Abstract
Economic issues are typically at the heart of migration decisions globally. Disparities in incomes between countries play a major role in motivating people with different levels of skills to migrate from Africa to countries with more developed economies in search of secure livelihoods and improved quality of life. South Africa, an upper middle income country, is the leading migration destination country in sub-Saharan Africa because of its buoyant economy. Research has focused on cross-border migration to South Africa while less attention has been on migration among low-skilled migrants from West Africa. We conducted an ethnographic study of 13 low-skilled Nigerian migrants working as street traders in a flea market in Durban. South Africa. Findings indicate that migrants were motivated to travel to South Africa because of misinformation from migrant returnees as well as friends and family resident in South Africa about their potential for considerable economic success abroad. Some were stuck while planning to use South Africa as a transit country to other countries in Europe and North America. Migrants encountered many challenges that prevented them from achieving their dreams of living a better life overseas and ended up as street traders in the flea market. There they endured a lesser quality of life than in their home country but were ashamed to return home preferring instead to eek out a living, and to request and receive financial support from their families at home. Findings have implications for migration policy highlighting the need for innovative ways of disseminating accurate information to potential migrants and assisting migrants to return home. Further research on migrant integration to host country and reverse remittances will be of great value.
Introduction
Economic issues are typically at the heart of migration decisions globally. Disparities in incomes between countries play a major role in motivating people with different levels of skills to migrate from Africa mainly to countries with more developed economies in search of secure livelihoods and improved quality of life (Ajakaiye et al. 2006). Recent work demonstrates a link between migration and development although some skepticism has been expressed concerning the positive impact of migration on development in sending countries (Ajakaiye et al. 2006; Lucas 2006; De Haas 2006). Thus there has been a growing interest in the potential role that migration might or might not play in development among sending countries 1 (see for example IOM 2003; Black and King 2004 2 ; De Haas 2006; Riccio 2008).
Migration is thought to be positively related to development in the sense that remittances from migrants help sustain families, build houses and run businesses which create employment. Return migration is also seen as contributing to development because the returning migrant would come with more skills and money to invest and could also create jobs that will boost the local economy.
See also the Special issue of Population, Space and Place on West Africa, volume 10, 2004
Until 1991, legal migration to South Africa was restricted, by the apartheid government, to labour migrants working on a temporary basis in the mines and white owned farms from countries in the Southern Africa region and people ‘assimilable’ by the white population mainly those from European countries (Kok et al. 2006; Crush 2000). However, since the beginning of democratic rule in 1994, there has been an increase in migration to this upper middle income country by people from different countries in Africa. The majority of these migrants are from neighbouring countries that belong to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) particularly those with whom South Africa shares physical boundaries. These migrants take advantage of the porous borders to come to South Africa to trade and seek work 3 (Rogerson 1997; Peberdy and Rogerson 2000; Landau 2005; Mafukidze 2006; Massey 2006). Some migrants have also come to South Africa from war ravaged countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi while the majority of migrants fled the political and economic instability in Zimbabwe to seek asylum. However, an increasing number of migrants have also come from East, West and central Africa (Rogerson 1997; Adepoju 2006), some from countries where there is relative political and economic stability.
This is not to suggest that all cross border migration is illegal. There exists also legal migration which is enhanced by immigration laws which is favourable to members of the South African Development community.
In recent years, there has been a focus on international migration from West Africa. However, the focus has been on migration to Europe and North America (see Togunde and Osagie 2009; Riccio 2001). To illustrate, a special issue of Population, Space and Place in 2004 had papers examining migration from West Africa to North America and Europe. West Africa is perhaps one of the regions most affected by brain drain of highly skilled workers in the formal economy such as health personnel (IOM 2003; Black and King 2004). Therefore the focus of many studies in the West African region has been on emigration among highly skilled people who leave their countries to work in the formal economy in Europe but return home either permanently or occasionally to contribute to economic development through trade and investment (Tiemoko 2004; Black and King 2004; Riccio 2001). Nigeria is particularly affected by brain drain with most (64 %) Nigerian migrants having a tertiary education (Docquier and Marfouk 2006; IOM2009). A 2003 study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that 20, 000 Nigerian medical doctors work in North America. Another study found that 14 % of Nigerian trained physicians live abroad; 90 % of these in the UK and the US (Clemens and Pattersson 2007).
With regard to migration to South Africa, most studies have been on labour migration to the mines and commercial farms. There is also a body of work on cross-border migrants in the South African informal economy (Crush 1997, 2000; Perbedy and Rogerson 2000). Given that West African countries do not share borders with South Africa, migrants from West Africa might have different motivations and migratory trajectories than cross border or labour migrants from Southern Africa. However, little is to be found regarding less skilled 4 West African migrants working in the South African informal economy. This article addresses this issue focusing on migrants from Nigeria, which presents an interesting case study for a number of reasons. Nigeria is home to the largest population of Black people anywhere in the world. Nigeria was perhaps the leading destination country for migrants in subSaharan Africa before South Africa's independence in 1994 (Adedokun 2003; Adepoju 2003). In 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as the largest economy in subSaharan Africa and is by far the largest economy in the West African region. However, an over dependence on oil, inadequate investments in social infrastructure and by extension the real sector of the economy as well as gross mismanagement and profligate spending by successive -mostly military-governments precipitated a collapse of the economy in the mid-1980s (Adepoju 2003; Fajana 2008). The deteriorating economy has led to a considerable increase in the number of people leaving the country for greener pastures.
