SOUTH AFRICA
As a result of its vibrant economy and democratic establishments, South Africa has become a leading destination for migrants from across Africa and beyond. A wide range of international migrants, both documented and undocumented, have settled in the country, including economic migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. While the exact number of international migrants is contested, the 2022 South African Census estimated their population to exceed 2.4 million. The top migrant-sending countries in South Africa include Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, the United Kingdom and Ethiopia. Income earned by international migrants in South Africa is crucial in supporting their families back home through remittances. Outbound remittances from South Africa exceeded US$1 billion in 2023, a figure that would be substantially higher if informal flows were included. International migrants in South Africa face numerous challenges, including discrimination, workplace exploitation and limited access to education, healthcare, and other services due to their nationality or undocumented status. Moreover, food insecurity poses a significant challenge in the country. Food insecurity exacerbates challenges for international migrants, especially the undocumented ones, amid declining economic conditions. These migrants often have limited or no access to social relief programs or grants, exacerbating their vulnerability to food insecurity and other hardships.
RESEARCH on SOUTH AFRICA
MiFOOD PAPERS
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Informal Pandemic Precarity and Migrant Food Enterprise in South Africa During COVID-19
In focusing on informal pandemic precarity in South Africa, this paper has three main objectives. First, it shows why the South African government's policy response to COVID-19 increased the precarity of migrant enterprise in the urban informal sector. Second, drawing on data from our survey of informal food sector enterprises in the city of Cape Town in 2021, we investigate how migrant food enterprises differ from one another and assess their relative vulnerability to informal pandemic precarity. And third, we ...
Experimental Urban Commons?: Re-examining Urban Community Food Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa
Contemporary literature on urban agriculture often analyses urban community gardens as ‘existing’ commons with the capacity to counter neoliberal urban development and resource management practices. However, the existing literature on ‘political gardening’ generally focuses on cities in North America and Europe, despite the prevalence of urban community gardens and neoliberal planning across other regions, including Southern cities. This paper examines urban community gardens in Cape Town, South Africa to assess their capacity to function as urban commons in six areas: ...
Urban Community Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa: Navigating Land Access and Land Tenure Security
Land tenure security continues to pose a significant challenge to the sustainability of urban community gardens in global South cities. However, a few studies have explored the mechanisms that urban gardeners employ to facilitate land access and variations in land tenure security arrangements made with land owners in South African cities. This paper employs a mixed-methods research approach involving quantitative and qualitative techniques to examine how urban community gardens access land and land tenure security arrangements thereof. The study is ...
Digital Disruptions in the South Africa–Zimbabwe Remittance Corridor During COVID-19
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant remittances has generated a great deal of confusion and debate. This article aims to test three conflicting global and local narratives about the relationship between the pandemic and remittance flows in the South Africa–Zimbabwe remittance corridor. We refer to these as remittance pessimism, remittance resilience and remittance rerouting narratives. The article presents the pre-pandemic background context of migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa, the evidence for a shift from informal to formal ...
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 networks have succeeded in disseminating information, they have not been able to empower urban gardeners in low-income neighbourhoods to access resources beyond non-governmental organisation assistance. ...
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 of April and one week in June 2020. The study was initiated and conceptualized in collaboration with small-scale farmer members of an existing research network ...
Migrant Networks, Food Remittances, and Zimbabweans in Cape Town: A Social Media Perspective
This study examines the evolving connection between migrant networking on social media and cross-border food remittances in Southern Africa. Emerging research and academic debates have shown that social media platforms transform migration networks. But the role and link between migrant remittances and social media are generally overlooked and neglected. This paper contributes to the ongoing debates by examining the role of social media as a valuable networking tool for food-remitting Zimbabwean migrants. The research is founded on a mixed-methods approach, ...
Cross-Border Food Remittances and Mobile Transfers: The Experiences of Zimbabwean Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile transfers have become a defining feature of cross-border remittance transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, recent studies on mobile transfers have mainly focused on cash remittances and need to pay more attention to mobile food transfers. This paper addresses this research gap on mobile food transfers by examining cross-border food remittances and mobile transfers by Zimbabwean migrants residing in Cape Town, South Africa, to their families and friends back home. In this paper, we seek to understand the factors ...
RESEARCH PROJECTS
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 food systems and the connections between migrants, food, and informality in the global South. The project aims to examine how the transformation of food systems ...
QES-AS Program: Governing Urban Food Systems in the Global South
The Hungry Cities Partnership has received a four-year (2017-2021) grant from the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships advanced scholars program to fund the exchange of doctoral, post-doctoral and early career scholars between Canada and partner cities. Learn More (PDF)
IPaSS: Informality, Inclusive Growth and Food Security in Cities of the Global South
This foundation project of the Hungry Cities Partnership is funded by the SSHRC and IDRC under the International Partnerships for Sustainable Societies Program (IPaSS). The project has facilitated the formation of an initial seven-city research and policy network across the Global South linked to researchers at five Canadian universities. The project has embarked on a five-year program of collaborative research on a variety of themes related to inclusive growth and the formal and informal urban food system in the study ...
Consuming Urban Poverty (CUP) Project: Governing Food Systems to Alleviate Poverty in Secondary Cities in Africa
The CUP project is funded by the UK DFID-ESRC Urban Poverty Programme and focuses on the relationship between urban poverty and secondary urbanization in Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe Africa as viewed through a food lens. The project is based at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, also a partner in the Hungry Cities Partnership. Learn More
Growing Informal Cities Project
GIC is funded by IDRC and is a partnership between SAMP, the African Centre for Cities (UCT), Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo and the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO). The project recently completed a three year program of research on migrant entrepreneurship and informal cross-border trade (including in the food sector) in four African cities. Learn More
South African Supermarkets and Food Security in African Cities
This project is being implemented by AFSUN, HCP and the University of Namibia in the HCP-affiliated city of Windhoek, Namibia. The pilot funded by Open Society Foundation South Africa is examining the implications of the supermarket revolution for poor urban communities in the informal settlements of Windhoek. Learn More
Nourishing Spaces
The African Centre for Cities, the HCP partner in South Africa, has launched a new IDRC-funded project which investigates urban food systems in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Africa, Kenya and Namibia. Learn More
Refugee Economic Impacts in South African Cities
This UNHCR-funded project examined the urban survival strategies of informal sector refugee and South African-owned enterprises in Cape Town and Limpopo. Learn More (PDF)
Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC)
The African Centre for Cities, the HCP partner in South Africa, has launched a new IDRC-funded project which investigates urban food systems in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Africa, Kenya and Namibia. Learn More (PDF)
Assessing and Mitigating the Food Insecurity Consequences of COVID-19 Public Health Measures on Marginalized Refugees and Migrants in Canada, Latin America and Africa
Strategies to mitigate the public health impacts of COVID-19 have led to a secondary pandemic of global food insecurity. Our project will ‘scale up’ our First Round CIHR Grant on the negative impacts of COVID-19 on household food security in Wuhan and Nanjing, China to three additional cities: Quito (Ecuador), Cape Town (South Africa) and Kitchener-Waterloo (K-W) (Canada). This CIHR-funded project will have a particular focus on the food insecurity experience of marginalized immigrant and refugee populations during the pandemic ...
Assessing and Mitigating the Food Security Consequences of COVID-19 in China, Ecuador and South Africa
The proposed research will identify the immediate and longer-term impact of COVID-19 on household food security in cities, and will assess and improve fast-evolving social and policy countermeasures to enhance food security. Our research objectives are to: 1) Investigate the immediate food security challenges resulting from quarantine measures, unstable food supply, and fear of shopping in affected cities; 2) Assess how COVID-19 has impacted food security by longitudinal comparison with the baseline survey data collected through Hungry Cities Project; and ...
African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN)
AFSUN was founded in 2008 with funding from the Canadian Government’s University Partners in Cooperation and Development (UPCD) Tier One Program to conduct research, capacity-building and policy work on the relationship between rapid urbanization and food security in 9 countries and 11 cities in Southern Africa. The research themes and outputs are all available on the WLU website. Learn More
Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP)
SAMP was founded in 1997 as a network of organizations in Southern Africa committed to advancing a regional migration and development agenda through research, training and advocacy. SAMP is an internationally-recognized leader in migration and development research in Africa and has been funded at various times by CIDA, UK-DFID, IDRC and the Open Society Foundation. SAMP is based at the IMRC at the Balsillie School and the University of Western Cape. Learn More
23. Assessing and Mitigating the Food Insecurity Consequences of COVID-19 on Marginalized Refugees and Migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
Adopting a mixed methods approach including surveys, key informant interviews, and participatory methods, the project will apply a gender-sensitive analysis to explore the food insecurity experiences of Somali, Congolese and Zimbabwean migrants and refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Cape Town, South Africa. It aims to provide critical decision-making and pandemic response data to local stakeholders and inform food policy responses. Data from this project will be compared with data from Kitchener-Waterloo in Canada and Quito in Ecuador.
COVID-19 and Food Security of Zimbabwean Migrants in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Harare
This project, conducted as part of the Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholars program at Laurier has three elements: 1) a food security household survey of 500 Zimbabwean migrant households in Cape Town, South Africa; 2) a similar survey conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa and 3) in-depth qualitative interviews with cross-border informal food traders in Harare, Zimbabwe. The aim of the research conducted in 2021 is to provide an update on the food security status of migrant households (following earlier surveys by ...
BOOK CHAPTER
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 distinctive pandemic-related negative turns and vulnerabilities encountered by migrant households stretched across sending and receiving areas. We contend that unchecked food insecurity is a core ...
COVID-19 lockdown and peri-urban livelihoods: Migrants’ contribution to the South African food system
Mulugeta F. Dinbabo • In developed and developing countries, the livelihoods of a lot of people in peri-urban areas depend on the informal economy (Coulibaly & Li 2020; Farrington 2001; Harrison & McVey 1997). The informal economy is defined by all jobs relating to individuals or businesses not appropriately catered for by statute, practice, or structured arrangements. Such lack of formality often ensures that little of the ‘shadow’ economy is understood and, as such, is likely to be ignored during ...
POLICY AUDITS
South Africa at War: Food Insecurity, Migrant Exclusion and COVID-19 Policies
The policy audit critically examines the South African government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly focusing on the militaristic enforcement of lockdowns and the resulting food insecurity and exclusion of migrant populations. The report aims to inform policy-makers about the impacts of these policies and provide recommendations for crisis management. On 27 March 2020, South Africa imposed a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19. This lockdown, enforced by the police and the military, was characterized by stringent measures ...
RESEARCH BRIEFS
Uncovering International Migration and Remittance Patterns in Southern Africa During COVID-19: Compelling Evidence from Cape Town, South Africa
The research brief examines the remitting patterns of African migrants in South Africa and shows that the pandemic and post-pandemic precarity of African migrants impacted their remitting behaviour. The brief is based on research from surveys and in-depth interviews conducted in 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, focused on African migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from Zimbabwe, Somalia and DRC. The findings show the significance of comprehending remittances and their impacts and the need for more policy attention.
THESES
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 attention. The bias of being solely attentive to cash remittances is alarming. It conceals an in-depth and comprehensive grasp of food remittances' developmental and significant ...
Xenophobic citizenship, unsettling space, and constraining borders: Assembling refugee exclusion in South Africa’s everyday
— PhD Thesis — This dissertation investigates how myriad actors, including the state, citizens, civil society, refugees, and the media, intersect to shape refugee experiences in urban centers in South Africa. Building on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, it focuses on refugee lived experiences in this context to determine the actors, their relations, processes, and factors that condition refugees’ everyday existence. This dissertation argues that we cannot understand refugee experiences in the urban context without attending to the relations among ...