Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit Migration from the Northern Cape. by Eldridge Moses and Derek Yu WORKING PAPER SERIES Number 32 About the Author(s) and Acknowledgments Elridge Moses and Derek Yu are researchers in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch Univer- sity We wish to thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for funding the study Recommended citation Moses, E., and D. Yu (2009) Migration from the Northern Cape. A Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit Working Paper Number 32. Cape Town: SALDRU, University of Cape Town ISBN: 978-0-9814304-3-0 © Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, UCT, 2009 Working Papers can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format from www.saldru.uct.ac.za. Printed copies of Working Papers are available for R15.00 each plus vat and postage charges. Orders may be directed to: The Administrative Officer, SALDRU, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, Tel: (021) 650 5696, Fax: (021) 650 5697, Email:
[email protected] Migration from the Northern Cape SALDRU Working Paper Number 32 University of Cape Town June 2009 Eldridge Moses and Derek Yu CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In South Africa, the causes of migration and its impact on society first became entrenched, institutionalised and studied in the latter decades of the 19th Century as mining activity catapulted the country onto the world economic stage. As South Africa evolved into a more modern, capitalist society and agriculture became a less attractive employment option due to a period of crisis at the end of the 1800s, various population groups started migrating towards urban centres.