Mean Streets: Migration, Xenophobia and Informality in South Africa
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Mean Streets Migration, Xenophobia and Informality in South Africa Published by the Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP), the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Southern African Migration Programme, International Migration Research Centre Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2, Canada African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, Environmental & Geographical Science Building, Upper Campus, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa International Development Research Centre, 160 Kent St, Ottawa, Canada K1P 0B2 and Eaton Place, 3rd floor, United Nations Crescent, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya ISBN 978-1-920596-11-8 © SAMP 2015 First published 2015 Production, including editing, design and layout, by Bronwen Dachs Muller Cover by Michiel Botha Cover photograph by Alon Skuy/The Times. The photograph shows Soweto residents looting a migrant-owned shop in a January 2015 spate of attacks in South Africa Index by Ethné Clarke Printed by MegaDigital, Cape Town All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the publishers. Mean Streets Migration, Xenophobia and Informality in South Africa Edited by Jonathan Crush Abel Chikanda Caroline Skinner Acknowledgements The editors would like to acknowledge the financial and programming support of the Inter- national Development Research Centre (IDRC), which funded the research of the Growing Informal Cities Project and the Workshop on Urban Informality and Migrant Entrepre- neurship in Southern African Cities hosted by SAMP and the African Centre for Cities in Cape Town in February 2014. Many of the chapters in this volume were first presented at this workshop. We would like to extend particular thanks to Paul Okwi, Edgard Rodriguez, Luc Mougeot, and Rosemary Ngigi of IDRC for their assistance. Others deserving thanks for their help with the workshop and the preparation of this volume include Bronwen Dachs, Edgar Pieterse, Gordon Pirie, Maria Salamone, Saskia Greyling, and Ithra Najaar. iv Contents Page List of Contributors ix List of Acronyms x Chapter 1 Migrant Entrepreneurship and Informality in South African Cities 1 Jonathan Crush, Abel Chikanda and Caroline Skinner Chapter 2 Doing Business with Xenophobia 25 Jonathan Crush and Sujata Ramachandran Chapter 3 Making an Area Hot: Interrupting Trade in an Ethnic Enclave 60 in Johannesburg’s Inner City Tanya Zack Chapter 4 A Transnational Space of Business: The Informal Economy of 78 Ivory Park, Johannesburg Andrew Charman and Leif Petersen Chapter 5 Resilience and Innovation: Migrant Spaza Shop Entrepreneurs 100 in Soweto, Johannesburg Trynos Gumbo Chapter 6 The Role of Economic Factors and Guanxi Networks in the Success of 113 Chinese Shops in Johannesburg Lodene Willemse Chapter 7 On the Move: Cameroonian Migrants in Durban 132 Akwa Tafuh and Pranitha Maharaj Chapter 8 Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Cape Town’s Informal Economy 145 Madeleine Northcote and Belinda Dodson Chapter 9 The Role of Migrant Traders in Local Economies: A Case Study of 162 Somali Spaza Shops in Cape Town Vanya Gastrow and Roni Amit Chapter 10 The Role of Networks and Herd Behaviour in the Entrepreneurial 178 Activity and Success of African Migrants in South Africa Robertson K. Tengeh v Chapter 11 The Malayisha Industry and the Transnational Movement of 194 Remittances to Zimbabwe Vusilizwe Thebe Chapter 12 Transnational Entrepreneurship and Informal Cross-Border Trade 207 with South Africa Sally Peberdy, Jonathan Crush, Daniel Tevera, Eugene Campbell, Nomsa Zindela, Ines Raimundo, Thuso Green, Abel Chikanda and Godfrey Tawodzera Chapter 13 Unpacking National Policy Towards the Urban Informal Economy 229 Christian M. Rogerson Index 249 List of Tables Table 2.1 South African Attitudes to Economic Migrants in Comparative Perspective 29 Table 2.2 South African Perceptions of Impacts of Migration* 30 Table 2.3 South African Impressions of Migrants and Citizens 30 Table 2.4 South African Impressions of Migrants by Country of Origin 31 Table 2.5 Likelihood of South Africans Taking Preventative Action Against Migrants 32 Table 2.6 Likelihood of Taking Punitive Action Against Irregular Migrants 33 Table 2.7 Frequency of Collective Violence 35 Table 2.8 Collective Violence Locations, 2009-2014 41 Table 4.1 Demographic Profile of Ivory Park 83 Table 4.2 Employment Status of Ivory Park Adult Residents 83 Table 4.3 Ivory Park Fruit and Vegetable Vendor Profits 89 Table 4.4 Employment in Grocery Shops, Ivory Park 90 Table 5.1 Resilience Factors and