SOUTH Africans constitute the largest number of immigrants based in Zimbabwe, according to a Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) survey report unveiled on Wednesday in Bulawayo.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
The results contained in the ZimStats 2014 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey (LFCLS) shows that out of an estimated 207 130 immigrants in Zimbabwe, South Africa accounts for the highest percentage at 45%, followed by Mozambique and Malawi at 22% and 15% respectively.
“The 2014 LFLCS revealed that there were around 207 000 migrants of whom 78 000 were labour migrants. Males constituted 57% of all labour migrants,” reads in part the survey report.
“The largest numbers of migrants were those from neighbouring countries. South Africa contributed 45% of migrants followed by Mozambique and Malawi with about 22 and 15 percent respectively.”
Other immigrants are from Botswana (3.9%), Zambia (7.8%), other African countries (2.8%), United Kingdom (0.6%), other European countries (0.7%), American countries (0.2%) and Asian (0.2%) while the remaining 1.4% cannot be accounted for.
The data was collected using a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) migration module targeting all migrants above 15 years.
The report says the major objective of the SADC migration module for the 2014 LFCLS was to provide charecteristics of all migrants.
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According to the report, out of all migrants in Zimbabwe, 82% were unskilled, 7% semi-skilled while the remaining 6% were professionals.
The majority of the migrants were employed in the agricultural, forestry, fishery sector as well as clerical support, technicians and associate professionals.
“The higher proportions (68%) of the labour migrants were married followed by the widowed who were at 18%,” the report says.
“There were more male labour migrants than female in the never married and married categories whilst the females dominated the divorced/separated and widowed categories.
“A majority of labour migrants (67%) worked in the private household sector followed by 28% who worked in private enterprises non-financial.
“Among male labour migrants, 61% worked in private household sector, 32% in private non-financial institutions and 5% in private financial institutions.
“Seventy four percent of all female migrants worked in private households while 22% worked in private non-financial enterprises.
“Manicaland province had the highest proportion of labour migrants at 19% followed by Harare province at 18%,” the report adds.
The report was released at a time when Zimbabweans and other African immigrants are under siege in South Africa in what has been described as xenophobic attacks.