The definition of low-skilled migrants employed in this study is broad and includes all those with less than tertiary education or those who did not complete tertiary education.
Although the country has a large informal economy which contributes about 60 % of total economic output, migration among less skilled workers has received little attention. Rather the focus of many studies and policies has been on highly-skilled professionals such as medical personnel, engineers and academics (IOM 2003; Adepoju 2006; Docquier and Marfouk 2006; Clemens and Pattersson 2007). If highly skilled Nigerians migrate to take advantage of the skills shortage in the South African economy (Adepoju 2006), this might not be true for less skilled migrants given the oversupply of low-semi skilled South Africans in the labour market. An understanding of the migration experiences of these migrants might further our understanding of current south-south migration flows and configurations. The central questions addressed in this paper are:
Why do low-skilled Nigerians in the informal economy migrate to South Africa?
What are the migratory experiences and trajectories of low-skilled Nigerian migrants in the informal economy?
In what ways and to what extent are their migration goals satisfied?
Migrants and the informal economy in South Africa
The informal economy is the main source of employment in many developing countries. ILO (2001) estimates that in Africa, informal work accounts for 90 % of new jobs, almost 80 % of non-agricultural employment, and over 60 % of urban employment. The informal economy includes all businesses that are not registered or recorded in the formal labour market data. They are generally small in nature and are run from homes, pavements or other informal arrangements (ILO 2001). These include street trading and many forms of home-based work and some highly skilled occupations which takes place outside the formal economy. The characteristics of businesses and workers in the informal economy include the lack of recognition under legal and regulatory frameworks, insecure and irregular employment relationships and incomes, lack of social protection mechanisms and systems, lack of access to credit, health and safety rules, lack of business licenses and formal premises, and lack of operating permits and accounting procedures 5 (Rogerson 1996; ILO 2001; Devey et al. 2005). Street traders are one of the most visible groups of people operating in the South African informal economy and street trading represents a fast growing sector of the informal economy.
In South Africa, it was estimated that, in 1998, over 20,000 traders in Durban generated a total annual revenue of R500 million in informal outlets, including street vendors, shebeens, spazas, tuck shops and private persons (Durban Unicity Council 2001).
Foreign migrants play an important role in the informal economy in South Africa where migrants from SADC countries predominate (Reitzes 1997; Rogerson 1997; Hunter and Skinner 2003). Typically, foreign migrants in street and cross-border trading in South Africa enter the informal economy for survival or an opportunity to earn an income (Peberdy 1997) and many will leave for formal employment if the opportunity arises (Rogerson 1997). Hunter and Skinner (2003) found that about 29 % of migrant street traders in Durban were from West Africa including 4 % from Nigeria.
Methodology and characteristics of the sample
This study is part of a larger study exploring migration from Africa to the informal economy of South Africa and the public health implications. We conducted an ethnographic study which is a mix of different methods with in-depth interviews and participant observation being primary (Parker and Ehrhardt 2001). Ethnography requires relatively long-term interactions with the study participants, and the cultivation of a genuine rapport with members of the study community in order to capture social meanings and to gain an in-depth understanding of life contexts particularly among “hidden and marginalized groups of people” (Preston-Whyte et al. 2005).
The findings reported in this paper are based on a study of Nigerian migrant traders in the Church Walk fleamarket, one of the seven flea markets in Durban. The market attracts both locals and tourists (Quarsingh 2006). Church Walk flea market is a daily outdoor market where items such as crafts, clothing, shoes, bags, hats and caps, fast food, towels, leather ware, fruit and vegetables, cosmetics and accessories, antiques, and beddings, books and leather ware are sold. Africans predominate among the traders followed by Indians and a few Whites. While some of the Africans are South African nationals, the vast majority are young men between the ages of 25–40 years from different African countries (Hunter and Skinner 2003).
The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the study took place from March to October 2006 while the second phase took place between Jan 2011 and December 2012. In order to recruit participants for the study, we contacted a Nigerian woman who is a trader in the flea market and who was also the secretary of a local association of Nigerians in the informal economy. She assisted our access to other Nigerian traders in the flea market who became our participants. In addition, we used snowball sampling to identify and recruit more Nigerian traders; participants who had been interviewed were asked to refer or introduce us to other Nigerians in the flea market, who in turn, referred us to others (Neuman 2009). Thus a convenient sample of migrants was drawn. In order to be eligible to be recruited for the study, participants had to be: Nigerian migrants; working in the flea market; willing to participate in the study and willing to devote considerable amount of time for the interviews during work hours.
Ten people who met these inclusion criteria were recruited for the study in the first phase while three were recruited in the second phase of the study. Therefore a total of 13 migrants were interviewed. Three migrants refused to participate in the study citing a lack of interest. The age of the study participants ranged from 25 to 40 years. Only two out of the 13 participants were married, the remaining were unmarried young men. One of the married participants migrated to South Africa with his wife and two children while the other left his wife in Nigeria. With the exception of one participant, the remaining unmarried participants had girlfriends whom they left behind in Nigeria. All had completed high school (12 years) education. Only a few (2) of the 13 participants had completed post-secondary school education. They both had a two-year diploma. Three participants abandoned their post-secondary studies for their journey to South Africa. The 13 participants are from two ethnic groups in Nigeria (Yoruba and Igbo) and they speak two different languages but they could all communicate in English and Pidgin English.
Fieldwork was conducted by the authors. At the beginning of the study, informal interviews were conducted with two key informants. The informal interviews continued throughout the period of the study and the intervening period between the first phase and the second phase of the study. We also conducted participant observation of everyday life at the market. Participant observation is a method of data collection which involves getting close to people and making them feel comfortable enough with your presence that you can observe and record information about their ‘ordinary unstaged lives’ (Russell Bernard 1995:136).
We used participant observation as a tool for ‘field entry’ and to collect data. Participant observation helped us gain trust and acceptance by traders in the market. It also helped us familiarise ourselves with the study environment and the participants so they are comfortable enough to share their stories and to discuss intimate and sensitive issues regarding their migration experiences and how they came to settle in the flea market. Each day the first author resumed at the market helping the main key informant with setting up her make-shift gazebo stall in the morning and in selling her wares and packing up late in the evening after the close of work. We used participant observations to collect data on everyday life in the market. The information thus obtained was used to clarify information and ask questions from key informants.
In the first phase of the study, we conducted in-depth interviews with the ten research participants in their stalls using an interview schedule that covered the following themes: motivations for migrating; arrival in the country; experiences since arriving in South Africa and entry into the informal economy, life and economic activities in the flea market, future plans and intentions. In these free-flowing unstructured narratives, participants spoke at length about how they migrated to South Africa and about their migration experiences. The interviews were conducted mainly in English but some spoke in Pidgin English and Yoruba when explaining or elaborating on issues. Notes were taken during the interviews and these served as reminders for writing detailed field notes each evening. Interviews took between 1.30 and 3 h in a day and for most participants interviews were conducted over several days. This was to allow participants time to sell their wares and to allow ourselves time to reflect on the responses and seek clarifications and ask follow-up questions.
We returned to the flea market for the second phase of the study between January 2011 and December 2012 to conduct more interviews with study participants as well as to recruit new participants. Although our key informant told us five new migrants were working in the flea market, only three agreed to participate in the study and were interviewed. We also conducted follow-up interviews with our key informants and four of the initial ten participants. It is also important to note that four of the initial participants had gone back to Nigeria while two had left the flea market for semi-skilled jobs in the formal economy.
Findings
Motivations for migrating to South Africa
We asked participants why they came to South Africa. They gave a wide range of reasons; most had information or promises of help from friends or family who were already living in South Africa.
Beliefs about better job opportunities and promises of help
Economic reasons: perceived opportunities for employment in better jobs with higher incomes was central to most participants’ decision to migrate to South Africa. This motivation is common among migrants the world over. Maharaj and Moodley (2000) found that about 70 % of the migrants to Durban interviewed said they came in search of better employment opportunities. Our study participants also claimed that they migrated because of deteriorating prospects for their businesses or inability to secure employment. They hoped that once in South Africa they would have better prospects of finding work and earn higher wages/salaries. They had also hoped that the stronger value of the South African currency would make it worthwhile to remit money to their home country. 6
The Rand to Naira exchange rate is attractive; at the time of the study 1 South African Rand was equivalent to 25 Naira, the Nigerian currency
However, some were misinformed or deceived by friends and family members residing in South Africa who promised to help them secure jobs or provide them with jobs, accommodation or pay their tuition in the University. Some, in order to facilitate their travels, even gave up their jobs and sold their properties before migrating. May Anthony 7 was a businessman in Lagos. He sold his business and two cars after receiving an invitation from an old friend, Chukwu, living in South Africa, who was on a business visit to Nigeria. May had assisted his friend to sell a container load of cell phones that he shipped home and made some handsome profit in the process. His friend showed appreciation and suggested that he had better prospects in South Africa given his marketing skills.
All the real names of the participants have been excluded to protect anonymity and confidentiality. The names used in this paper are pseudonyms.
One of my friends living in South Africa came home for holiday and invited me to come and work for him in his cell phone business. When he returned to South Africa he kept calling me insisting that I should join him quickly. He even sent all the documentation needed for processing a visa to me.
Although May was invited by his friend, which served as a pull factor, his perceptions about the friend's apparent success might also have served as a push factor. Riccio's (2001) work on Senegalese migrants in Italy offers insight into transnational migrants’ influence on migration which provides support for this argument. His work highlights the general tendency for migrants who return to their home countries to live ostentatiously in order to impress others. His study indicated that migrants who are economically successful in Italy go back home to invest and also show off their wealth. He argues that this constitutes a push factor which fuels emigration from Senegal because it encourages others to want to aspire to such economic success. Togunde and Osagie's (2009) study among university students in South-western Nigeria revealed findings similar to that of Riccio. The authors found that the behaviour of Nigerian returnees from the US created an impression that the US was a land of socio-economic opportunity and this influenced participants to migrate to the US. This might be the case for May Anthony who had a perception that his friend was very economically successful in South Africa.
In some instances the decision to migrate for economic reasons was not a personal one; sometimes a senior person in the family such as an elder brother or parent suggested the idea. This is so as to diversify or spread their risks so that the sibling living outside the country could render economic support to the family should the need arise. This is the case of Damola whose eldest brother not only encouraged him to migrate, but also financed his travel to South Africa.
I had no intention of travelling out, but my brother said we all cannot put our eggs in one basket that somebody will have to travel for the sake of the future.
This phenomenon is common among migrants from many developing countries. As is typical for migrants in other countries, participants came to South Africa with the help of friends or family. Usually there are friends and families who help migrants to secure accommodation or house them till they can stand on their own feet. They may also help them to secure a job (Riccio 2001). Riccio's work on Senegalese migrants in Italy shows that the families play a central role in migration decisions. Family members assist not only in decision making but also in financing the trip and connecting migrants to networks in their destination countries.
In our study, friends also played a role in migration. May Anthony who had received an invitation from his South Africa based friend in turn invited his friend Adebayo to come with him to South Africa. Although Adebayo came with some pocket money like May, he had hoped to share accommodation with May and benefit from Chukwu's networks to find employment but did not have any other concrete alternative plan should this not materialise.
Another participant, Olalekan was invited by a football agent in South Africa to participate in trials with professional football clubs. But he was unable to secure a contract from any of the clubs. His agent advised him to stick around for more trials and he ended up exhausting his money. He decided to stay in the country hoping to get a contract in due course.
Stepping stone to western countries
Four of the study participants indicated that they did not intend to live in South Africa but ended up in South Africa by default. They claimed that they were advised by friends and travel agents that they stood a better chance of securing a visa for Europe and North American countries in South Africa. They had all been denied visas previously in their home country. However, on getting to South Africa they realized that obtaining such visas was equally difficult if not impossible. Ladele, a 26-year old young man tells his story.
I came to South Africa in 2003, on my way to the UK. Our travel agent told me that entry to the UK was easier from South Africa.
A recent study reported a similar finding among migrants from Francophone African countries (Lekogo 2006). Lekogo found that Africans from the Francophone countries also used Gabon or Cote d'ivoire as a stepping-stone to some developed countries, such as France (their traditional destination) or the US. For participants in this study however, none was able to actualize this dream of acquiring visas for their desired destination country and they had all lost any hope of doing so. This is partly because unlike in Nigeria, the requirements for visas in South Africa was more stringent since they had to show proof of having decent jobs, legal permanent status and sufficient ties in South Africa all of which will require integration into the formal economy.
Possibility of support for higher education
Some participants indicated that they came to South Africa to further their education, but lack of funds for the tertiary institution fees, food and accommodation prevented them from realizing the dream. The pursuit of higher education was also a motivation for 7 % of participants in a study by Maharaj and Moodley (2000). For some of the participants, their ability to acquire further education was linked to providing other forms of help to their potential sponsor as was the case with Tim Agwuagwu.
My brother requested that I come and help him with his growing business in South Africa. Although I was reluctant to come initially, I gave in to pressure from my parents and my brother. He sent me money to buy a flight ticket and promised that he will reciprocate by securing a university admission for me and paying my tuition.
Tim indicated that once arriving South Africa, he realised that his brother was just barely financially comfortable contrary to the impressions that the family had back home. His business was also going through a rough patch.
Contrary to the experience of the other participants, one of the new migrants in the market Oyelana has had a good experience so far. He was invited by his cousin Banji to study in South Africa and at the same time trade in the flea market.
My cousin invited me to come to South Africa because he said there is an opportunity for me to further my education and at the same time join him in his business.
At the time of the interview the Oyelana was already in his second year of study at the Durban University of Technology.
Joining a partner
Adefioye who was in his early 20s had fallen in love with a beautiful white South African lady, Megan, on the internet. Megan had invited him to come and live with her and eventually get married. Unknown to Adefioye, Megan was a married elderly women living with her husband. On arriving South Africa, Megan came to meet him at the bus station in Durban.
When I saw her I was shocked because the photo I had seen on the internet was that of a young lady. But the person that met me at the bus station was a lady in her 50s. I thought she was the mother of my girlfriend and asked her. And she replied that she was the same person I had been chatting with on the internet and speaking to on the phone. She said that she used the picture of a young lady on the internet in order to find a young male partner. She took me to her home where I later found that she was married. She had to lie to her husband about who I was.
Why Durban?
We discuss why research participants settled in Durban in preference to other parts of the country, for example Johannesburg, which is the main airport of entry into the country and economic capital of South Africa.