Business Strategies of Migrant Spaza Entrepreneurs 108 Table 6.1 Demographic Profile of Chinese Respondents 121 Table 6.2 Business Problems Experienced by Chinese Entrepreneurs 128 Table 7.1 Reasons for Departure 135 vi Table 7.2 Applications for Refugee Status by Cameroonians in South Africa, 138 2004-2013 Table 9.1 Location of Study Interviews 164 Table 9.2 Somali Asylum Applications in South Africa 165 Table 10.1 Types of Informal Businesses Surveyed 181 Table 10.2 Location and Ethnic Composition of Respondents 181 Table 10.3 Reasons for Migrating to South Africa 182 Table 10.4 Reasons for Migrating to South Africa by Country of Origin 183 Table 10.5 Sources of Encouragement to Migrate to South Africa 183 Table 10.6 Sources of Encouragement to Migrate to South Africa by Country of 184 Origin Table 10.7 Self-Employment Motivators 185 Table 10.8 Encouragement to Start Own Business 186 Table 10.9 Sources of Start-Up Capital 187 Table 10.10 Sources of Additional Funding 188 Table 10.11 Types and Sources of Business Support 188 Table 10.12 Paid Employees of the Enterprise 190 Table 10.13 Source of Workers at Business Start-Up 191 Table 12.1 Volume of Traffic and Informal Traders by Border Post 211 Table 12.2 Shopping for Business as Main Purpose of Visit to South Africa, 212 2006–2012 Table 12.3 Sex of Informal Cross-Border Traders 213 Table 12.4 Nationality of Traders at Border Posts 214 Table 12.5 Value of Exports and Imports from South Africa, 2010 215 Table 12.6 Cross-Border Trading Activities of Informal Traders 215 Table 12.7 Types of Permits Used by Traders 216 Table 12.8 Frequency of Travel to South Africa for Business 217 Table 12.9 Type of Outlet Where Goods Purchased 218 Table 12.10 Locations in South Africa Where Goods Purchased 220 Table 12.11 Length of Stay in South Africa 221 Table 12.12 Forms of Transportation Used by Traders to Get to Borders 222 Table 12.13 Types of Goods Carried by Traders 223 vii List of Figures Figure 2.1 Collective Violence Locations, South Africa 2005–2006 36 Figure 2.2 Collective Violence Locations, South Africa 2009–2010 37 Figure 2.3 Collective Violence Locations, Gauteng 2009–2010 37 Figure 2.4 Collective Violence Locations, Western Cape 2009–2010 38 Figure 2.5 Collective Violence Locations, South Africa 2012–2013 38 Figure 2.6 Collective Violence Locations, Gauteng 2012–2013 39 Figure 2.7 Collective Violence Locations, Western Cape 2012–2013 39 Figure 4.1 Languages Spoken by Ivory Park Residents 82 Figure 4.2 Business Ownership in the Ivory Park Taxi Rank Precinct 91 Figure 5.1 Country of Origin of Migrant Spaza Entrepreneurs 103 Figure 5.2 Length of Residence of Migrant Spaza Shop Owners in South Africa 104 Figure 5.3 Duration of Operation of Migrant Spaza Shops in Soweto 104 Figure 5.4 Migrant Spaza Shop Asset Values in Soweto 106 Figure 5.5 Customers Served by Migrant Spaza Shops in Soweto 106 Figure 5.6 Migrant Spaza Shop Rentals in Soweto 107 Figure 6.1 Location of Study Area 120 Figure 6.2 Areas of Residence of Chinese Respondents 122 Figure 6.3 Reasons for Choosing Current Business Location 124 Figure 6.4 Sources of Start-Up Capital 124 Figure 6.5 Amount of Business Start-Up Required 125 Figure 10.1 Growth of Business Capitalization 189 Figure 10.2 Increase in Value of Business Over Time by Country of Origin 190 Figure 12.1 Border Posts Monitored 211 Figure 12.2 Value of Goods Carried by Informal Cross-Border Traders 221 viii List of Contributors Roni Amit Senior Researcher, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Eugene Campbell Independent Researcher, Gaborone, Botswana Andrew Charman Director, Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa Abel Chikanda Assistant Professor of Geography and African & African American Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States Jonathan Crush Professor and CIGI Chair in Global Migration and Development, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Canada, and Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town Belinda Dodson Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Vanya Gastrow PhD Student, African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Thuso Green General Secretary, Titi G Foundation, Maseru, Lesotho Trynos Gumbo Senior Lecturer, Town and Regional Planning Department, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Pranitha Maharaj Associate Professor, Population Studies and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa Madeleine Northcote MA Student, Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Sally Peberdy Senior Researcher, Gauteng City-Region Observatory, Johannesburg, South Africa Leif Petersen Managing Director, Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa Ines