Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Business Administration (Entrepreneurship) in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / The primary objective of this study was to analyse the challenges in operating micro-enterprises faced by African foreign entrepreneurs in Cape Town. The rationale behind the study is the fact that foreign entrepreneurs are faced with different challenges in operating micro-enterprises; some of these challenges are detrimental to the enterprises and lead some entrepreneurs to stop doing business. South African entrepreneurs and African foreign entrepreneurs share similar challenges to some extent. However, African foreign entrepreneurs are faced with challenges such as xenophobia and problems obtaining capital from banks, which increases the stressors on these entrepreneurs. The literature review is divided into two sections, namely: Small-, medium- and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and immigrant entrepreneurship. Convenience sampling (which falls under non-probability sampling) was employed; resulting in sample of 93 respondents. The study used mixed methods, where data were collected by conducting semi-structured personal interviews and from self-administered questionnaires. The study was limited to the Cape Town central business district (CBD) and surrounding suburbs that host a high number of African foreign entrepreneurs, including Bellville, Mowbray, Woodstock, Salt River and Wynberg. The findings show that though xenophobia is not a frequent challenge to African foreign entrepreneurs in Cape Town, it is detrimental to their enterprises. Lack of knowledge of local languages also appears to be a problem, making it difficult for African foreign entrepreneurs to converse with local customers. These immigrant-owned micro-enterprises are also affected by sales fluctuations. Competition is a constraint as there are many businesses of the same nature servicing the same market. Obtaining start-up and growth funding is not easy, especially for micro-enterprises owned by African foreign entrepreneurs, as it is extremely difficult to obtain funding from banks and financial institutions. Hence, these entrepreneurs use their own capital or capital from family and friends. Obtaining a business location is also a challenge; it can take as long as 10 years or more to secure a good business premises. High rent and crime are also obstacles to the enterprises. The recommendations of the study are based on the research objectives aimed at answering the research questions. Recommendations are directed to government departments dealing with African immigrant entrepreneurs and immigrant entrepreneurs themselves.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts Degree In Development Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Department of Sociology, 2016 / Online resource (vii, 75 leaves) / According to a report provided by Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA, 2011), Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa are estimated to be between one and two million, although the actual figures remain elusive. Many of these migrants do not possess legal documentation (Tevera and Zinyama, 2002) and as a result, it is difficult for them to access financial services in the South African financial institutions, since these institutions require documentation such as valid passports with visas, proof of residence and salary slips. In light of this, undocumented migrants in South Africa are facing challenges in saving, borrowing, investing and remitting money back home. As a result, they are at risk as they may become vulnerable to loan sharks and conmen if they access financial services informally. In relation to that, the study investigates how undocumented migrants in South Africa access financial services and how this may affect their lives. The researcher found it important to conduct a first-hand investigation onto the strategies and experiences of undocumented self-employed Zimbabwean migrants who might be financially excluded in South Africa. Studying the experiences of undocumented migrants in South Africa is important as it allows for an exploration of their reactions and views about their financial exclusion or inclusion. It is also of paramount importance for us to comprehend how some people who are financially excluded worm their way into the social and economic milieu that are in large measure hostile to them. Thus the present study aims to ensure that the voices of undocumented immigrants who are financially excluded are equally heard in order for us to appreciate the harsh realities that confront them. The research focuses on undocumented self-employed Zimbabweans (street vendors, hairdressers and barber men) in the Pretoria Central Business District (CBD). The study draws on the concepts of Human Security and 'Alternative Economic Repertoires' to understand the strategies employed by undocumented Zimbabweans in South Africa in the face of financial exclusion and the insecurities that they encounter. The research follows a qualitative approach on the basis that qualitative research enables the researcher to construct meanings and interpret the behaviours of undocumented self-employed Zimbabwean migrants. In-depth interviews and participant observations were conducted in order to explore strategies in this regard. This enabled the researcher to deeply explore the experiences, views and feelings of these migrants. / MT2017

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / Economic migrants to South Africa face a hostile reception; periodic displays of widespread xenophobia have highlighted the myths and stereotypes that still abound about foreigners - that they are job-stealers, criminals and a threat to our nation’s well-being. The Department of Home Affairs recently brought in new immigration laws that raise the barriers to entry and participation in the South African economy and society. Yet a back door has been left wide open for economic migrants, often unskilled and with no other options, to enter South Africa, live and work. For six consecutive years South Africa was the number one destination for asylum seekers globally and the influx has caused the refugee determination process to become clogged and corrupt, leaving genuine refugees vulnerable and hundreds of thousands of foreigners in an unhappy limbo. The accompanying narrative long form journalism piece highlights some of the fault lines in the government’s uncoordinated and inconsistent migration policy. Overall the project seeks to personalize some of the key challenges and contentious issues faced by migrants to South Africa. It aims to puts a human face to a bureaucratic process by accessing the stories of marginalized migrants, giving them a voice to articulate their experiences in South Africa. The accompanying method document outlines some of the academic research underpinning the study. / GR2017