Durban: the original destination planned
Eight out of the 13 research participants said that they only transited through Johannesburg which is the main airport of entry into the country from Nigeria, on their way to Durban which they had chosen as their destination because of their friends or family reside in Durban. As Epstein and Gang (2003) point out, friends and family often play a major role in determining which part of the country the migrants choose because they provide ‘beneficial network externalities’ such as shelter, work among others and help reduce the negative impact of migration to a foreign country (p.652)
Durban: the place of last resort
While Durban was the original destination planned for some migrants, many of Durban's migrants did not come directly to the city from their home countries (Maharaj and Moodley 2000). Five of our participants said that their original destination was Johannesburg but they had relocated to Durban to avoid the higher level of crime and police harassment. Maharaj and Moodley (2000) point out that state policing is less stringent in Durban than in Johannesburg. Another reason why Durban is a preferred destination is because participants’ friends tell them that Durban has lots of job opportunities because it is a seaport, which offers better job prospects compared to Johannesburg which is inland. For May Anthony, whose plan was to join his friend, a businessman in Johannesburg, Durban was an unplanned destination:
When I arrived in Johannesburg, I called my friend to come and pick us up from the airport as previously agreed. He told me that I would not be able to stay in his house. He told me that there was no position in his Johannesburg office; the only position was in Durban. He then told me to change some of my traveler's checks to Rands (South African money) at the airport so as to take a bus to Durban immediately to meet his staff in Durban.
Ladele was advised by fellow migrants to relocate to Durban and improve his prospects of getting a job. They also gave him the address of a shelter he could stay until he could afford to rent a room. He came down to Durban in January 2006 and stayed in the shelter.
Migrants’ experiences and difficulties
Next we discuss the reality that migrants were faced with upon arrival in the country highlighting the differences between migrants’ expectations before coming to South Africa and what they found on arrival.
Broken promises: facing cold reality
Once they reach their destinations migrants are faced with the reality of the situation. This is, in most cases, a stark contrast to the stories they heard or what they were expecting. Two of the participants did not even get to see the people who invited them while others found that the promises of jobs and education were not going to materialize as early as they had hoped. May Anthony found himself homeless and jobless when his friend disappointed him.
When I got to Durban, I was met by my friends’ contact man whom I was supposed to work with in my friend's cell phone business. He lodged us in a hotel in the Durban beachfront and paid for one week. But that was the last time I saw or heard from him and he refused to pick my phone calls. Then I got scared and started thinking that everything about my friend having a cell phone company was a hoax. It then dawned on me that I have been deceived. When my stay in the hotel lapsed I checked out of the hotel and sat in front of the hotel stranded with traveling bags.
Tim Agwuagwu whose brother promised financial support for his tertiary education found that the brother was barely comfortable enough to pay for his tuition. He was so disappointed and frustrated that he wanted to go back home. Megan, Adefioye's internet girlfriend told him she started the internet relationship because she was bored in her marriage but never intended to leave her husband.
Later she told me that she was just having fun on the internet and did not expect that I would take up her offer to come. She also said that now that I know that she is married that she could no longer continue with the relationship.
His girlfriend allowed him to stay for a few days and then asked him to leave. Disappointed that he had been tricked, Adefioye still hoped to get some help from Megan to stay in the country and start a new life because he was ashamed to go back home. But Megan refused to commit herself indicating that she will get in touch with him later. In what could be considered a statement of regret Adefioye said ‘I put all my eggs in one basket because I had no idea this plan was going to backfire’.
Unemployment
Apart from the participants who came to work with a friend and brother, others had hoped to secure semi-skilled jobs in the formal economy such as sales attendants in supermarkets & fast food shops, waiters, bar tenders, security men and office assistants. Three participants hoped that these jobs would be a stepping-stone to entering the South African economy. The remaining participants hoped that they would use wages earned while doing semi-skilled jobs to further their education on a part-time basis, and secure better jobs thereafter. However, participants found that reality did not live up to their expectation in South Africa. All the study participants said they could not secure employment despite months of searching.
Given the very high rate of unemployment among low/semi-skilled South Africans, it is not surprising that migrants find it difficult to secure employment. In addition migrants did not have identity documents. Employers did not want to employ the participants because they lacked appropriate documentation such as work permit, permanent residence permit or identity document. Securing these documents is difficult and migrants found themselves caught in a vicious circle: migrants cannot obtain a work permit unless they secure and have proof of an employment, yet employers will not employ foreign migrants unless they have a work permit. This raises the question of whether these migrants are documented or undocumented. Because this is a sensitive issue we did not seek to verify participants’ claims that they had regularized their stay after having initially come into the country with visitors’ permits.
Dealing with hunger
Seven participants said they experienced hunger because they could not secure a job, and had no friends who could provide help. In desperation and in order to survive, participants said they looked for creative means of finding food. They survived through the help of their South African acquaintances:
We feed everyday by eating leftovers from restaurants. The waiters and waitresses keep all the remnants for us. And when we (my friends and I) go to the restaurant at night to collect the food they helped us to microwave it.
Three participants also reported that they sometimes searched for leftover potato chips and burgers in the refuse bins placed in front of the beachfront restaurants. Research participants said that because they were idle, they constantly felt hungry.
Homelessness and loneliness
Some had rented apartments through the help of other migrants who had been in the country much earlier. But when they exhausted their pocket monies, they could no longer afford to pay their house rents. Four of the study participants said that they became homeless after this. May Anthony together with his friend took their bags to someone's room for safekeeping. At night-time May and his friends slept on the beachfront.
