2162 ISS Monograph 117 Mozambique.indd

This report examines the flight, reception, and long-term integration of Mozambican refugees in South Africa following the Mozambican civil war (1979–1992). It details the role of ethnic solidarity in the Gazankulu homeland, the creation of a precarious underclass in the agricultural labour markets of the lowveld, and the failures of the UNHCR repatriation programme. The author argues that despite various amnesties and a 2004 Constitutional Court ruling granting access to social grants, many former refugees remain de facto undocumented and socially marginalized due to structural economic dependence on cheap labour and deep-seated xenophobia.

• Between 1979 and 1992, approximately 5.7 million people fled their homes during the Mozambican civil war, with 1.7 million becoming international refugees. Of these, between 250,000 and 350,000 entered South Africa, primarily from Gaza and Maputo provinces between 1985 and 1987.
• The apartheid government denied Mozambican refugees official refugee status, instead permitting them to settle in homeland territories. Gazankulu provided the most welcoming reception, driven by ethnic solidarity among Shangaan-speakers, though this hospitality was complicated by the refugees' subsequent marginalization into a separate underclass with limited land and infrastructure access.
• The arrival of refugees created a three-tiered agricultural labour market in the Eastern Transvaal lowveld. The third tier consisted of undocumented 'temporary workers'—mostly young men—who earned extremely low wages (R4.50 to R6 per day in 1998) and were often protected from deportation by 'farm tags' issued by employers in collusion with security forces.
• The UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme, starting in September 1993, is described as a failure. Only 31,074 people enrolled out of an expected 250,000. The programme used crude survey methods and failed to provide formal documentation to the 87.6% of eligible refugees who chose to remain in South Africa, effectively forcing them to stay illegally.
• Despite a series of amnesties between 1995 and 2000 that granted permanent residence status to 176,648 refugees, and a 2004 Constitutional Court ruling allowing permanent residents to access old age pensions and child support grants, many former refugees remained socially and economically isolated.
• Research from 2001 to 2004 indicates that former refugees in areas like Bushbuckridge continued to live in separate, poorer sections of villages (such as Maputo-sikumo) and were often treated as de facto undocumented, regardless of their legal status, due to systemic xenophobia and the economic interests of employers who relied on cheap labour.

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} }