Thessis (M.Sc.(Development Planning))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning, 2006 / Migration is indubitable one of the most complex and urgent phenomenon that will emerge as a robust agenda in global cities’ policy and spatial planning trajectory. Internal migrants have been recorded as constituting a relatively significant part of the population of Gauteng and Johannesburg, and any development policies for the City need to account strongly for in-migration (Peberdy, et al, 2004). The importance of migration was also strongly highlighted by the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo in his 2004 State of the City address: “Johannesburg has become a magnet for people from other provinces, the African continent, and indeed, the four corners of the world”. He also referred to the challenges posed by migration; “While migrancy contributes to the rich tapestry of the cosmopolitan city, it also places a severe strain on employment levels, housing and public services”. Kok (2003) postulated that the relationship between migration and City spatial development planning will definitely influence the country’s future and that many cities cannot absorb new entrants in the labour market and this means that high population growth will constitute a major future challenge for cities. Kok et al (2004) postulated that the bulk of the research has been conducted on why migrants leave rural areas to urban areas, but little on how they organize, prepare, survive, network, and organize assets and resources, and access services in urban areas. The livelihood strategies that in-migrants depend on when they arrive in the “unknown urban territory” remain an enthralling phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate and provide a conceptual insight into the urban livelihood strategies of in-migrant newcomers in the City of Johannesburg, and to reflect on the City of Johannesburg municipality’s policy agenda particularly, Growth and Development Strategy (2006) and Human Development Strategy (2005) and other pertinent strategic planning frameworks-responses to internal migration. Qualitative research informed by surveys, interviews, with open-ended questions and observations in the form of fieldwork was followed. Twelve respondents were interviewed, comprising of seven females and four males coming from the Eastern Cape Province, currently based in Johannesburg, Yoeville suburb. The study unmasked that in-migrants find their foothold in income generation or employment through family, kin, partner and friend network connections predominantly derived from members coming from the same province of origin. Their livelihood strategies are negotiated and limited to background networks; beyond network connections is what the researcher view as an “incessant impediment in their lives”. Regrettably, most in-migrants encountered lacked training, skills, close-knit social networks, market intelligence and education tools necessary to climb the economic ladder in the urban terrain. Generally, those who are unemployed were not engaged in income generation activities while those employed supplemented their wages by income generation activities such as spaza shop and shebeens. A glaring reality is that respondents were not taking advantage of the booming informal market economy of Johannesburg which has a potential to sustain a livelihood. This is also compounded by the fact that none of the respondents participated in the civic society sector as way of participating in the City developmental trajectories and also a way of sustaining a livelihood. In a nutshell, a mere background network connection to the person from the area of origin, predominantly family member and friend was found to be the core livelihood strategy to access basic needs and employment opportunities for Eastern Cape internal migrants. The documented response of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan strategic policy agenda is seen through two broader policies. Firstly, iv Growth and Development Strategy in its principle of “proactive absorption of poor”. Secondly, Human Development Strategy which focuses on interventions such as; safeguarding and supporting poor and vulnerable households in their efforts to access local and provincial social safety nets, championing rights and opportunities for those who suffer the effects of structural inequality in the City; and building prospects for social inclusion by developing partnerships between the City and its residents. Both GDS & HDS policy responses to migration are discussed at length in the report. The current study argues that the City must devise novel robust policy and planning strategies to understand the profound urbanization trends, socio-economic context of migration patterns and how these impacts on the City infrastructure planning in the long-term growth of the City. Future studies in this line of investigation must consider taking forward this kind of research to a highest level. It will be proper to extend the study by investigating livelihood strategies of migrants in Johannesburg coming from different provinces and those from the selected African countries for the purpose of comparison using the qualitative approach. It will be appreciated to include investigation of broader urbanization impacts and readiness of City infrastructure provision, planning and growth.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, March 2017 / This study sought to explore how undocumented workers in the construction industry and their employers manage the employer – employee relationship in the absence of citizenship and (de facto if not de jure) labour rights for employees. Put simply, it sought to address the question, what governs workplace relations outside labour laws? Because of ‘illegal’ status in receiving countries, the literature has largely made it a norm to portray undocumented workers’ experiences as hyper-exploitative characterised by antagonistic relations with their employers. However by focusing on this subsection of the construction industry made up of Zimbabwean immigrant workers and their employers I was able to get a detailed picture of how labour relations take place in the absence of recourse to the law. Instead of antagonistic relations I found a more complicated picture which was nonetheless more harmonious and cooperative. This goes to show that while ‘illegality’ is an issue in the literature, it is less of one in a sector where ‘skilled’ work is important. These workers are able to assume greater leverage and negotiate (with employers) to a greater extent than the literature on precariousness and migrant labour reveals. This research thus calls for more investigations into spaces of negotiation in undocumented workers’ workplaces and relationships with employers so as to highlight more nuances and avoid generalising conclusions. In presenting these spaces of negotiation and workplace nuances, this study drew on narratives and experiences from both Zimbabwean employees and their employers who were in most instances subcontractors who also originated from Zimbabwe. These were obtained through in-depth interviews with workers and employers conducted between October 2016 and January 2017 and participant observations. / XL2018