The beachfront is very cold, windy, lonely and scary at night. At the beachfront I had to worry about rain at night, thieves that come to steal blankets and criminals that go about raiding and collecting people's cell phones and wallets.
They later got help from a Nigerian who introduced them to a shelter in the city. The place is a Church on Sunday, but during the week and at night it is converted to a shelter for homeless migrants. Two participants lived in the shelter for about one year, and two still lived in the shelter up till the end of the first phase of the fieldwork. But all were living in their own apartments when we returned for the second phase of field work in 2011.
Many of their fellow migrants who were relatively settled in the country and earning wages did not want to take on the extra responsibility for new migrants except in rare cases of extreme compassion. The reason they gave was that they were still struggling to make ends meet and they could not take on extra financial responsibilities. Coupled with this is the fact that housing somebody else would cause their landlord to evict them due to overcrowding. One participant explained how the cold and lonely nights on the beachfront made him appreciate in a deeper way the meaning and importance of shelter and warmth.
Disillusionment
The migration experiences, challenges and disappointments, such as hunger and homelessness that migrants encountered resulted in disillusionment. Despite all these negative experiences they refused to go back home because of shame.
One of our friends always weeps like a baby anytime we got back to the beachfront to eat and sleep. At some point he was sick and tired, he would not speak to anybody for days.
May Anthony claimed that he became suicidal when he could not secure a job after a long period of searching. Yet he and his friends decided not to go back to Nigeria but to stay in South Africa. May couldn't go back home because he had informed everyone about his trip to South Africa to explore greener pastures and he was ashamed and afraid of gossips and that people might call him a failure. Secondly, he had nothing to go back to since he had sold his business. Other migrants in our study who were faced with problems of integrating into the South African economy also had similar fears and decided to stay.
Settling for the informal economy
Studies by McDonald and colleagues have shown that despite the fact that most of the participants in their study were educated, skilled and enterprising; they largely found work in the informal economy or as construction workers with very low incomes (McDonald et al. 1999). Participants in our study ended up in the flea market because they could not secure low to semi-skilled jobs in the formal economy. Those who intended to use South Africa as a transit country also had to settle for jobs in the informal economy. For all participants, trading in the informal economy was their opportunity to end hardship and they grabbed it with both hands. Trading in the informal economy is laborious but it was their strategy for surviving in South Africa. Some had to work as manual labour carrying goods for other traders in order to have a foot in the door. Durodolu had this to say.
When I came to South Africa, and I couldn't secure any job, I first worked as a ‘barrow boy’ (using a wheel barrow to move goods) for some months. And later I saved some money to start my own business.
Ladele searched for a job for months and eventually, through his contacts in the shelter, found a job in the flea market as a shop attendant for our main key informant: Omoladun. Omoladun paid him 200ZAR per week and also treated him like her younger brother providing social and emotional support. She also occasionally gave him home cooked meals for lunch while on the job.
May Anthony eventually found work as a shop keeper for a local businessman after months of searching. But he had to leave his job because he was exploited by his boss who knew that he didn't have proper documentation and so could not report him to the labour department. His boss abruptly stopped paying him wages after three months citing difficulties in his business. This was all despite the fact that the boss had commended him for being trustworthy and hardworking.
Tim Agwuagwu who had wanted to return to Nigeria after he found out that his brother could not afford to pay his tuition in the University also had to settle into the informal economy. His family sent him $1000 to start a small clothing business in the flea market. Adefioye called her internet girlfriend for financial support to start his business. She gave him some financial support (200ZAR) because she felt partly responsible for his predicament but warned him to stop calling her. He did not want to request help from his parents initially but had to when he got stuck. His parents sent him $5,000 with which he started a business in the flea market.
With the exception of three participants who had businesses in Nigeria before migrating, the remaining did not have any skills or experience in trading or entrepreneurship. Therefore they had to learn from other West Africans, mostly migrants from Senegal who were already established in the informal economy and owned bigger stalls. Some of them spent time in apprenticeships working for these mentors while others went to them frequently for advice and guidance.
In order to secure their stalls, participants had to use the documents of their South African wives and partners. They claimed that they had been denied allocation of stalls when they used their own documents which clearly showed that they were migrants. Xenophobia and jealousy was said to have played a role as fellow migrants who were local South Africans had prevailed on the city officials not to allocate spaces and stalls to them on the basis that they would out compete them and render their business unprofitable. Because most migrants source their products from imports from neighbouring countries and Asia they were able to price them extremely low effectively making it difficult for their local South African counterparts to compete favourably.
Where to from here?
All ten migrants who participated in the first phases of the study claimed that they trade in the informal economy in order to survive hunger, homelessness and unemployment. Six participants claimed that it is a stepping-stone to bigger business and four felt that the trading would give them the opportunity of saving money to further their education. All still hoped to fulfill their original dreams of migrating. Some had taken some definite steps towards achieving their dreams. Damola registered in a school and had planned to pursue a professional career.
