Conceptual framework of African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa
- Authors: Ngota, Bernard Lama
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Immigrant business enterprises -- South Africa , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa , Foreign workers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctorate theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/65298 , vital:74090
- Description: Most previous research on immigrant entrepreneurship has focused on investigating and describing immigrant entrepreneurship challenges, characteristics, and drivers of success. Immigrant entrepreneurship research that focuses on Africa, includes the challenges African immigrant entrepreneurs face, and their innate ability to start new ventures in their host countries compared to their native-born counterparts. However, literature on the conceptual framework explaining African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa is still nascent. This study assisted to develop a framework that will explain African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework of African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. The aim was achieved through a qualitative research approach that provided insights into African immigrant entrepreneurs and their perceptions thereof; the home country context, the entrepreneur, the resources, business opportunities, the immigrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, new business creation and operations, and the contributions to economic development to the South African economy were explored. Data was collected from a total of twenty-two participants using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were self-administered on a face-to-face contact by the researcher. Participants included African immigrant entrepreneurs; owner/managers and their employees comprised of twelve African immigrant entrepreneurs and ten employees. Data was collected using an interview guide and analysed by means of content and thematic analyses. A conceptual framework of African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa was created from the literature, and the collected data was then fitted to match the components of the model. The findings reveal how the different components of home country context, entrepreneur, resources, business opportunity, immigrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, new business creation and operations, were all interlinked to contribute to the economic development of South Africa. Furthermore, the findings revealed that African immigrant social ethnic groups provides support to their members such as “njangi”, loans, emotional support, protection, information, and helping them adjust to their new surroundings. These supports might promote African immigrant entrepreneurship and the creation of a new business in a host country like South Africa. Other findings complement how other employees benefit from African immigrant entrepreneurship in , Thesis (DPhil) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Management Sciences, 2023 , Most previous research on immigrant entrepreneurship has focused on investigating and describing immigrant entrepreneurship challenges, characteristics, and drivers of success. Immigrant entrepreneurship research that focuses on Africa, includes the challenges African immigrant entrepreneurs face, and their innate ability to start new ventures in their host countries compared to their native-born counterparts. However, literature on the conceptual framework explaining African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa is still nascent. This study assisted to develop a framework that will explain African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework of African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. The aim was achieved through a qualitative research approach that provided insights into African immigrant entrepreneurs and their perceptions thereof; the home country context, the entrepreneur, the resources, business opportunities, the immigrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, new business creation and operations, and the contributions to economic development to the South African economy were explored. Data was collected from a total of twenty-two participants using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were self-administered on a face-to-face contact by the researcher. Participants included African immigrant entrepreneurs; owner/managers and their employees comprised of twelve African immigrant entrepreneurs and ten employees. Data was collected using an interview guide and analysed by means of content and thematic analyses. A conceptual framework of African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa was created from the literature, and the collected data was then fitted to match the components of the model. The findings reveal how the different components of home country context, entrepreneur, resources, business opportunity, immigrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, new business creation and operations, were all interlinked to contribute to the economic development of South Africa. Furthermore, the findings revealed that African immigrant social ethnic groups provides support to their members such as “njangi”, loans, emotional support, protection, information, and helping them adjust to their new surroundings. These supports might promote African immigrant entrepreneurship and the creation of a new business in a host country like South Africa. Other findings complement how other employees benefit from African immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa. This was evidence in the entrepreneurs’ responsibilities, improved employees’ skills development, improved employee economic status and improved employee-employer relationships. The proposed framework serves as a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners, especially those involved with the making of legislations in the country. The study recommends that broad-based integrated public policy interventions and strategies be developed and implemented to have a positive impact on the country's economic success in terms of job creation, skills transfer, poverty reduction, and economic growth to achieve the socio-economic well-being of the people.
