Introduction to Special Issue: Evaluating South African Immigration Policy after Apartheid¶
Jonathan Crush; David A. McDonald (2001). Introduction to Special Issue: Evaluating South African Immigration Policy after Apartheid. Africa Today, Vol. 48, No. 3. Indiana University Press.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | synthesis review |
| Period studied | 1910–2001 |
| Regions | South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Southern Africa (SADC) |
| Themes | mining migrant labour, transition post apartheid, politics ideology elections, origins segregation, agriculture land, demography urbanisation |
| Citation key | crush2001a |
Argument¶
The authors argue that apartheid-era immigration law, the Aliens Control Act of 1991, remained in force seven years after 1994, producing considerable continuity with the apartheid regime. They identify four inherited pillars: racist selection, exploitation of regional migrant labour, tough enforcement, and refusal of refugee protection. The post-apartheid state broke with the past on racial selection, amnesties and refugee law, but kept control-and-exclusion enforcement and the contract labour system. They weigh three hypotheses for the impasse: the Home Affairs crisis narrative, IFP/Buthelezi appeasement, and ANC-IFP convergence rooted in nation-building. They are sceptical that the 2001 Immigration Bill will truly end apartheid's migration regime.
Evidence and method¶
Secondary literature and SAMP (Southern African Migration Project) research reports, official statistics on immigration and deportations, government documents (Green and White Papers, Presidential Labour Market Commission report), and the authors' direct participation in the policy process. The authors note that SAMP advised the government's task teams.
Place in the debates¶
- Why post-apartheid immigration reform stalled (see Post-apartheid economic policy, governance and corruption). Rejects the Home Affairs 'crisis' view as unsupported by research. Treats the IFP-appeasement hypothesis as plausible. Finds the ANC-IFP convergence argument too stark but sees it as pointing to nation-building and identity formation as the deeper cause.
- Scale and impact of undocumented migration (see Post-apartheid economic policy, governance and corruption). Argues official figures (up to nine million) rest on a fallacious HSRC methodology and that migrants are net contributors and victims more than perpetrators of crime.
- Continuity vs rupture between apartheid and post-apartheid migration regimes (see Post-apartheid economic policy, governance and corruption). Emphasises substantial continuity in enforcement, the contract labour system, and perceptions of Africa as a threat, despite breaks in racial selection, amnesties and refugee law.
Findings¶
-
Apartheid immigration policy rested on four pillars. (p. 3)
South Africa's twentieth-century immigration policies under white minority rule rested on four pillars: racist policy and legislation; the exploitation of migrant labor from neighboring countries; tough enforcement legislation; and the repudiation of international refugee conventions.
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The contract labour system gave migrants no route to permanent residence and lasted into the 1990s. (p. 4)
Not one of the thousands of migrant workers from neighboring countries who spent (and often lost) their lives on South Africa's mines and farms ever qualified for permanent residence in the country.
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The 1991 Act sharply intensified enforcement, with mass deportations of Mozambicans. (p. 4)
In 1991, some 47,000 Mozambicans were arrested and deported, a figure that continued to rise through the early 1990s
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Formal immigration collapsed as apartheid disintegrated and the new state showed little appetite for immigrants. (p. 5)
Immigration to South Africa which had seen 60,000 new arrivals per annum in the 1960s had declined as apartheid disintegrated. The decline continued from 14,500 immigrants in 1990 to 6,400 in 1994 and to less than 4,000 in 1999.
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The 1996 SADC amnesty regularised a large share of applicants. (p. 6)
201,602 people eventually applied of whom 124,073 (sixty-two percent) were accepted as new South Africans
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Deportations rose sharply after 1994, and many deportees were ex-refugees from Mozambique. (p. 7)
In the first year of democratic governance in South Africa, deportations of undocumented migrants increased by seventy-five percent. In 1995, South Africa deported a record 157,084 people.
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Official estimates of unauthorised migrants are inflated; Statistics South Africa's figure is far lower. (p. 7)
A critical examination of such figures shows a fallacious methodology devised by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in 1995. Statistics South Africa has put the number at around 500,000
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Foreign contract labour on the mines grew in share even as the mine workforce halved. (p. 8)
Although downsizing and retrenchments have cut the overall size of the mine workforce in half over the last decade, foreign labor continues to be prized.
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The foreign share of the mine workforce rose through the 1990s. (p. 8)
The proportion of foreign labor in the mine workforce rose from forty percent at the beginning of the decade to nearly fifty-five percent by the end.
