Migration from Africa to South Africa - As spatial perspective

Using the blog maps – This blog contains a number of maps. Each map has a hyperlink. When you click on the map it will open the map in your internet browser. Once in the browser, you can change the background map (dropdown box in the top right), zoom in and out and scroll by dragging the map to an area you might wish to see in more detail. Refer to the legend on the map in the blog to read the maps in the browser.

Remember - we present facts, not opinions – you make up your own mind

Xenophobia and attacks on foreigners in South Africa have been in news lately and made international headlines. In April 2015, there was an upsurge in xenophobic attacks throughout the country. The attacks started in Durban and spread to Johannesburg. Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been accused of fuelling the attacks by saying that foreigners should "go back to their countries". However, BBC News reported on 19 April 2015 that he said his comments were distorted. Nevertheless, locals looted foreigners' shops and attacked immigrants in general, forcing hundreds to relocate to police stations across the country. The Malawian authorities subsequently began repatriating their nationals, and a number of other foreign governments also announced that they would evacuate their citizens (Los Angeles Times, 17 April 2015). On 23 April several thousand demonstrators marched through central Johannesburg to protest against a spate of deadly attacks on immigrants. They sang songs denouncing xenophobia and carried banners that read "We are all Africans" as migrant workers crowded balconies, shouting their support (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia_in_South_Africa#cite_note-Hundreds-71

The attacks on foreigners were focused in specific locations in Durban and Johannesburg. However, foreign people are settled throughout South Africa but there are clear patterns in distribution that reflects on the very basic fabric of South African society. In this blog we will show how foreigners of African origin are spatially distributed throughout South Africa. The data was obtained from the 2011 national census’ figures on migration.

Before venturing in the spatial distribution of foreigners, the question is how many foreigners are there in South Africa. Various sources makes various estimates. However, the 2011 Census shows the flowing figures:

Table 1: People of South Africa by origin of birth

	SADC Countries	Rest of Africa	South Africa	Total
Eastern Cape	29 013	11 070	6 290 508	6 330 591
Free State	41 511	2 961	2 585 877	2 630 349
Gauteng	663 654	57 693	10 797 858	11 519 205
KwaZulu-Natal	74 571	12 225	9 772 194	9 858 990
Limpopo	114 990	5 475	5 119 797	5 240 262
Mpumalanga	90 933	5 454	3 797 385	3 893 772
North West	98 103	4 659	3 270 342	3 373 104
Northern Cape	9 204	1 611	1 099 398	1 110 213
Western Cape	95 862	30 129	5 345 130	5 471 121
Total	1 217 841	131 277	48 078 489	49 427 607

SADC (Southern African Development Community) is a regional organisation consisting of 14 member countries (Angola, Botswana, Congo (DR), Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Being South Africa’s immediate neighbours they contribute 90.3% of the migrant population originating in Africa. The rest (9.7%) comes from the rest of Africa. Note that the numbers do not reflect on the legal status of these migrants.

Table 2: Distribution (%) of migrants from Africa

	SADC Countries	Rest of Africa	Total
Eastern Cape	2.2%	0.8%	3.0%
Free State	3.1%	0.2%	3.3%
Gauteng	49.2%	4.3%	53.5%
KwaZulu-Natal	5.5%	0.9%	6.4%
Limpopo	8.5%	0.4%	8.9%
Mpumalanga	6.7%	0.4%	7.1%
North West	7.3%	0.3%	7.6%
Northern Cape	0.7%	0.1%	0.8%
Western Cape	7.1%	2.2%	9.3%
Total	90.3%	9.7%	100.0%

It is clear that Gauteng accommodates more immigrants that the rest of the Country together. The Northern Cape has the least (0.8%) with the Eastern Cape and Free Sate with 3.0% and 3.3% respectively. The rest of the province all have less than 10%. Immigrants from the rest of Africa predominantly settled in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Utilising Johannesburg as a case study, the map reveals a pattern that is persistent throughout the major urban areas of South Africa. The maps shows the following:

• Migrants from SADC countries tend to concentrate on the urban edge and particularly on small holdings and farms.
• There are concentrations in the CBD of the city and it satellite towns such Germiston and Benoni.
• There is a clear correlation between migrants and settlement in industrial areas.
• Higher income areas (northern suburbs) attract proportionally more migrants from SADC countries than the traditional black townships.

Turning to migrants from the rest of Africa (excluding the SADC countries) a different pattern emerges.