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- Date Issued: 2024-04
Diaspora in Dialogue: An Ontology of Diasporic Subjectivity in the Work of Three Artists Living In-Between South Africa and Zimbabwe
- Authors: Nyoni, Vulindlela Philani Elliott
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Foreign workers -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions , South Africa -- Emigration and immigration
- Language: English
- Type: Doctorate , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/62366 , vital:72615
- Description: As a Zimbabwean artist and educator, living and working in South Africa, my daily experience is that of an “in-between” diasporic subjectivity, which is compounded by the discourses around the uneasy reintegration of post-apartheid South Africa into Africa. This context gives rise to the core philosophical aim of this thesis, which is to explore the notion of “diasporic subjectivities” as a philosophical approach to understanding what it means to be in a complex contemporary reality. The notion of diasporic subjectivities works in the same way as that of “queer subjectivities”, which has been used to understand not just gay people but all people. “Diaspora” names people who have moved, migrated, or been scattered away from an established or ancestral homeland, but retain some sense of belonging to this homeland. From an African perspective, I problematise the concept of an established homeland and the settled subjectivities that belong to it, in contrast to which only the diaspora remains in an uncomfortable state of in-betweenness. Instead, I explore a contention among both European and African existentialist philosophers that the condition of not being at home is the fundamental human condition out of which a home must be created. This would mean that the groundlessness, liminality or in-betweenness of being is experienced not just by the diaspora but by all humans. However, importantly, I find that sociocultural differences due to the history of colonialism gives rise to different experiences of homelessness and the groundlessness of being. This makes a distinction necessary, but to avoid the pitfalls of tying this distinction to geographical locations such as Western versus Non-Western or Global North and Global South, I will refer instead to spaces, practices and even individuals, in which there are “mindsets of entitlement” versus “mindsets of disentitlement”. The former refers to the mindset of ownership characteristic of the settled and developed. The latter refers to the mindset of many who feel a sense of unbelonging, due to disenfranchisement and forced disembodiment and dislocation. I have aimed to support the thesis that the groundlessness, liminality or in-betweenness of being is experienced not just by the diaspora but by all humans, in two ways. Firstly, I consider in detail through various means (narratives, personal reflection, investigation of philosophical texts, dialogues), the philosophical concepts of “belonging”, “home” and “nostalgia” as component aspects of an ontology of diasporic subjectivity. In the second part of this study, I engage in an interpretative process, as outlined by Hans-Georg Gadamer, whereby I use this ontology to help me dialogue with artworks produced by three Zimbabwean artists, Ronald Muchatuta, Gerald Machona, and myself (Vulindlela Nyoni), who share the diasporic condition of being Zimbabweans living in-between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The ontology of diasporic subjectivity developed in the first part offers a language with which to dialogue with the artworks or question the way in which the complexities of belonging, home and nostalgia are expressed in the works, while the works in turn help deepen an understanding of diasporic subjectivity. Both philosophies and artworks may function as transformative, practical tools for seeking wisdom, cultivating self-awareness, developing moral character, and living a reflective and examined life. The combination of personal narratives and self-reflexive, philosophical dialogues regarding artworks and art making and its exigencies holds the potential to produce deeper philosophical insights into the fundamentally diasporic human condition. This kind of hybrid research at the interface between philosophy and artistic praxis is accessible to a broad-based audience. It is therefore better able to undo malicious stereotypical associations between émigrés and malignant tropes of societal decay on the African continent and to validate the contributions made by African diaspora to the decolonial project, than neatly distanced academic reflections, which reduce the philosophical impact of transnational migration to measurable motivations and statistics. , Thesis (D.Phil) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Scinces, 2024
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- Date Issued: 2024-04
South-South labour migration complexities and shifting visa policies in South Africa: a sociological analysis of Rhodes University academic labour migrants’ perceptions
- Authors: Domboka, Edward
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Foreign workers -- South Africa , Foreign workers -- Government policy -- South Africa , College teachers, Foreign -- South Africa -- Attitudes , College teacher mobility -- Africa , Visas -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Employees -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/46242 , vital:25593
- Description: International migration is an old phenomenon caused by many factors divided into push and pull factors. However, there is no enough coverage on the perceptions of the labour migrants. Although there is a vast body of writing on migration, this study delves into the experiential perceptions of academic labour migrants at Rhodes University. These academic labour migrants include professors, lecturers, researchers and postdoctoral research fellows. The study took a qualitative approach to document the experiential perceptions of academic labour migrants at Rhodes University. In-depth interviews were conducted with twelve respondents, to analyse how academic labour migrants perceive South Africa’s changing visa policies in the context of regional integration and development, migration networks and choice, host-migrant relations. The study is underpinned by Probsting’s (2015) concept of "spatial fix" in the context of capitalism and migration, to locate the positionality of academic labour migrants within a capitalist society. The study established that the increase in skilled labour migration is relatively linked to the expansion of capitalism. Based on the perceptions of the respondents, the study concluded that migration is inherently vital in providing cheap labour for capitalists. It established that changing visa policies is not without problems. Historical dispositions of the apartheid system, conflicting domestic versus international imperatives, neo-liberal policies and the widely condemned results of capitalism as an imperialist system and other factors influence migration management in South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Exploratory study : how do Somali shop owners (SSO) succeed in running businesses in Soweto : a South African perspective
