Title:
Causes of Irregular Migration of People from Zimbabwe to South Africa in the post-Mugabe Regime
Author:
Elvis Munyoka
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Published:
African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 29 October 2020
Abstract:
Irregular migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa has continued, unabated, after the demise of the Mugabe regime. There is a need to understand the causes of this dramatic rise in irregular migration following Mugabe’s decline. This paper explored the causes of irregular migrations from Zimbabwe to South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative case study research design. The target population constituted irregular migrants in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. A sample of 10 respondents was selected using purposive sampling from Mwenezi district. Data were collected through interviews and secondary sources. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that contemporary irregular migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa is driven by a combination of several political, socio-economic, and environmental factors such as poverty, low wages, the inaccessibility of passports and human rights violations. This study concluded that irregular migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa is primarily a response to the political and economic instability in Zimbabwe, which is pushing desperate people to cross the border of South Africa illegally. Therefore, this research recommends that the circumstances that cause people to migrate from Zimbabwe to South Africa must be addressed rather than focusing on enforcing strict immigration policies alone.