2005 was a good year for me, because I was able to realize one of my goals. I completed a diploma in basic ambulance assistance at UNISA. I now have a diploma certificate. I intend to study further this year but I have yet to save enough money. My long-term goal is to study further and become a navy paramedic. By then I will leave the market (flea market), to work on the ship.
Tim Agwuagwu also felt he was on course to achieving his dream:
I have secured admission at UNISA to study part time finance and marketing. I cannot study full time because I have to be in the market everyday. Hopefully if I complete my studies, I might secure a better job.
Trading in the informal economy was seen as less prestigious than work in the formal economy. In addition, all initial ten study participants reported that they would love to go home for a holiday, to see their family members but they could not realize the dream of traveling home because air tickets are very expensive. Eight out of the nine unmarried study participants expressed their wish to go home, get married to the girlfriends they left behind and bring them to South Africa, even though they still could not ascertain when this dream would become a reality.
Before the end of the first phase of our study, Ladele, had gone back to Nigeria where he was able to secure a visa to the UK. Another migrant was planning to go back in December 2006 8 unfailingly, indicating that he is not faring well in South Africa and that he has better prospects for economic success in his home country.
Follow up ethnographic study in 2011 showed that this participant went back to Nigeria in 2008 because he had not fulfilled his dream of getting a formal job and integrating into the formal economy and could no longer work in the flea market.
When we returned to the market in 2011, three more participants had gone back to Nigeria and five new migrants had arrived from Nigeria. Damola who studied to become a paramedic was encouraged to come back home by his uncle. He went back in 2009 and is now working as a paramedic in Lagos. One participant, Banji had also gone home to visit his family. However, none of the migrants was financially comfortable enough to get married and bring their wives to join them in South Africa. Our key informant, Omoladun was in regular contact with Ladele and told us that he had secured a semi-skilled job in the UK. He has twice sent Omoladun some gift items in appreciation of the help she rendered while he was working with her in South Africa.
The three newly arrived migrants that we interviewed seemed to have a different migration trajectory than our initial sample. All had been invited by migrants (some from our initial sample) in the informal economy and they seemed to have a fairly good knowledge of what to expect before they migrated. Oyelana who was invited by his cousin, Banji claimed that although it was challenging at first to adjust to life in South Africa, he was achieving his goal of migrating. He was already registered in a local University of Technology and was, at the same time, running his own stall with financial and technical support from his cousin, Banji. In addition, Tim Agwuagwu and Banji together with two other participants (one of whom had recently arrived) had diversified into merchandising occasionally. They purchase clothing from China, Thailand and Dubai to sell to retailers in South Africa. They were also involved in helping people buy and sell used cars at a car auction location in the city as a supplement to their business in the flea market.
Discussion and conclusions
Our study sheds light on the interaction between push and pull factors in migration decisions of Nigerian migrants in the informal economy of South Africa. It highlights the role of family members in facilitating migration and the well-off in the family in defraying migration costs. The findings underscore the perception of migration as a means of economic and career advancement. In addition it furthers an understanding of migration as an investment meant to diversify risks with the migrant expected to assist the family in the family once they are integrated in their receiving communities. It further highlights the role of friends and family resident in South Africa in facilitating migration albeit through misinformation.
Our finding that migrants were misinformed by their friends raises questions that highlight the complexities in migratory behaviour. Migrants who invite others possibly do so as a gesture or in order to show off their status without expecting anyone to take up the offer. Research among returnees supports this theory. Studies among Senegalese transnational migrants in Italy underscore the importance of status enhancement in facilitating migration in sending countries (Riccio 2001, 2008). Togunde and Osagie's (2009) study showed that returnees from the US create impressions about the US as a land of socio-economic opportunities and this impact on Nigerian's decision to emigrate. Returnees’ physical appearance and mannerisms, which gives the impression that the returnees are successful, increases people's likelihood to emigrate. Most (87.4 %) of respondents reported that returnees influenced their desire to immigrate to the US through their behaviour and attitudes.
In this current study, Chukwu may have concealed the true picture regarding his cell phone business to boost his own ego. 9 Second, given that migrants in South Africa live in precarious and sometimes difficult circumstances, it could be that potential hosts experience unanticipated challenges in their business and only realise they cannot fulfil their promise when their invitees are in the country but then fail to own up to their challenges because of the shame of being seen as failures. Third, it is possible that people who invite others make emotional decisions without properly counting the costs of bringing friends into the country and only realise this once their friends arrive. The same explanation might hold for those who invite relatives to study in the country without finding out the cost of education and seeking admission or study permits before migration begins. For the latter category of people, an additional explanation might be that invitees and their potential hosts do not have clear communication and contract regarding the nature of support to be rendered with regards to higher education as well as the timelines. Finally, potential migrants seem to take people resident in their destination country for their words without investigating any information given by them properly. Even so, it is doubtful that they would get accurate information about the destination country even if they chose to investigate. There seems to be a culture of silence and secrecy with regard to migration such that potential migrants are never presented with the full picture of what to expect before they migrate. They are left to discover these themselves once they have taken the plunge.
