Immigration is more complex than politicians would have you believe: Ayanda Zulu

Key topics:

• Immigration oversimplified; issues need nuanced solutions.

• Labour laws, low-income work, and market realities shape the issue.

• Regional instability and corruption worsen migration challenges.

Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.

Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.

If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

By Ayanda Sakhile Zulu*

Truth be told, we South Africans, much like other people across the world, have no appetite for complexity when it comes to making sense of social issues. This is evident in how we often fall for the simplistic messaging of populists who exploit us to advance their own political interests.

A case in point is the immigration issue, which remains topical and will likely shape the outcomes of next year's local government elections. There's no denying that uncontrolled immigration poses a threat to our territorial integrity, but the narrative of Operation Dudula and a political party like the Patriotic Alliance is both misleading and simplistic.

Firstly, the idea that all our issues – from crime to unemployment – can be reduced to immigration, and that deporting immigrants will automatically resolve them, is nonsensical. Unemployment, for instance, is layered and has multiple drivers, such as poor educational outcomes. Resolving it, therefore, requires a holistic strategy and not populist stunts that ignore its underlying causes. 

Read more:

Secondly, the notion that we can wake up one day and mass deport all foreigners for good may sound appealing, but it sidesteps the real complexities of the immigration question.

Draconian labour legislation

The first issue we need to confront is our own draconian labour legislation, which has effectively locked millions of able-bodied people out of the labour force. It has driven up the cost of doing business, and it explains why more and more employers have naturally turned to immigrants, whose determination and drive to succeed make them more willing to accept lower wages.

Closely tied to this is the reality that many of us benefit directly from low-income immigrant labour in our personal lives. We may not admit it openly, but we know that a significant share of the domestic workers and gardeners in our homes are not South Africans. The people building house after house in our communities are not South Africans either.

We call them “slaves” or victims of “exploitation” because we fail to appreciate the dynamism of the market. We fail to understand that the market regulates itself, and that it cannot simply bend to the whims of politicians. In a depressed economy like ours, which has not seen meaningful growth in over a decade, businesses cannot afford to comply with arbitrary wage levels that have been imposed by the government.

Equally, we do not value the importance of simply entering the labour force. Low-income work is far from ideal, but getting a foot in the door is essential for professional growth and progression within the labour market. Until we are willing to have an honest conversation about these realities, we will continue chasing shadows while we privately employ immigrants and while some businesses instrumentalise NGOs to advance their interests.

Regional instability and state failure

The second issue we must confront is instability and state failure in the Southern African region. Admittedly, we are not responsible for fixing the crises in Mozambique or Zimbabwe, but we must accept that they have pushed – and will continue to push – many people across our borders for as long as they remain unresolved.

For the past thirty-one years, the ANC’s foreign policy has shielded illegitimate, corrupt, and oppressive regimes in these countries in the name of comradeship and non-interference in sovereignty.

This must change, and urgently. We have enough of our own problems, but our foreign policy must adopt a tougher and assertive stance against poor governance in the region that spills over into our country. The ultimate goal should be to foster good governance on the continent so that people are not forced to flee their home countries.

Systemic corruption

The third issue we must confront, which arguably sits at the centre and will never be fully eradicated, is corruption. If we're honest, corruption is not simply a government problem in South Africa. It is also a societal problem that has seeped into almost every facet of society. 

From the border guard who pockets thousands at a gate to the Home Affairs official who issues fake IDs and passports, the system is riddled with people who are profiting from breaking the law.

Politicians are central here too. Their foreign policy posture is also shaped by their own gains. Because they benefit from gold in Zimbabwe, for example, they have no incentive to challenge the mafia state there, even as it drives people into our country.

Unless we reduce corruption at the very least, we will be fighting a losing battle.

Conclusion

The aforementioned nuances matter, and they cannot be understood in isolation. Together, they show why immigration cannot be resolved by simply deporting people.

Read more:

Corruption undermines our own efforts, labour policy works against our national interests, and regional instability keeps pushing people into the country. There may be other nuances that I have not touched on, but these alone demonstrate that we are dealing with a layered issue here.

The price you pay for having an appetite for complexity in a world where simplicity dominates is being straw manned and called names. Some of the responses to this article are not difficult to predict. I will either be accused of defending "slave labour" or campaigning for illegal immigration.

None of this is true, but it suits politicians who thrive on false binaries. In their world, you are either the patriot who wants to “save the country” or the traitor who wants borders erased. There is no room for those of us who love this country but also recognise that things are complex.

In the end, they will be the real winners. They will secure seats, salaries, and power while the rest of us chase shadows. The least some of us can do – as I’ve tried to do here – is to resist their simplistic traps and offer another perspective.

*Ayanda Sakhile Zulu holds a BSocSci in Political Studies from the University of Pretoria and is an intern at the Free Market Foundation.