- Authors: Mokitlane, Ofentse Clifford
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Business enterprises, Foreign -- South Africa , Small business -- Management , Small business -- South Africa , Foreign workers -- South Africa , Employment in foreign countries , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:842 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015653
- Description: This is a qualitative study which seeks to understand how Somali shop owners run successful businesses in the township of Soweto in South Africa. This research report has three sections, namely (1) the academic paper which comprises a shortened literature review, the research method, findings, and the discussion; (2) an extended literature review and (3) the research methodology. It is important to mention that these three sections are related and not necessarily stand-alone sections. Despite the hostilities faced by the Somali shop owners from the host communities in South Africa, it is notable that they are successful, small-sized entrepreneurs in most townships of South Africa (SA). Previous research on Somalis has predominantly focused on their assimilation into the societies in their host countries, and on how they are led into self-employment because of the unfavourable labour markets in the host country. In this vein, there is a need to understand how they run successful businesses in the townships of SA. This study seeks to answer the following research question: How Do Somali Shop Owners Succeed in Running Businesses in Soweto, South Africa (SA)? In pursuit of answers to the above research question, this study was confined to three locations in Soweto, namely Orlando West, Chiawelo and Rockville which have a relatively high number of Somali entrepreneurs who have been in operation for longer than three years. This qualitative study explored the multiple perspectives of reality of Somali shop owners. Purposively, 14 Somali shop owners were identified initially using purposive sampling. Subsequently, theoretical sampling was used to identify Somali shop owners who were interviewed regarding how they successfully run their businesses in the locations of Orlando West, Chiawelo and Rockville in the township of Soweto. A total of eighteen semi-structured, in-depth and face-to-face interviews were conducted with these shop owners as a means of gathering data to the point of saturating their perspectives. Data collection ceased when new perspectives were no longer evident as interviewees were being repetitive. Open-coding and constant comparison was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study show that ethnicity plays a predominant role in the success of the Somali shop owners. The intra-ethnic networks and trust-based support systems are pivotal to how Somali shop owners run successful businesses in Soweto. The key findings manifested showed that various forms of support came from Somali communities, family and fellow countrymen which were also central to their success. Another key finding showed that Somali shop owners run their businesses by complementing, rather than predominantly competing with the other local businesses, which ultimately differentiates them in this way. The study also revealed that responsiveness to local customer needs by enhancing the value of their business to the locality is also characteristic of how Somali shop owners build customer loyalty. This study contributes to our understanding of how Somali entrepreneurs conduct successful businesses in a hostile host country. The findings have implications for business development training and programmes which support immigrant entrepreneurs. The findings may also be extended to inform how business development programmes would be designed to equally support local entrepreneurs.
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- Date Issued: 2014
The effect of South African labour legislation on refugees and migrants
- Authors: Swartz, Natasha Schantal
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Refugees -- South Africa , Foreign workers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:10289 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1019921
- Description: Since South Africa was declared a democratic country, the number of refugees fleeing to South Africa has increased. While it is understandable that refugees would flee to a country with a Constitution that protects the rights of everyone within its territory, this influx of refugees and migrants also puts a strain on the South African economy. One of the main problems associated with refugees and migrants in this country is their illegal status. Failure to obtain legal status in the country can be attributed to their own negligence to attend to the Refugee Reception Office, upon their arrival in the country. On the other hand, the South African government also fails foreigners in that the service provided at the Refugee Reception Offices is not up to the standard promised in the legislation. A further problem associated with refugees and migrants in the country is that they are competing with South Africans for jobs that are already scarce in the country. A foreigners need to earn a living is the driving force behind entering the employment market, and often illegally. Where refugees and migrants do not have the required work permits, their employment is prohibited in terms of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and they are thus illegal workers. Until recently, South Africa has followed the same policy as other international countries. Illegal workers did not have access to the protection provided by our labour legislation, by virtue of the illegality of their employment contracts. This position was changed by the Discovery Health case where the courts focused more on the existence of an employment relationship as oppose to an employment contract.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Economic impact of international labour migration on Lesotho's development, 1986-1998: towards an international labour migration policy for the Southern African region
- Authors: Maro, Mkasafari Grace
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Migrant labor -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- Lesotho , Foreign workers -- South Africa , Miners -- South Africa , Miners -- Labor unions -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1058 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007496 , Migrant labor -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- Lesotho , Foreign workers -- South Africa , Miners -- South Africa , Miners -- Labor unions -- South Africa