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The Immigration Bill's skills focus leaves the migrant labour legacy intact and its transformative promise doubtful. (p. 12)
Contract migration from the region is set to continue for as long as the mines want it.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aliens Control Act of 1991 (and 1995 amendments) | legislation gazette | 1991-1995 | Treated as the central apartheid-era legal instrument whose continued operation and enforcement powers frame the whole argument. |
| Minnaar and Hough 1996, Who Goes There? (HSRC) - deportation and arrest figures | secondary literature compilation | 1991-1995 | Supplies the figures for Mozambicans arrested and deported in 1991 and for record deportations in 1995. |
| Deportation statistics 1994-2000 (police/Home Affairs; source not named) | official statistical series | 1994-2000 | Shows deportations rising after 1994, including 157,084 in 1995 and over 600,000 removals between 1994 and 2000. |
| Official immigration statistics (number of immigrants per annum, 1960s-1999) | official statistical series | 1960s-1999 | Documents the decline in formal immigration under and after apartheid as evidence of postapartheid disinterest in immigration. |
| HSRC 1995 estimate and Statistics South Africa estimate of unauthorized migrants | official statistical series | 1995-2001 | Contrasts the HSRC figure of up to nine million with the Statistics SA figure of about 500,000 to argue official numbers are inflated. |
| Presidential Commission to Investigate Labour Market Policy report (DOL 1996) | commission or official report | 1996 | Shows that far-reaching reform proposals on migration were made in 1996 and ignored by Home Affairs. |
| Draft Green Paper on International Migration (1997), White Paper, and 2001 Immigration Bill | commission or official report | 1997-2001 | Traces the policy-reform trajectory and the contradictions between the Green Paper, the White Paper and the Bill. |
| Home Affairs memorandum to Cabinet (1997) and Minister of Home Affairs statement, June 1996 | state archives | 1996-1997 | Quoted to show the Department's hardline stance against reform; the archival location is not given. |
| Refugee Act 1998 and UN/OAU refugee conventions (1995 accession) | legislation gazette | 1995-1998 | Establishes the one area where postapartheid policy broke clearly with apartheid. |
| Immigration amnesty application data (miners', SADC 1996, Mozambican refugees) | secondary literature compilation | 1995-2001 | Provides application and acceptance numbers for the three amnesties, used to show ANC efforts to correct past injustices. |
| SAMP research reports on attitudes, farming and mining labour (SAMP 1999, 2000, 2001) | author survey or fieldwork | 1997-2001 | Supports claims on hostility to immigrants, extension of contract labour to women, and continuity of foreign mine labour. |
| Mine workforce composition (proportion foreign labour 1990s) | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1990-2000 | Shows the share of foreign labour on the mines rising while total employment halved. |
| Human rights reports on enforcement (HRW 1998; SAHRC 1999) | commission or official report | 1998-1999 | Cited as documentation of rights violations under the Aliens Control Act. |
| Bilateral labour treaties (1960s-1970s) between South Africa and neighbouring states | legislation gazette | 1960s-1970s | Described as the legal underpinning of the contract migrant labour system, but not analysed directly here. |
| Peberdy 1999, Selecting Immigrants (PhD thesis) - history of immigration policy 1910-1998 | secondary literature compilation | 1910-1998 | Used as the basis for claims about racial selection and the pattern of restrictionist policy after each regime change. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Policy-historical narrative and qualitative comparison of immigration law and practice before and after 1994, drawing on official documents, secondary research and the authors' own SAMP projects; it weighs three competing explanations for the policy impasse without formal testing.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Apartheid immigration policy rested on four pillars: racist selection, migrant labour exploitation, harsh enforcement, and repudiation of refugee conventions. (p. 3) | Synthesis of Peberdy 1999, Crush et al. 1991 and the Aliens Control Act; no new data. | Asserted |
| Formal immigration declined sharply as apartheid disintegrated and after 1994, reflecting indifference rather than hostility. (p. 5) | Unnamed official immigration statistics for 1960s, 1990, 1994 and 1999. | Partial data |
| Enforcement intensified after 1994, with deportations rising and apartheid-style policing continuing. (p. 7) | Deportation counts from Minnaar and Hough 1996 and police figures; HRW 1998 on abuses. | Partial data |
| Official estimates of millions of undocumented migrants are grossly inflated. (p. 7) | Critique of the HSRC 1995 methodology and comparison with the Statistics SA figure (Crush 1999a). | Partial data |
| The contract migrant labour system to mines and farms continues, with foreign labour's share of the mine workforce rising. (p. 8) | Unnamed mining workforce statistics and SAMP 2000 farm research. | Partial data |
| The three legalization amnesties were historical corrections that showed the ANC distancing itself from the apartheid legacy. (p. 6) | Application and acceptance counts from Crush and Williams 1999 and Johnston 2001. | Partial data |
| Reform stalled because of the IFP/ANC political arrangement, an untransformed bureaucracy, and a convergence of ANC and IFP views on immigration. (p. 10) | Narrative of the Green Paper, White Paper and Bill process, drawing on the authors' policy involvement and secondary sources; the hypotheses are not tested. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
The author's caveats¶
The authors note that the official unauthorized-migrant figures rest on a flawed methodology. They also disclose in note 1 that SAMP, which funds the work, advised government and that most contributors are linked to SAMP.
Gaps in the evidence¶
Many of the statistics (immigration flows, deportations, mine labour shares) are given without a stated series, table or year-by-year breakdown. Systematic Home Affairs and police administrative records, Hansard debates, Cabinet memoranda and mine employment data would test the continuity claims more rigorously. Most of these existed at the time, though Cabinet and departmental papers were mostly not public. The explanations for the impasse rest on inference and insider knowledge, and could be tested through interviews or archival process-tracing.
Replicability: Data poorly documented.