2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd

The report examines the reception of 250,000 to 350,000 Mozambican refugees in South Africa during the 1980s, highlighting a paradox where ethnic solidarity among Shangaan-speakers coexisted with severe economic exploitation. It details the creation of a 'third tier' of undocumented labour in the lowveld's commercial farming sector and critiques the UNHCR's flawed repatriation programme in the 1990s. Despite subsequent South African government amnesties granting permanent residence to 176,648 refugees by 2000, the author argues that many former refugees remained a 'de facto undocumented' underclass due to systemic xenophobia and structural economic dependence on cheap labour.

• Between 1979 and 1992, approximately 1.7 million people fled the Mozambican civil war across international borders, with between 250,000 and 350,000 arriving in South Africa, primarily in the Gazankulu and KaNgwane homelands.
• The reception of refugees in Gazankulu was driven by ethnic solidarity among Shangaan-speakers, yet this did not prevent the refugees from becoming a marginalized underclass. Refugees were often denied access to water and electricity and were allocated separate burial grounds.
• A three-tiered labour market emerged in the lowveld's commercial farming sector, where the lowest tier consisted of undocumented 'temporary workers'—mostly young men—earning wages as low as R4.50 to R6 per day, a rate the author notes no South African would accept.
• The UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme, started in September 1993, is described as flawed due to crude survey methods and a lack of support for those staying. Only 31,074 people enrolled out of an expected 250,000, leaving approximately 87.6% of eligible people without formal documentation if they chose to remain.
• Despite a series of amnesties and a 2000 deadline that granted permanent residence status to 176,648 refugees, many continued to face persecution and exclusion. A 2004 Constitutional Court ruling eventually granted these permanent residents access to state old age pensions and child support grants.
• Evidence from 2001 and 2004 suggests that former refugees remained socially and economically isolated in areas like Bushbuckridge, continuing to live in separate, poorer sections of villages and remaining vulnerable to exploitation by farmers who threatened them with deportation despite their legal status.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (n.d.). 2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/117PARTONE.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. 2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd. n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/117PARTONE.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/117PARTONE.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudiesnd2162, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/117PARTONE.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }