— Master’s Thesis —
The COVID-19 epidemic has been a devastating global health catastrophe, and the ensuing lockdowns and limitations have exacerbated numerous inequities along racial, ethnic, class, and gender lines. Recent studies have shown that undocumented migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers have been further affected, due to policy responses that mostly exclude them from targeted COVID-19 mitigation efforts aimed toward citizen support. As the South African government has provided some measures to ameliorate the negative economic and social impacts of the pandemic and lockdown on its population, undocumented Zimbabwean migrants on temporary contracts in sectors such as construction, tourism and hospitality have been continuously placed on leave, have reduced hours or have altogether lost their jobs. However, most have not been eligible for government social benefits that have been put in place to mitigate against the negative economic impacts of the pandemic.
This study aimed to examine the vulnerabilities and responding social resilience of a sample of undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in Cape Town, South Africa during COVID-19. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews to establish the experiences, challenges and coping capacities of undocumented migrants. The study established that the very factors that are key to the success of social resilience for migrants were the most affected by COVID-19, particularly the closure of places of work. In this case, social resilience has been highly compromised such that the translocal family network is unable to sustain their resilience. Transformative and adaptive capacities have been observed to remain elusive, and most of the migrants included in the study indicated the desire to go back home. The study recommends that the South African government needs to ensure that humanitarian assistance is accessible to all human beings who are in need despite their legal status in the country. This will help ensure that more organisations come out to assist undocumented migrants in times of crises.
