challenge. South Africa faces legitimate concerns regarding undocumented migration, border security, unemployment, crime and increasing pressure on municipal services such as housing, healthcare, education and sanitation.
These concerns require effective migration governance and improved administrative systems. However, they also exist alongside an undeniable historical reality: South Africa’s economy was built through regional labour integration, and its continued economic influence remains closely linked to the movement of people, goods and capital across Southern Africa.
Reducing today’s migration debate to slogans or simplistic explanations ignores more than a century of shared economic history.
Migration has never been merely a humanitarian issue or a security concern; it has been a structural feature of Southern Africa’s political economy. The region’s economies have evolved together, with South Africa serving simultaneously as an employer, investor, trading partner and destination for opportunity.
As the country confronts renewed tensions surrounding migration, it is essential to recognise that these debates are taking place against the backdrop of a long history of regional interdependence. The question is no longer whether migration has shaped South Africa — it unquestionably has.
The more pressing question is whether the country’s current trajectory of increasing hostility towards fellow Africans will strengthen its long-term economic position or weaken the very regional networks that contributed to its rise. The answer requires an examination not only of migration itself, but also of the economic costs and benefits of South Africa’s evolving Afrophobic stance.
