Greener Pastures or Banished to Slavery: The Case of Zimbabwean Migrant Workers in Botswana and South Africa (2000-2018) in the context of ILO Standards and Peoples’ Rights
Abstract:
The
socio-economic and political impositions within African states in general and Zimbabwe
in particular at the start of the new millennium have forced a host of workers into
sundry parts of the world to prospect for better opportunities. Southern African
countries of Botswana and South Africa, owing to their relatively sturdy economies
and comparatively dependable human rights records, played the major hosts to the
bulk of these migrant workers. Hordes of workers (of skilled, semi-skilled and general)
flocked to the borders to escape their conditions back home. However, such a drift
in search of the so-called ‘greener pastures’ met with varied outcomes. The paper
documents the state and dynamic circumstances of these migrant workers in South
Africa and Botswana in the 21st Century. It analyses how this state of
affairs has impacted on migrant worker’s livelihoods. The paper analyses the pertaining
situation of migrant workers vis-a-vis the internationally accepted labour standards.
The research also focuses on the effectiveness of Workers’ Unions (or lack of) meant
to represent their needs.
Keywords: Migrant Labour, International Labour
Organisation, slavery, greener pastures.
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