Given Chwukwu's behavior. It is possible that he did not present the true picture of the cell phone business. It could be that he is not as successful as he portrayed himself. He could be working on behalf of a company for which he receives salary or commission or he could be working in partnership with a number of friends. Whatever the case, the impression that May had about Chwukwu being a wealthy or successful businessman may be exaggerated.
The finding that some migrants intended to use South Africa as a transit point to Europe supports previous findings that showed that migrants sometimes transit in some countries on their way to their destination country (Lekogo 2006). Nonetheless it highlights the ignorance of current immigration laws and visa requirements which requires applicants to be resident in the country where the application is filed and demonstrate proof of job, income and family ties which may take a long time to fulfil. Nonetheless one should not completely rule out the fact that some migrants may have been successful in transiting to Europe or North America. Most participants expected to do menial jobs or acquire further education that would improve their chances of entering the formal economy as is the case with friends living in Europe and the US. This underscores the lack of information about the South African economy as well as a gross lack of knowledge about the requirements for work and study such as work permits or identity documents which has stringent requirements or which can only be obtained by permanent residents and South African citizens. The fact that there are many undocumented African migrants in Nigeria working in various sectors of the economy without work permits could have influenced migrants to think that the situation will be similar in South Africa. It is also clear that migrants lacked knowledge regarding the level of unemployment among low-skilled South Africans before migrating.
Some participants had a job prior to leaving Nigeria while all came from middleincome families and were connected to family networks that were able to finance migration which included the cost of their flight tickets and some pocket money for use while job hunting. 10 Additionally some participants requested and received financial help from families back home when in dire straits. 11 Our findings add to previous evidence indicating that migration is not cheap and that there is a threshold below which migration is not likely to occur given the cost of migration 12 (Adepoju 2003; Kok et al. 2006; Riccio 2001). Previous studies have focused on the role of remittances from migrants in more developed economies to those in less developed economies (Riccio 2001; Black and King 2004; De Haas 2006). Our study highlights the flow and role of remittances from home countries in the integration of migrants in host countries.
This is even truer for participants who intend to use South Africa as a transit point. They come prepared with substantial money to sustain them in the country for a long time and even request financial support from their home country from time to time.
The shame of acknowledging failure made participants reluctant to request help from their families in their home countries but those who summoned the courage to request assistance did receive financial support.
For further discussion of the link between income and migration and income selectivity, see Gelderblom (2006)
None of the participants in the first phase of the study envisioned the challenges they were confronting nor did any of them ever imagine having to work in the flea market to earn a living. Although their situation had improved years after arriving in South Africa, participants were fairing much worse than in their home country having experienced homelessness and food insecurity with some having to depend on financial assistance from their home country in order to survive. This begs the question: why then do they not return to their home countries? First, it seems that most migrants, as a way of coping with difficult circumstances, are unusually optimistic about their prospects or deliberately down play their problems even when faced with the reality of their difficult situation. Second, they may also want to conceal their precarious circumstances from family members or friends in order not to be seen as failures or to avoid causing anxiety among friends and family or putting them under emotional and financial pressure. Third, for migrants the cost of failure is high given substantial investment of financial resources which could, as one participant indicated, include selling businesses and cars and other landed properties making it difficult for migrants to reintegrate and start a new life if they go back without achieving better economic status than in their home countries.
Research among successful Senegalese migrants in Europe show that they make visible investments and live a lavish lifestyle when they return to their home country. This may make it difficult for migrants who are unsuccessful to want to return since people make comparisons between them and stigmatise them as failures. There is a general tendency for migrants to paint themselves as very successful overseas in order to boost their egos and not be seen as failures.
Finally, there is the fear of having to start all over again when they return home because of the belief that their peers would have made considerable progress in their careers. They may also have to become dependent on family who had made sacrifices in terms of migration investment of money and/or time of separation (Tiemoko 2004). Insights into behaviour of migrants highlight the stigma attached to failing as a migrant which leads to a pervasive culture of silence and secrecy among migrants.
Our study shows that despite the modest progress made, most of the less skilled migrants in our sample could be experiencing a sort of failed migration since they had not achieved their main goals of migrating. Whether and how long it will take for them to achieve their goals remains an area for future exploration. The findings have implications for migration policy. Governments could establish physical information services in their home affairs offices as well as in their foreign missions. Further, internet-based services that could be easily accessed by citizens in Nigeria could also help potential migrants to clarify information before leaving the country. Provision of logistical assistance to prospective returnees and assistance with re-integration to the home country would also be beneficial.
Together these findings highlight the need for longitudinal studies that examines the integration of migrants to South Africa over a longer period of time. The study should ascertain whether and how Nigerian migrants who come to South Africa and end up in the informal economy eventually get integrated to the formal economy and whether or not they are able to achieve and satisfy their original motivations for migrating. These studies should explore failed migration and migrants’ decision making regarding returning to their home countries. Another area of interest for further research is the flow of financial support from sending countries to migrants overseas. The fact that a few of the participants received financial support from home opens up an area of research to a phenomenon that is perhaps pervasive but not previously explored. Finally, studies comparing less skilled Nigerian migrants’ trajectory as well as their ability to enter the formal economy in Europe and North America with those in South Africa will be of great value.