Migration is recognised as an escalating phenomenon of human behaviour worldwide. In the Southern African region African migrations and migrants have remained a focal point of discussion amongst politicians, citizens and migrants themselves in recent years. In South Africa, a major destination of migrants from various African Diasporas, this renewed interest in the topic has occurred in the context of xenophobic related violence aimed at foreigners within the broader economic, political and social arena. These factors extend to South Africa’s relationships with her near neighbours. Thus, Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social crisis has overflowed into South African borders, contributing large numbers of migrants to her population. Previous research has underrepresented the perspectives of migrants and Zimbabwean migrants in particular. Zimbabwean migrants seek economic opportunities to better themselves and maintain the survival of their families who remain in their country of origin. They are transnationals who engage in continuous movement between one place and the next, supporting various livelihoods. Little is understood about migrant adaptation to their complex contexts. In this research project, content analysis was conducted of data gathered during interviews and participant-observation of Zimbabwean migrant traders on the beachfront informal market in Port Elizabeth. The maintenance of the cultural values and identity of the myth of the hero as upholder of household honour was found to be significant in the adaptation of migrants to their multi-faceted lives. The findings indicate that migrant life is indeed uncertain and ever-changing. Their resilience in the face of continual change illustrated both conflict and compromise between “social cohesiveness (and) social flexibility” (Bauman, 1998: 15-16)

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 thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / The thesis attempts to illuminate the process through which identitities, apparently strongly "ethnic", are constructed by migrant women, and to examine how these differ from the equivalent identities constructed by men. The focus is upon northern Transvaal migrancy, and special emphasis is given to the central role played by musical performance - particularly that of the style called kiba - in constituting migrant associations. Men and women form separate dance associations: the thesis is concerned particularly with migrant women, and sets the dance groups in the broader setting of female migrancy in southern Africa. This is a phenomenon which has been neglected in the literature. The thesis criticises the adaptive emphasis of earlier Writings on migrant association, and the lack of "local knowledge" in Marxist accounts, Performers of the genre emphasise that the music is "traditional",and their lyrics legitimate the present experiences of contemporary composers by juxtaposing them with the past experiences of older ones. They view the roles they play in relation to their family members both living dependents and deceased forebears - in terms of stereotypes laid down by Sotho custom. But these independent migrant female performers of the genre, in contrast to their rurally-domiciled and. dependent counterparts, are women whose disrupted and geographically mobile upbringing has led them to seek out modernity and progress rather than an adherence to the ways of "traditionalists". They are primary breadwinners for their natal families. Custom and tradition provide an idiom in terms of which, while retaining affiliations to men's kiba sufficient to ensure their continued access to a performance space and an audience, they enunciate an identity as relatively autonomous and emancipated migrants in an urban context. / Andrew Chakane 2018

The aim of the thesis is to identify the pressures that contributed to the rise in international labour migration in Lesotho, and to investigate how these pressures are impacting upon the modernization process in the country, particularly at a time when employment opportunities are scarce in the southern African region. International labour migration has been used as a development tool throughout history, but especially in the 20th century by developing countries with dual labour markets. Newly independent developing countries with dual labour markets adapted the strategy of import substitution industrialization (lSI), with an emphasis on protecting infant industries and promoting pro-labour policies. In the post-colonial period the international demand for lowskilled workers rose, particularly in the North (developed countries), and in mineral rich countries including the oil exporters and South Africa, and the newly industrialising countries in East Asia. International labour migration to these countries was adapted as an integral development tool by the governments of the lSI countries. Most migrants were low-skilled and temporary workers in the destination countries. Although no multilateral institutional framework existed, usually both the sending and receiving countries adapted unilateral and bilateral migration policies to guarantee the gains from migration. Workers were thus "protected" to varying degrees under such agreements. From the 1970s, the North experienced a slowdown in the growth in demand for unskilled workers. In the 1980s, many lSI countries experienced devastating economic crises that forced them to abandon the lSI policy and adapt the export-led industrialisation (EOI) policy with an emphasis on trade liberalization. The switch from lSI to EOI in developing countries with dual labour markets led to the downsizing of public sector employment, the removal of marketing boards formally used by small-scale agricultural farmers, and the expansion of export processing zones (EPZs). These outcomes resulted in a rise in push internal migration, and international migration from these countries especially to other developing countries. At the same time, since the late 1980s, capital has acquired greatly enhanced mobility at the global level. The adaptation of EOI and the full mobility of capital at the global level altered the institutional structure within which labour migration was governed both nationally, and internationally. At the national level stricter unilateral policies were reinforced by receiving countries for low-skilled labour, while less strict policies applied for skilled labour. These remain in operation in conjunction with the earlier bilateral agreements. At the international level, there remains a lack of policy to regulate international labour migration. Under the current enhanced mobility of capital, international migrants are thus left vulnerable. Lesotho fits this pattern. Faced with a dual economy and an abundance of semi-skilled labour, Lesotho has been a principal supplier of labour to the South Africa's mining industry since its independence. Lesotho's industrial diversification thus mirrors South Africa's industrial diversification. In the lSI phase (1968 - 1987), international labour migration became the most important tool of economic welfare generation in Lesotho. Bilateral agreements were signed in the early 1970s between Lesotho and South Africa to guarantee the gains from migration. Since the late I980s, the mining industry in South Africa began to downsize production and employment. Fewer novice miners from Lesotho were recruited to work in South Africa. The adaptation of the EOI policy in Lesotho in 1987 introduced EPZ industrialization and trade liberalization. Nevertheless, the retrenchment of mine workers from South Africa is occurring at a time when Lesotho is experiencing an employment crisis. The political independence of South Africa in 1994 was accompanied by stricter international migration policies by the new democratic government of South Africa. Most migrant workers in South Africa are thus now faced with a two-door policy (of the earlier bilateral agreements and the amendments to the Aliens Control Act). This system has left migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation by both employers and the law (police) in South Africa. Nevertheless, international migration from Lesotho to South Africa continues to expand, particularly of the new type of migration - semiskilled female workers in the services sector. At the same time, South Africa is also experiencing an employment crisis. The most important policy implications are, firstly, that migration is subject to the same "casualisation" as other work, with the effects made worse by the "statelessness" of migrants, who are most vulnerable to exploitation. Secondly, multilateralism is needed (e.g., SADC) and holistic, multilateral policies are required. It is clear that under the new global division of labour ad hoc policy towards international labour migration is ineffective.