Saving clubs or stokvels have been around in many parts of the World, under different names, for many years and they have been instrumental in teaching people how to save. This research sets to investigate the possible use of stokvels as vehicles, channels or conduits for wealth accumulation among migrant population living in the inner city of Johannesburg. Participants’ contributions and the extent this translates into wealth accumulation among members were critically examined. Furthermore, the study explored whether gender plays any role in terms of stokvels membership and the reasons thereof. The hypothesis of this research was that incomes from stokvels contribute to wealth accumulation of migrants in the inner city of Johannesburg. This study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to address the research questions and gather relevant data. The use of a mixed approach was adopted as it allows a deeper exploration of the different research objectives and questions of the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings of this study have revealed that there is a positive relationship between membership to stokvels and wealth accumulation. Moreover, trust and social capital were found to be pivotal in ensuring success of these groups in terms of who should be accepted into the group. However, many other factors, such as the level of education, the length of stay in South Africa and the marital status of participants could have an impact on wealth status of participants.

This paper explores the contradictions and complexities of the themes Diaspora, Sanctuary and Estuary. Diaspora has historically referred to people and communities who have been displaced from their native, shared homeland through movement as a result of migration, immigration, or exile. African Diaspora tells the story of displacement throughout the continent and how Africans managed to retain their traditions and restructure their identities in a western dominated world and modern urban city. Through this paper I will explore how these diasporic communities maintained a sense of belonging through the notion of sanctuaries. Where these communities and sanctuaries overlap and, much like natural estuaries, how these interactions create uniquely dynamic systems. I will address themes within the urban context of Johannesburg and their influence on the nature space. It concludes by addressing the need for a new form of accommodation in response to the transient communities and fluid nature of the city. Key words: Diaspora, Sanctuary, Estuary, Transience, Accommodation.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Discourses about identity framed in terms of questions about autochthons and the Other are on the ascendance in the contemporary socio-political and cultural milieu. Migration, by virtue of its transgression of national boundaries and bounded communities, stands as a contentious site with respect to the politics of identity. South Africa is one case in point, where migrants – particularly those of African origin – have been at the centre of a storm of Otherization, which climaxed in the May 2008 attacks (now widely termed ‗xenophobic attacks‘). ―Amakwerekwere”, as African migrants in South Africa are derogatively referred to, face exclusionary tendencies from various fronts in South Africa. Using language as an entry point, this thesis investigates how Zimbabwean migrants – who by virtue of a multifaceted crisis in their country have a marked presence in South Africa – experience and navigate the politics of identity in Johannesburg. Through a multi-sited ethnography, relying on the triangulation of participant observation and interviews, the thesis focuses on Ndebele and Shona speaking migrants in five neighbourhoods. Framing the analysis within an eclectic theoretical apparatus that hinges on Bourdieu‘s economy of social practice, it is argued that each neighbourhood is a social universe of struggle that is inscribed with its own internal logic and relational matrix of recognition, and each ascertains what constitutes a legitimate language and by extension legitimate identity. This relational matrix is undergirded by a specific distributional and evaluative structure with corresponding symbolic, economic and socio-cultural