In addition to the literature that I have highlighted in the preceding sections of this chapter, it is important to identify a number of themes that have emerged as academic writers engage the scale and dimensions of Zimbabwean migration to South Africa. The notable themes in the literature include issues of migrants' access to rights, xenophobic exclusion and abuse, and literature that refers to Zimbabweans as constituting a diaspora.
A few scholars have given attention to the diversity of Zimbabwean migration in the post 2000 era (for example, Kriger 2010; Muzondidya 2010). Authors such as Pasura (2011); Muzondidya (2008); Sisulu, Moyo and Tshuma (2010); Makina (2010) and Mlambo (2010) highlight the different phases of Zimbabwean migration to South Africa as accounting for the differentiated nature of their (Zimbabweans) presence in South Africa. Categories of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa include students, asylum seekers, refugees, skilled professionals, business executives and traders (Muzondidya 2010). While the literature on Zimbabwean streams of migration has highlighted the characteristics of the immigrants, it has however not gone further to engage the enduring presence of immigrants in South Africa, particularly, how they have conducted themselves spatially in light of their different circumstances. In other words, the literature engages the forms and characteristics of immigrants but does not discuss the spatial implications of migrants' diversity and spatial manifestation.
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Other academic writers have discussed issues of access to services and rights abuses in South Africa. Bloch (2010) for instance, writes about the "right to rights" and highlights the difficulties and complexities that undocumented Zimbabwean migrants face in negotiating their everyday livelihoods in South Africa. Importantly, there is condemnation of the migration management systems in South Africa, which effectively exclude many migrants from accessing legal documentation (see for example, Mosala 2008; Amit 2010). Lack of
documentation leads to numerous rights abuses. For instance, Rutherford (2010) has noted that the lack of legal documentation amongst the Zimbabwean farm labourers in Limpopo is the source of labour abuses in the farms as farmers take advantage by offering low wages and subjecting workers to long hours of hard labour.
Some writers have expanded the human rights theme to include abuse and extortion by the police. For example, Greenburg (2010: 74) has noted how the South African police prey on vulnerable foreign migrants and profile them as criminals and undocumented persons who have no legal recourse. Vigneswaran et al (2010) have explored the role of the state and how discretionary behaviour amongst the police officers impact on the everyday realities of undocumented migrants. They argue that, "Police officers routinely engage in intimidation and extortion of, and simple theft from, Zimbabweans and migrants of other
nationalities" (Vigneswaran et al. 2010: 478).
There is also a significant literature that has looked at issues of xenophobic exclusion of migrants in South Africa. The consensus amongst academic writers is that xenophobia has been widespread since the end of apartheid due to a
perception amongst South Africans that foreign nationals take away their jobs and depress the remuneration standards in the labour market (Crush 1999b; Murray 2003; Zinyama 2002). The xenophobic sentiment culminated in the May 2008 violence that killed 62 people and displaced over 100,000 (Landau 2010a; Landau 2011; Merrifield 1993; Misago, Monson, Polzer and Landau 2010; Mosselson 2010). The literature has thus far focused on Zimbabweans and other immigrants as victims of xenophobic violence (Els 2013) and interrogated the causes of the
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xenophobic sentiment within the South African population (Landau 2010a;
Landau 2011; Murray 2003). These are important issues in understanding the lives of immigrants in South Africa as they have implications for the livelihoods of the immigrants. While this literature has done the descriptive work and tracked the acts of xenophobic violence, discussed the causes of the xenophobic sentiment and proffered suggestive solutions, it has however not actively grappled with the spatial implications of xenophobia at the level of individual and communal decision-making. Suggestions and reportage on immigrants fleeing places where violence takes place have pilfered into the public and academic domains, but the agency of the immigrants has not been sufficiently captured, especially, how the fear of xenophobia becomes internal to decisions about where immigrants decide to live in the city of Johannesburg.
There is also an increasing stream of literature that refers to Zimbabwean migration as constituting a diaspora (for example, Makina and Kanyenze 2010; McGregor 2010; Pasura 2008; Pasura 2010; Pasura 2011). Makina and Kanyenze (2010) argue that, Zimbabweans outside the country have all the essential features of a diaspora such as a common sense of displacement and a pervasive desire to return home when the situation normalises. McGregor (2010) has argued that Zimbabweans adopt the usage of the term diaspora to distinguish those outside the country from those inside. However, the notable weaknesses of the literature that has conceptualised Zimbabweans as constituting a diaspora is that, there is no concerted effort to interrogate what this means for the whole debate on
Zimbabwean migration, especially with the commonly acknowledged possibilities of return migration. The concept of a diaspora commonly refers to an enduring and semi-permanent communal presence outside the country of origin and alludes to a maturity in the migration experience for those involved. The real extent of the bonds that hold the Zimbabwean community together outside the home country is debatable and begs the question of whether the Zimbabwean community does indeed constitute a diaspora or whether the diaspora exists only in the imaginary of academic writers. Whether the diaspora exists as such or not, it is clear that most Zimbabweans are experiencing a long term absence from their home
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country, and it is probable, although not shown in any quantifiable way, that a large number of Zimbabweans would like to return to their home country. While there are debates, on whether it is a diaspora or not, there is a form of permanence, or at least of long-term semi-permanence of the Zimbabwean presence in
destination cities. Such interpretation departs from the simple conceptualisation of Zimbabwean migration to South Africa as circular or temporary.
5.7
Conclusion
This chapter has largely mapped the literature on Zimbabwean migration to South Africa, particularly highlighting the blurred lines of difference in terms of the motives for their movement. What is worth noting and of particular relevance to this study is the unambiguous nature of difference in the categories and types of Zimbabweans in South Africa. They differ in terms of the time that they arrived in South Africa, the reasons for migration and the areas where they have settled as well as their class positions both before migrating from Zimbabwe and after settling in South Africa. The chapter has highlighted the literature that looks at the causes of Zimbabwean migration, the destinations of the migrants and the
numbers of Zimbabweans in South Africa. What is clear is that, Zimbabwean migration to South Africa intensified after the year 2000 and this intensification corresponds to the implosion of the Zimbabwean economy and the inception of a violent political regime by the government of Zimbabwe. Border crossing
statistics, asylum seeker applications and the deportation statistics testify to the intensity of Zimbabwean immigration to South Africa. There is also a nascent literature that refers to Zimbabwean migration as constituting a diaspora and therefore alluding to its enduring presence in the countries of destination such as South Africa. The literature has also begun to engage the fine-grained aspects of migration such as the circumstances of the immigrants in the destination countries rather than just documenting the movement and its causes. Such efforts are
evident in the literature that discusses migrants' access to healthcare and
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handling the Zimbabwean refugee crisis. This literature has however been inclined towards human rights advocacy and characterised by close co-operation between academic writers and several Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) advocating for the respect of the rights of immigrants and holding the South African state to international best practices.
However, the literature has not sufficiently engaged the spatial implications of the difficulties that immigrants encounter, particularly incidences of xenophobic violence. Despite emerging notions of referring to Zimbabweans as a diaspora, the broader literature keeps emphasising the non-permanence of immigrants in the countries of destination and analysing them only as making short term decisions rather than long term spatial decisions in South Africa. Thus, the wide-ranging literature on Zimbabwean migration has not really engaged with the presence of migrants in the Johannesburg in terms of their connections to space.
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