Click this link to view the map in a browser

The following is apparent:

• There is again a strong propensity to settle close or in the CBD and specifically high density areas and in the older parts of the city close to the CBD. 
• Settlement is clearly associated with higher income areas with nearly a total absence of settlement by these migrants in previously black townships.

The next series of maps shows the position in Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town. There is practically no exception to the identified patterns.

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Click this link to view the map in a browser

Click this link to view the map in a browser

In conclusion it is worth looking at total migration from a broader perspective that shows what is happening in the rural areas.

Click this link to view the map in a browser

The following should be noted:

• There is s propensity to settle in areas close to the border in the northern parts of the country. There are substantial concentrations in the Groblersbrug area (South Africa/Botswana on the N17), Pontdrift (South Africa/Botswana) and Beitbridge (South Africa/Zimbabwe) and between South Africa and Mozambique through the Komatipoort border post. The patterns are less prevalent between South Africa and Lesotho (Quaggasnek might be an exception) and Swaziland and Namibia.
• There is a close association between high intensity agricultural areas and migrants from SADC countries. This shows in the Musina area, the Louis Trichardt - Levubu area, the irrigation areas around Modjadjiskloof and in the Loskop Dam irrigation areas. The same pattern is also evident in the area cultivating sugarcane around Malelane and Komatipoort in Mpumalanga.
• There also seems to be propensity to settle close to mining areas. This applies to the Steelpoort area and around Mokopane and Rustenburg. This pattern is also clear around Sishen and Kuruman and the Free State Goldfields.
• It is clear that very few migrants settle in tribal areas. This might be because tribal chiefs control settlement or the marginal economic opportunities in those areas. This pattern is very strong and there are very little on no migrants in these areas.

These maps only show the spatial patterns that do exist and does not purports to be any in depth analysis of migration and settlement. Further work on migration can be done by considering settlement types such as formal and informal settlements, income patterns and distribution. We also suspect there might be link between the extent of migrant settlement and voting patterns in the previous elections.

So this is MapAble?

We are very excited to introduce you to MapAble^TM. After more than a year’s intensive preparation, brainstorming, code writing, legal advice, nights on the internet, we are ready to launch an exciting addition to the range of mapping facilities available on the internet. However, the history is much longer. MapAble^TM is based on the more than 70 years practical planning, GIS and application development of its partners. The forerunner technology from which we develop MapAble^TM exists for many years already and is applied by a number of institutions in South Africa. We have used our experience to re-engineer and repackage our product into flagship technology which is now at the disposal of anyone interesting in maps, spatial analysis and planning.

MapAble^TM is so much more than a web based mapping facility. We have launched MapAble to bring you affordable high-end, cutting edge, cloud based mapping and geographic information system (GIS) technology. The key is that we bring this technology to users that are not GIS experts but who use maps and do spatial analysis as an integral part of their core business activities. Simply, we want to take GIS out of the backroom, demystify it and present it as a day to day tool without which the spatial planner or analyst cannot work.

Our experience has shown that many organisations want a GIS. The route is normally buying very expensive hardware (many millions of Rand) with the surprise that you need to pay licence fees for the software and once ready you still need a “GIS expert” to run the system. Low and behold, if everything is now in place the next surprise is that you need good and relevant data to run your GIS. Should you overcome this, the next challenge is the fact that your GIS expert is a GIS expert and not a subject specialist, so he or she can only act as an interface between you and the GIS. Eventually you end up using a multi-million Rand system to generate very basic maps. It is the same situation we had many years ago before word processing where your draft a document in longhand and then send it to the typing pool to get typed. The question is why we persist with such a situation when we deal with GIS. Imagine having to deal with a spreadsheet department who does you analysis on your behalf? You brief them and they go away and present you with the results after a few days based on your duly completed work order and signed off by the boss. It just doesn’t make sense, so why treat spatial analysis differently as the way we use our normal desktop suite of software. We would like to change this. Our aims are:

• To be the go to solution for mapping and spatial analysis and planning.
• To bring mapping and spatial analysis solutions to users that are not GIS experts.
• To improve the general accessibility to mapping and spatial analysis capabilities and data.
• To enhance the quality of spatial planning and analysis.
• To enhance transparency in decision-making based on factual analysis.

The technical capabilities are usually the objectives of existing web based mapping applications. We go two steps further. Our technology is backed by access to data available in the public domain. This enriches the usability of our technology. Yet another step further than the normal presentation of web based technology - notwithstanding the fact that our business is state-of-the-art, our products are backed by a system that provides a human interface to back up our services and enhance the experience of our users.