A Region in Motion

Southern Africa has one of the most active internal migration corridors in the world. Millions of workers cross SADC borders every year in search of work — from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Malawi into South Africa; from Zambia and Malawi into other regional markets; and increasingly in new directions as economies shift. Remittances are a lifeline for entire communities. Estimates suggest that Zimbabweans living abroad — the majority in South Africa — send home over $1.5 billion a year, a sum that exceeds some of the country’s major export earnings.

This movement of people is not new. Southern Africa’s labour migration history stretches back to the colonial era, when mines and farms were built on migrant labour systems deliberately designed to be exploitative. What is new is the scale, the diversity of destinations, and the urgent need for governance systems that protect workers rather than simply manage flows.

The Protection Deficit

For most migrant workers in Southern Africa, the journey to work is marked by risk rather than opportunity. Irregular migrants are vulnerable to arrest, deportation, and exploitation. Even those who migrate through formal channels face serious gaps in protection. Labour contracts are not always honoured. Employers know that undocumented workers are unlikely to report abuse. Recruitment agents — some legitimate, many not — extract fees that can trap workers in debt bondage before they even start a job.

Social protection is perhaps the most glaring gap. Workers who contribute to social security systems in one SADC country typically cannot access those benefits if they move. When a Zimbabwean worker retires after decades of contributing to South Africa’s pension system, they often lose access to those contributions upon return home. The portability of accrued social security benefits — a seemingly technical issue — is in fact a matter of enormous consequence for millions of families.

Xenophobic violence in South Africa has periodically erupted into open attacks on migrant workers and their businesses. The 2008 pogrom killed more than 60 people. Subsequent waves of violence in 2015 and 2019 — and ongoing low-level hostility — have created a climate of fear that compounds the vulnerabilities migrant workers already face.

Policy Progress and Its Limits

The SADC region has made important progress on the governance of labour migration. The SADC Labour Migration Policy Framework, developed through a tripartite process that included union participation, provides a blueprint for protecting migrant workers across the region. The SADC Protocol on Employment and Labour includes provisions on portability of benefits and fair treatment of migrant workers. Several bilateral labour agreements have been negotiated between SADC member states.

In 2019, South Africa introduced a new visa framework intended to facilitate the movement of skilled workers within the SADC region. The ILO’s SAMM Project (Strengthening Labour Migration Governance in Southern Africa) has funded important capacity-building work with trade unions and civil society organisations to improve awareness of migrant workers’ rights.

But implementation remains the weak link. Labour migration policies are often drafted in capitals and delivered poorly — or not at all — at the borders, recruitment agencies, and workplaces where migrant workers actually need protection. Bilateral agreements sit unsigned or unimplemented. Border management systems lack the capacity to process migrants efficiently or humanely.

Civil Society at the Front Line

Trade unions, migrant worker organisations, and civil society groups have filled many of the gaps left by formal policy systems. SATUCC’s guide on the protection of migrant workers’ rights has been translated into multiple languages and distributed across the region. In Zimbabwe, LEDRIZ has produced some of the most rigorous research on labour migration patterns and their economic implications. In Zambia, ZILARD has documented the experiences of workers in cross-border employment, including those in Chinese-owned enterprises.

These organisations have also been active in pushing for systemic change — advocating for fair recruitment regulation, for the inclusion of migrant workers in social protection schemes, and for SADC to accelerate implementation of its own labour migration frameworks.

What We Do

• Analyse labour migration patterns, governance frameworks, and protection gaps across the SADC region.
• Research fair recruitment practices and document abuses in recruitment supply chains.
• Assess social protection systems for migrant workers, including portability of benefits across borders.
• Evaluate national and regional policy instruments on labour migration and their implementation.
• Develop research tools and training materials for trade unions on protecting migrant workers’ rights.
• Support civil society organisations with evidence for advocacy on fair migration governance.