- Description: The aim of the thesis is to identify the pressures that contributed to the rise in international labour migration in Lesotho, and to investigate how these pressures are impacting upon the modernization process in the country, particularly at a time when employment opportunities are scarce in the southern African region. International labour migration has been used as a development tool throughout history, but especially in the 20th century by developing countries with dual labour markets. Newly independent developing countries with dual labour markets adapted the strategy of import substitution industrialization (lSI), with an emphasis on protecting infant industries and promoting pro-labour policies. In the post-colonial period the international demand for lowskilled workers rose, particularly in the North (developed countries), and in mineral rich countries including the oil exporters and South Africa, and the newly industrialising countries in East Asia. International labour migration to these countries was adapted as an integral development tool by the governments of the lSI countries. Most migrants were low-skilled and temporary workers in the destination countries. Although no multilateral institutional framework existed, usually both the sending and receiving countries adapted unilateral and bilateral migration policies to guarantee the gains from migration. Workers were thus "protected" to varying degrees under such agreements. From the 1970s, the North experienced a slowdown in the growth in demand for unskilled workers. In the 1980s, many lSI countries experienced devastating economic crises that forced them to abandon the lSI policy and adapt the export-led industrialisation (EOI) policy with an emphasis on trade liberalization. The switch from lSI to EOI in developing countries with dual labour markets led to the downsizing of public sector employment, the removal of marketing boards formally used by small-scale agricultural farmers, and the expansion of export processing zones (EPZs). These outcomes resulted in a rise in push internal migration, and international migration from these countries especially to other developing countries. At the same time, since the late 1980s, capital has acquired greatly enhanced mobility at the global level. The adaptation of EOI and the full mobility of capital at the global level altered the institutional structure within which labour migration was governed both nationally, and internationally. At the national level stricter unilateral policies were reinforced by receiving countries for low-skilled labour, while less strict policies applied for skilled labour. These remain in operation in conjunction with the earlier bilateral agreements. At the international level, there remains a lack of policy to regulate international labour migration. Under the current enhanced mobility of capital, international migrants are thus left vulnerable. Lesotho fits this pattern. Faced with a dual economy and an abundance of semi-skilled labour, Lesotho has been a principal supplier of labour to the South Africa's mining industry since its independence. Lesotho's industrial diversification thus mirrors South Africa's industrial diversification. In the lSI phase (1968 - 1987), international labour migration became the most important tool of economic welfare generation in Lesotho. Bilateral agreements were signed in the early 1970s between Lesotho and South Africa to guarantee the gains from migration. Since the late I980s, the mining industry in South Africa began to downsize production and employment. Fewer novice miners from Lesotho were recruited to work in South Africa. The adaptation of the EOI policy in Lesotho in 1987 introduced EPZ industrialization and trade liberalization. Nevertheless, the retrenchment of mine workers from South Africa is occurring at a time when Lesotho is experiencing an employment crisis. The political independence of South Africa in 1994 was accompanied by stricter international migration policies by the new democratic government of South Africa. Most migrant workers in South Africa are thus now faced with a two-door policy (of the earlier bilateral agreements and the amendments to the Aliens Control Act). This system has left migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation by both employers and the law (police) in South Africa. Nevertheless, international migration from Lesotho to South Africa continues to expand, particularly of the new type of migration - semiskilled female workers in the services sector. At the same time, South Africa is also experiencing an employment crisis. The most important policy implications are, firstly, that migration is subject to the same "casualisation" as other work, with the effects made worse by the "statelessness" of migrants, who are most vulnerable to exploitation. Secondly, multilateralism is needed (e.g., SADC) and holistic, multilateral policies are required. It is clear that under the new global division of labour ad hoc policy towards international labour migration is ineffective.
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- Date Issued: 2002
Foreign labour migration to South Africa after apartheid: continuity or change?
- Authors: Myataza, Lutando Samuel
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: Foreign workers -- South Africa , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2813 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003023 , Foreign workers -- South Africa , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa
- Description: Migrant labour constitutes one of the perennial problems of the political economy of the Southern African region. The movement of people between their home countries and the gold mines in South Africa is over a hundred years old. In this sense, labour migrancy predates apartheid, and is now threatening to outlive it. Migrants working in South Africa make up a sizable proportion of the total wage earning population of the neighbouring countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi). Their entrenched dependence on migrant-based revenue has made them vulnerable to fluctuations in labour flows to the gold mines (Davies, 1992) The developments since the first quarter of 1988 have altered the terms of debate on migrant labour. With the independence of Namibia and the establishment of a new government in South Africa, to name but a few, the pattern of future regional cooperation has become a central issue. Likewise, the debate about labour migrancy has entered a new phase. Given the current political changes, and yet to take place, this study constitutes a modest attempt to contribute to the debate by examining the prospects of restructuring of labour migrancy to the gold mining industry. The central aim of this undertaking will be to establish what the future holds for the foreign component of the labour force. The focus here will be on the emerging debates in this area, policy pronouncements by major stakeholders, the Chamber of Mines and the new Government of National Unity. However, an informed forecast on the future of labour migrancy is possible only if we establish the conditions that created it in the first place; how it has been constructed overtime; and the successive moments of transformation in the system. In this regard, this study will locate the origins and development of labour migration in its proper historical context ~ before drawing conclusions about the future of the system. In this scholarly pursuit one does not pretend to break a new ground but rather to re-interpret the current literature on migration and establish whether the current pattern of labour migration will change. The research will be based mainly on secondary materials, drawing extensively on published materials, journals and articles.
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- Date Issued: 1995