Browsing by Author "Nzabamwita, Jonas"

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    Exploring the link between international migration and remittances: a case study of African immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015) Nzabamwita, Jonas; Dinbabo, Mulugeta.F
    Remittances from South Africa to other African countries have been a growing phenomenon over the past few years. A substantial proportion of such flow is informal and yet, the complexity and heterogeneity of migrants mean that relatively very little is known about which migrants remit, what they remit, how much and how, what the challenges are and how their remittance behaviour varies according to nationality. Using the case study of African immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa, this study sets out to explore the nexus between international migration and remittances, in particular the relationship between migrants' characteristics and remittance behaviour. This study is anchored around the international migration system theory, prospect theory and the social capital theory. The methodological approach is both quantitative and qualitative. The information was collected from an extensive literature review, survey questionnaires administered to 83 immigrants from Zimbabwe, DRC, Rwanda and Somalia, selected using purposive and snowballing techniques, a focus group discussion with 12 participants from the case study and observations of two informal remittance sending sites. This study found that African immigrants send cash, goods and social remittances to their respective countries. Furthermore, using nationality, education and income as the key variables of characteristics of immigrants, this study revealed that economic immigrants from Zimbabwe tend to remit cash and goods more frequently, Somalis remit more socially, Rwandese send goods using formal courier companies, while the Congolese remit through buses. In addition, educated and higher income African immigrants tend to remit formally, and more in terms of goods value and cash amount. This study further established that informal remittance systems still dominate. Beside cost, speed, safety, reliability, customer care, friendliness, trustworthiness and convenience; informal remittance operators offer flexibility through loans and the collection of remittances from regular senders at low service charges. Informal remittance systems also provide other services that attract immigrants. Formal remittance systems on the other hand, have no strong appeal for African immigrants, especially the less educated remitting in rural areas due to low coverage. They are also bureaucratic burdens, by requiring proof of income, and address as well as documentations that immigrants are not able to produce. In addition, the challenges related to the South African money transfer policy environment, the registration and licensing of Money Transfer operators drives remittances further underground. Within the context of remittances, the researcher recommended the measures needed to bolster the use of formal systems, this ranged from the government's relaxation of remitting requirements and licensing conditions, formal remittance operators' extension of their reach, provision of better information about their services and reduction in transfer cost, to informal remittance providers pooling their resources together in order to have a strong capital base that can be easily legitimized.
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    International migration and social protection in South Africa
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2022) Nzabamwita, Jonas; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
    For a developing country, South Africa has the most comprehensive social protection system in terms of social grant coverage. Moreover, the country is also often hailed for its transformative constitution which enshrines socio-economic rights for all. Similarly, South Africa is widely praised for its progressive refugee policy, which encourages refugees to self-settle into the local community, and those who are not able to support themselves are provided with services in the same way as the citizens of South Africa. In light of this, in 2012 the Department of Social Development promulgated changes to the regulations, by which refugees became eligible to claim social grants provided by the government of South Africa.
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    International migration and social welfare policies: Assessing the effect of government grants on the livelihoods of migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
    (University of Western Cape, 2021) Nzabamwita, Jonas; Dinbabo, Mulugeta F.
    South Africa is paradoxically an interesting case study. On the one hand, it is characterised by widespread and persistent poverty and extra-ordinary levels of unemployment. On the other hand, South Africa is quintessentially a migration destination country, ranking among countries with the highest number of migrants from other African countries. While it currently hosts more than three million international migrants, which represents approximately 4.2% of the country’s entire population, nearly half of the South African black population live in poverty and grapple with income inequality, unemployment, food insecurity and hunger. Much like their South African counterparts, international migrants are not immune to the conundrum of poverty. Added to the poverty-related social challenges that confront the natives of South Africa, foreign nationals in South Africa endure the migration-specific risks, shocks, hardships, deprivation and vulnerabilities.