capitals (embodied practices) that constitute the requisite entry fees and currency for belonging, as well as the negative capitals that attract designations of the strange and the Other. Zimbabwean migrants‘ experiences as the Other in South Africa take on diverse and differentiated forms. It was observed how experiences of Otherness and being the Other are neither homogenous nor static across the different social universes that make up Johannesburg; rather they are fluid and shifting and occur along an elastic continuum. Consequently the responses of migrants are also based on a reading of – and response to – the various scripts of existence in these different social universes. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Diskoerse oor identiteit, uitgedruk in terme van vrae oor autochthons en die Ander, is aan die toeneem in die huidige sosio-politieke en kulturele milieu. Migrasie, wat met die oortreding van nasionale grense en begrensde gemeenskappe geassosieer word, is 'n omstrede terrein met betrekking tot die politiek van identiteit. Suid-Afrika is 'n goeie voorbeeld hiervan, waar migrante – veral dié van Afrika-oorsprong – in die middel van 'n storm van Anderisering beland het. Hierdie situasie het 'n hoogtepunt bereik in die Mei 2008-aanvalle – nou algemeen bekend as "xenofobiese geweld." "Amakwerekwere", soos Afrika-migrante in Suid-Afrika neerhalend beskryf word, word vanuit verskeie oorde in Suid-Afrika gekonfronteer met uitsluitingstendense. Die tesis gebruik taal as beginpunt vir 'n ondersoek oor hoe Zimbabwiese migrante – wat as 'n gevolg van 'n veelsydige krisis in hul land 'n merkbare teenwoordigheid in Suid-Afrika het – die politiek van identiteit in Johannesburg ervaar en navigeer. Deur middel van 'n multi-terrein etnografie, wat staatmaak op die triangulering van etnografiese waarneming en onderhoude, word Ndebele- en Sjonasprekende migrante in vyf woonbuurte ondersoek. Gebaseer op 'n eklektiese teoretiese apparaat, hoofsaaklik gewortel in Bourdieu se ekonomie van sosiale praktyk, word voorgestel dat elke woonbuurt 'n sosiale universum van stryd is waarop 'n eie interne logika en verhoudingsmatriks van herkenning ingeskryf is, en dat elkeen sy eie legitieme taal en by implikasie, eie legitieme identiteit het. Hierdie verhoudingsmatriks word ondervang deur 'n spesifieke verspreidings- en evalueringstruktuur met ooreenstemmende simboliese-, ekonomiese-, en kulturele-kapitaal (beliggaamde praktyke), wat dien as 'n soort inskrywingsfooi of geldeenheid vir insluiting, sowel as die negatiewe kapitaal wat toeskrywings van andersheid en die Ander aantrek. Zimbabwiese migrante se ervarings as die Ander in Suid-Afrika neem verskillende vorme aan. Daar is waargeneem hoedat ervarings van Andersheid in die verskillende sosiale kontekste van Johannesburg nie homogeen of staties is nie, maar eerder vloeibaar en skuiwend op 'n elastiese kontinuum. As 'n gevolg is die gedrag van migrante ook gebaseer op 'n lesing van – en reaksie op – die verskeie spelreëls van hierdie verskillende sosiale omgewings.

This study looks at the experiences of migrants accessing notions of justice at the Wits Law Clinic, the pro-bono public interest law clinic of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. This study explores the way migrants engage with public interest law in the light of an overwhelming adversarial and threatening experience of the law. The law in the form of state law and its powers embodied in law enforcers and petty bureaucrats is mainly used against them and confines them to a ‘state of bare life’. One could therefore expect that this compels migrants to keep their heads down and avoid any form of formalization, and instead reverting to a total reliance on informal survival strategies. This study however shows that migrants retain a strong faith in the law and draw a huge sense of hope from the services they receive from the Wits Law Clinic – even though the only action that is sometimes taking place is the endless writing of letters. But it appears that the reduction of the law to absolutely mundane bureaucratic activity still holds enough symbolic power of giving migrants a sense of moving closer towards the promise of justice, which the law also holds, even though it might be over and over deferred.

