A Mixed Reception: Mozambican and Congolese Refugees in South Africa

The research examines the 'mixed reception' of Mozambican refugees in South Africa, arguing that despite ethnic solidarity and eventual legal amnesties, former refugees remained a marginalized underclass. It details how the apartheid government's refusal to grant refugee status ghettoized arrivals in homelands like Gazankulu, creating a vulnerable labour pool. The document highlights a three-tiered agricultural labour market in the lowveld where undocumented migrants were exploited as 'spare chaps' with minimal pay. It further critiques the UNHCR's flawed repatriation programme and suggests that a deep-seated xenophobic impulse in South African society continues to render permanent residents 'de facto undocumented' in practice.

• Between 1985 and 1987, approximately 250,000 to 350,000 Mozambican refugees entered South Africa, primarily settling in the apartheid homelands of Gazankulu and KaNgwane. While Gazankulu authorities provided initial aid based on ethnic solidarity with Shangaan-speakers, refugees were often relegated to discrete land and denied essential infrastructure like water and electricity.
• The lack of formal legal status created a precarious labour market where refugees became an 'underclass of the underclass,' working as domestic servants and field labourers for the South African poor. In the lowveld's commercial farming sector, a three-tiered system emerged where the lowest tier consisted of undocumented 'temporary workers' (often young men) earning between R4.50 and R6 per day.
• The UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme, starting in September 1993, is described as flawed due to crude survey methods and a structure that pressured refugees to return to Mozambique rather than promoting their rights in South Africa. Only 31,074 people enrolled out of an expected 250,000, as many feared the instability of post-war Mozambique and the loss of South African schooling for their children.
• Despite a series of amnesties between 1995 and 2000 that granted permanent residence to 176,648 refugees, and a 2004 Constitutional Court ruling granting them access to social grants, former refugees remained socially and economically marginalized. Evidence from 2001 and 2004 suggests they continued to live in separate, poorer village sections and were still treated as temporary sojourners.
• The document suggests that a 'trenchant, deep-seated xenophobic impulse' and the structural dependence of the agricultural sector on cheap labour have led to a situation where permanent residence IDs are often ignored by officials and employers, leaving former refugees 'de facto undocumented'.

APA

Steinberg, J. (2005). A Mixed Reception: Mozambican and Congolese Refugees in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-jun-2005-monograph-no-117-a-mixed-reception-mozambican-and-congolese-refugees-in-south-africa-jonny-steinberg/part-one

Chicago

Steinberg, Jonny. A Mixed Reception: Mozambican and Congolese Refugees in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 2005. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-jun-2005-monograph-no-117-a-mixed-reception-mozambican-and-congolese-refugees-in-south-africa-jonny-steinberg/part-one.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Steinberg |first1=Jonny |title=A Mixed Reception: Mozambican and Congolese Refugees in South Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=1 June 2005 |url=https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-jun-2005-monograph-no-117-a-mixed-reception-mozambican-and-congolese-refugees-in-south-africa-jonny-steinberg/part-one |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{steinberg2005mixed, author = {Steinberg, Jonny}, title = {{A Mixed Reception: Mozambican and Congolese Refugees in South Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2005}, month = jun, url = {https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-jun-2005-monograph-no-117-a-mixed-reception-mozambican-and-congolese-refugees-in-south-africa-jonny-steinberg/part-one}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }