Investigating the push and pull factors of international migration in South Africa; the case of Cameroonian and Congolese migrants in cape town.

Abstract

International migration is growing steadily and has become an inevitable phenomenon mostly peculiar to the African continent that is characterised by economic, social and political challenges. The study investigated the push and pull factors of international migration in South Africa using the case of Cameroonian and Congolese migrants in Cape Town. In this study, the researcher explored the determinants for migration, assessed the living experiences of migrants and evaluated the effects of the current migration policy on migrants. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with snowball sampling was used to select key informants of Cameroonian and Congolese nationalities in Cape Town. Findings show that, economic factors are the key factors of migration followed by political factors as well as the influence of migrant networks. Another discovery was that the aspirations and exposure factor that was identified by most migrants as one of the factors influencing migration decisions, was not clearly highlighted in literature as some of the factors influencing migration. This study found out that most migrants did not meet their expectations for migrating and this is mainly because of the migration policy that limits them as they are not exposed to lots of opportunities. The recent migration policy has negatively affected migrants making them more miserable and most of them do not prefer the option of returning because they have not attained their goals for migration. So it is very important for the South African government and policy makers to look into the different challenges that migrants are facing and come up with better policies that will be beneficial not only to the migrants but the South African society as a whole.