countries of origin as a group. Movement of the workers outside the mines
is forbidden and hence the choice of work place is predetermined.74. In Zambia, over 25 percent of the labour force in the mines was foreign-born in the peak years of the 1950s but immigration has since declined 8/. This has been accomplished by tighter security measures on the borders with Angola and Mozambique as well as stricter controls over
the granting of work permits and entry visas, as the government of indepen dent Zambia has sought to promote indigenization of jobs 9/.
75. Although the largest importer of African labour has been the Republic of South Africa, in relation to its population size, Southern Rhodesia has been an even greater importer of labour. According to the 1969 census, 7 percent of the African population was foreign-born, as com>ared with 3.3 percent in South Africa in 1970. The annual statistics of immigration and emigration, however, show a greatly reduced migrant
flow in recent years. After Southern Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence, immigration from Zambia was nearly halted and the inflow from Malawi and Mozambique was greatly curtailed. Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) has changed her status from an immigration to emigration country.
She has already become a labour reserve for the Republic of South Africa.
The economic embargo imposed upon Zimbabwe has been lifted after the country achieved majority rule and this might change the trend of migration towards self sufficiency. Perhaps Zimbabwe may soon become a country of immigration if her economy is soon reactivated.
76. Given the dominance of the Republic of South Africa as an importer of labour with the South African subregion, it will be illuminating to dwell in greater detail on her situation of migrant labour system with a view to spelling out in the next chapter the role of ECA in tackling the problem of migratory labour in the subregion.
8/ United Nations, World Population trends and policies: 1977 Monitoring Report, Vol.1 (New York, 1979), pp. 99 - 104.
9/ Ohadike, P.O. and Tesfaghiorghis, H., The Population of Zambia CICRED Monograph Series, World Population Year 1974 (Lusaka, 1974),
pp. 122 & 133.
38
-77. The volume of labour migration into the Republic steadily increased until the early part of the 1970s and then gradually declined afterwards
(Table 7) under conditions of higher demand for labour in the latter. It increased from 62,370 in 1906 to 191,360 in 1941. Having reached a peak of 337,600 in 1973, it declined to 206,780 in 1977. This decline in migrant labour employment in the mines of the Republic of South Africa over recent years is more conspicuous if their proportion to the total African workers is examined- This proportion decreased from about 50 percent in the 1930s and 80 percent in 1973 to only 49 percent in 1977
(Table 7). The trend of labour migration to the mines of the Republic is shown in Tables 8, 9 and 10. It appears that while the overall employment was increasing, the utilization of migrant labour was decreasing. The Republic of South Africa is currently relying on its local black labour supply instead of drawing labour from her traditional suppliers of foreign workers.
78. In a study of labour migration from the major supplier states but focussing on the BLS (Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland) countries, Elkan reports that the source of recruitment of labour into the Republic has altered drastically. First, there has been a complete rundown of miners
from Malawi following the Francis town air-crash in April, 1974. From a total of 123,251 Malawian workers in the mines of the Republic of December 1973, the number fell by about 45% to 68,448 by December 1974. In 1975 the figure stood at 2,711 and by December 1976, it was zero 10/. The situation has since returned to normal; around 1977, the Malawian
government reactivated the policy of exporting labour to the mines of the Republic. Another substantially reduced source of recruits has been Mozambique. From some 85s000 working in the mines in July 1974, their number rose to a peak of 107,000 in December 1975. But from then on recruitment fell sharply and by July 1976, it was only 68,000 11/. The reason for the decline of recruitment from Mozambique is not quite clear.
The new government of Mozambique might have prefered not to have its people work in the Republic. It is also possible that there was no such political motive and that the decline in numbers was to be attributed principally to an administrative slowdown resulting from a shortage of experienced officials since Mozambique became independent.
79. On the other hand, there has been a rising proportion of workers in the mines of the Republic from the BLS countries, although far more is known about migration from Lesotho than from the other two BLS countries.
The total workers from the three BLS countries increased from 100,023 (ie. 25 percent of total workers employed in mines recruited by the (MLO) Mine Labour Organization in July 1974 to 115,536 (or 31 percent of total) in July 1975 and 126,266 (or 32 percent of total) in July 1976. For the three years, the proportion of workers from Lesotho (out of the total from the BLS) was 74, 72 and 70 percent respectively 12/. The increase in the
10/ Malawi Statistical Yearbook, 1977 (Zambia, March 1978), Table 7.7, p. 76.
11/ Elkan, W.,"Labour migration from Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland", EDCC Col. 28, No. 3, April 1980, pp. 533-596.
12/ Ibid.
39 -Table 7
Average numbers employed in the gold mines of the Republic of South Africa (European and
African), 18 89-1977
Year Europeans(000s)
Africans Foreign African as % (000s) of all Africans XI
1889
1/ End-of-year foreigners in total number employed at end of
year
Sources: Mine Labour Organizations (WHLA), Annual Reports;
(various); Mine Labour Organization (NRC) Annual Reports (various)
Labour Migrant;
Source
Republic of South Africa Europe and North
America
of South African
D E
... not available - negligible
Source: Selected from ILO, World Employment Programme Research WEP 2-26/WP 41 (Geneva, 1979):
Tables 2 and 8. WEP 2-26/WP 20 (Geneva, 1978): Table 3.
Table 9
Country
Source of African labour in the Republic of South Africa by country of origin, employed at end of each year by affiliates of the Chamber of Mines (in thousands)
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 19771
1978Botswana Lesotho Swaziland
Malawi3
Mozambique
Southern Rhodesia Zimbabwe
Total foreign South Africa
19.0 16.0 15.6 64.3 59.7 65.1
4.3 3.8 4.5
56.3 56.9 61.7 109.0 105.7 105.8
14.8 16.3 16.0 17.5 16.8 14.7 16.6 15.5 19.7 65.0 71.1 68.7 78.5 87.2 78.3 85.5 96.4 103.2
5.0 5.4 4.8 4.3 4.5 5.5 7.2 8.6 8.1
69.9 98.2 107.8 129.2 128.0 73.1 8.5 6.9 14.2 99.8 113.3 102.4 97.7 99.1 101.8 118.0 48.6 41.4
--- 7.0 26.9 21.4 252.9 242.2 252.7 254.9 304." 299.7 327.2 335.6 273.4 242.8 202.9 208.0 130.5 126.2 129.9 116.5 96.9 86.5 87.2 86.2 90.0 121.8 156.6 214.1
21.0 97.5 9.3 21.6 33.9
23.0 206."
224.7