Research presented for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Public and Development Management to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management of the University of Witwatersrand. March 2016 / As an economic hub of Africa, South Africa has been experiencing an influx of economic and political migrants leading to the ethnic diversification of its population. This trend has incited a xenophobic atmosphere due to frustrations from locals, and has led to violent attacks towards foreign nationals. In particular, the Somali population has endured a high number of attacks as this group has successfully penetrated the informal business market in the townships of South Africa. Government has responded to these xenophobic attacks by proposing, amongst others, a Licensing of Businesses Bill in 2013. The bill has been criticised by the public as it is considered a hostile policy that aims to enforce regulations that restrict foreign nationals from operating businesses in the informal sector. This political dilemma has also led to questions as to how this policy response may have an effect on social cohesion in unequal societies where violence against Somalis is prevailing. The Klipspruit community was selected as it forms part of the City of Johannesburg that has a significant amount of Somali informal traders. The purpose of the study was to examine the root causes of violence against Somalis and the potential of the governments’ policy response to mitigate this phenomenon. In particular, the study also investigated the effect of the proposed Licensing of Businesses Bill on social cohesion development between Somalis and South Africans in Klipspruit. The qualitative research findings indicate that violence against Somalis was due to the economic situation, lack of regulation, competition and business miscommunication. The responses were generally driven by the perception that the government of South Africa introduced a bill that is fostered by nationalistic interests to the detriment of foreign nationals such as Somalis. It is therefore recommended that the government develops a way to enhance power sharing in decision-making processes, monitoring and correcting inequalities amongst culturally distinct groups, promoting cultural diversity and integration through education and lastly ensuring that the government acts in a constitutional manner. / GR2018

The migrant labour practice in South Africa played an important role in the country's development and economy. Although it has benefited many native migrant workers by creating job opportunities, it has had adverse effects on the families of migrant workers. The focus of this study is the phenomenon of migrant labouring and its effects on the family. A literature study has shown that migrant labourers, living in overcrowded city hostels, were subjected to exploitation, malnutrition and crime. The empirical study brought to light the many problems experienced by the families back home: Wives were overburdened by dual roles and responsibilities, lack of support and money, children's development was impeded and academic motivations and performance were low. The ultimate aim of this study was to design practical guidelines to help families cope with the effects of an absent father due to the migrant labour practice. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed.(Guidance and Counselling)

The migrant labour practice in South Africa played an important role in the country's development and economy. Although it has benefited many native migrant workers by creating job opportunities, it has had adverse effects on the families of migrant workers. The focus of this study is the phenomenon of migrant labouring and its effects on the family. A literature study has shown that migrant labourers, living in overcrowded city hostels, were subjected to exploitation, malnutrition and crime. The empirical study brought to light the many problems experienced by the families back home: Wives were overburdened by dual roles and responsibilities, lack of support and money, children's development was impeded and academic motivations and performance were low. The ultimate aim of this study was to design practical guidelines to help families cope with the effects of an absent father due to the migrant labour practice. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed.(Guidance and Counselling)