A research report submitted to the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management University of the Witwatersrand in partial fufilment of the requirements for the Degree Masters in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Johannesburg, 2017 / This research report seeks to explore the organised behaviour of faith-based enterprises as a sub-function of social entrepreneurship. By assessing the moral intricacies which form the building blocks of social enterprises, the research report will use literature based on social entrepreneurship to draw parallels between social enterprises and faith-based ventures to suggest that the core of faith-based ventures (FBVs) is to make a social impact not just through disseminating faith, but acting as social agents. Therefore, this research will attempt to explore the extent of faith-based enterprises as a function of social entrepreneurship, identifying the opportunities and capabilities which are seen to be generated by faith, but that have a social impact that goes beyond the faith-based organisation. Using the qualitative research approach, data was collected from six faith-based entrepreneurs in Yeoville, through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, which were conducted over a period of three months to understand the role of the faith-based venture and its social impact. By conducting a qualitative inquiry to facilitate the meaning-making process, face-to-face interviews were conducted to create a naturalistic understanding of the study, particularly assessing their role and their function in society. Biases, feelings and thoughts were recorded in order to understand the participants’ motives, purposes and the causes that underlie these actions. The findings of the study suggest that the role of FBVs acting as social agents are dependent on the reach of their audience, including the extent of their scalability which they have developed which would provide insights into the degree that the faith-based venture can have social impact. This research will conclude having suggested that the “new-age” faith-based ventures have transitioned from only providing the basic faith, to now mimicking a social enterprise, therefore implying that FBVs are another dimension of social entrepreneurship. / MT2017

Since 2012 more than 295 676 migrants have arrived in South Africa. Somalis form one of the most visible migrant minorities in the country. Since various studies have been conducted into the mistreatment of migrants and its psychological effects, this study aimed to investigate the reasons that led to the resilience of the Somali community residing in Fordsburg/Mayfair, Johannesburg despite the challenges they encountered. The sample for the study was selected using the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through the use of face-to-face semi-structured interviews and subsequently analysed following Colaizzi’s (1978) descriptive phenomenological method of data analysis. The findings of the study show that the participants experienced several challenges en route to South Africa and once they reached the country. Their resilience can be attributed to reasons such as individual determination to achieve change, the Somali communal culture, religion and spirituality, the family spirit, gender role adaptation and hard work. / Psychology / M.A. (Research Consultation)

The World Health Organisation Commission for the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH, 2008) report calls upon the need to consider the social determinants of health, including migration in health planning. Unfortunately, the introduction of Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in South Africa is being framed as a stand-alone intervention without incorporating the social determinants of health i.e. migration and structural drivers of HIV, despite numerous evidence of failure of one-dimensional HIV approaches. The study aimed to explore the attitudes and knowledge (s) of HIV prevention amongst young, internal migrant, Black self-identifying gay men and its implications for PrEP. This study used an interpretive qualitative approach by conducting 12 in-depth interviews with both men who have sex with men (MSM) who self-identify as gay individuals and experts working in the field of HIV. Social determinants of health like migration and homophobic attitudes both within the health care system and beyond could impact the uptake of PrEP and continuity access for PrEP among MSM who self-identity as gay within the context of circular migration. Likewise, the study highlights structural drivers of HIV that if left unaddressed could also have a bearing on PrEP as an HIV intervention vis-à-vis PrEP uptake and continuity to PrEP access within a context of circular migration. Using Weiss (1979) interactive model, the study points out the need for all actors involved in policy making to take into account evidence, such as empirical data, best practices, insights from various stakeholders as a basis upon which South Africa’s PrEP policy/programme can be based on. / A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Development Studies), November 2017 / GR2018

There has been a significant increase in immigrant learners in South African schools. This research study captures the experiences of immigrant learners in selected inner city schools of Johannesburg. The May 2008 xenophobic violence prompted the researcher to investigate the extent of xenophobia. A survey of immigrant learners, South African learners and educators was conducted by means of interviews that allowed the research participants to express their feelings and experiences regarding the phenomenon of xenophobia. The result of the study revealed that immigrant learners do experience xenophobia in various forms by South African learners and, in some cases, educators as well. Immigrant learners were predominantly exposed to prejudice and xenophobic comments. They perceived South Africa as positive, giving them hope and opportunities. This research provided a baseline for more extensive research into this phenomenon. / Thesis (M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)