South Africa

Responses to COVID-19 by Internal Migrants in South African Cities

This paper explores the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on internal migrants in the urban centres of Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. Focusing on the socio-economic and livelihood challenges faced by this population, the research utilizes a survey conducted in 2023 to investigate how the pandemic exacerbated existing vulnerabilities. Results highlight significant disruptions in employment, […]

Responses to COVID-19 by Internal Migrants in South African Cities Read More »

Enforcement and Exclusion: COVID-19 Policies, Urban Migrants, and Food Insecurity in Pandemic South Africa

On March 5th, 2020, South Africa recorded its first official case of COVID-19 when a South African tourist returning from a holiday in northern Italy tested positive. The number of excess deaths is now over 300,000. The policy response to the pandemic is widely regarded as amongst the most draconian in Africa. In 2020, the

Enforcement and Exclusion: COVID-19 Policies, Urban Migrants, and Food Insecurity in Pandemic South Africa Read More »

Urban Transformation, African Migrants and the Informal Food System in Cape Town

This study will make a significant contribution to the growing literature on migration and food security nexus by focusing on the contribution of migrant women food vendors to the informal food system in Cape Town. In addition,  the study will provide new empirical and conceptual insights into the role of informal food vending in urban

Urban Transformation, African Migrants and the Informal Food System in Cape Town Read More »

Pandemic Precarity, Crisis-Living, and Food Insecurity: Female Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa

Sujata Ramachandran, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera & Elizabeth Opiyo Onyango  •  Our chapter examines the neglected connections between migration, gender, and food security in the context of the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic, using the case study of female-headed Zimbabwean migrant households in South Africa. We draw on the concept of “migrant pandemic precarity” to highlight the

Pandemic Precarity, Crisis-Living, and Food Insecurity: Female Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa Read More »

Food Resilience and Urban Gardener Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Can We Learn from the Experience of the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa?

This paper draws on the results of a mixed-methods study that investigates whether urban gardener networks in a low-income neighbourhood in Cape Town are contributing to urban agriculture and food resilience. The findings reveal that the urban gardeners are organised into largely fragmented informal networks whose primary goal is to enhance food resilience. While these

Food Resilience and Urban Gardener Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Can We Learn from the Experience of the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa? Read More »

Growing and Eating Food during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Farmers’ Perspectives on Local Food System Resilience to Shocks in Southern Africa and Indonesia

The COVID-19 outbreak forced governments to make decisions that had adverse effects on local food systems and supply chains. As a result, many small-scale food producers faced difficulties growing, harvesting, and selling their goods. This participatory research examines local small-scale farmers’ challenges as farmers but also as consumers and their coping strategies during the month

Growing and Eating Food during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Farmers’ Perspectives on Local Food System Resilience to Shocks in Southern Africa and Indonesia Read More »

Informal Cross-Border Traders and Food Trade during the Pandemic in Zimbabwe

The collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy in the 2000s resulted in the country relying largely on food imports from other countries, especially from South Africa. Informal cross-border traders have become crucial players in the country’s food economy, playing an important role in the importation of food as well as its retail across the country. Cross-border trading

Informal Cross-Border Traders and Food Trade during the Pandemic in Zimbabwe Read More »

South-South Migration, Pandemic Precarity, and the Informal Food Sector in South Africa

The analysis of COVID-19 pandemic precarity in Africa should focus on the ways in which pre-pandemic migrant vulnerabilities were reconfigured in ways that weakened economic resiliency and reinforced disadvantage. This is the first paper to apply the concept of pandemic precarity to the impact of COVID-19 on migrants working in the informal food sector of

South-South Migration, Pandemic Precarity, and the Informal Food Sector in South Africa Read More »

Food Insecurity and Irregular Labour Migration from Northern Malawi to South Africa

The factors influencing migration decisions from Malawi to South Africa have changed with the end of contract migration to the mines and the new normal of irregular migration of both men and women to work in other sectors of the South African economy. Food insecurity is now one of the main drivers of migration as

Food Insecurity and Irregular Labour Migration from Northern Malawi to South Africa Read More »

The Evolving Role of Social Media in Food Remitting: Evidence from Zimbabwean Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa

— PhD Thesis — In the global South, food remittances play a significant role in the food and nutrition security of many households, especially low-income families. However, in the last two decades, debates and research on migration, remittances, and development have primarily focused on cash transfers. Non-cash remittances such as food transfers have received limited

The Evolving Role of Social Media in Food Remitting: Evidence from Zimbabwean Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa Read More »

Scroll to Top