Migrant livelihoods and strategies in urban South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic

Leah Koskimaki, Ngonidzashe Frackson Thom and Mustapha Kazadi

Chapter 15 in Handbook of Research on Migration, COVID-19 and Cities, 2025, pp 282-299 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: National governments assisted urban migrants and refugees during COVID-19. However, in South Africa, the government provided little social support to migrants. This situation exacerbated the precarity of vulnerable migrant and refugee communities, causing loss of livelihoods, health issues and xenophobia. Given this context, this chapter describes the experiences and survival strategies of two migrant groups in Cape Town: those from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. This research builds on migrant survival strategies in urban South Africa to describe some of the innovative ways migrants adapted to these circumstances given the lack of government support, even prior to the pandemic. The chapter describes that while some support was offered in the form of NGO coordination and humanitarian assistance, these were either difficult to access or short-lived. Hence, Cape Town migrants relied on their own communities and various informal strategies and solidarities, which were already rendered vulnerable due to the pandemic.

Keywords: Migrant Vulnerability; Refugee Rights; South Africa; COVID-19; Urban Solidarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035301225
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