Bernard Matolino, University of Pretoria
Most migrants in South Africa, from Nigeria and Zimbabwe, are technically economic refugees (see Enigbokan et al 2015). For most, the reason why they have left their country is to search for better opportunities in their much better equipped and prosperous neighbor (Chikanda 2019). As a social phenomenon, migration of this sort is founded on hopes for making one’s fortunes as well as their families better (ibid).
At the core of it is a protest against what the migrants perceive to be failures of their home nations, which Rudo B. Gaidzanwa identifies as “Voting with their feet”. Yet at the same time such movement is rooted in hope of things to come and possibilities that await those who dare make the move. This hope takes many dimensions, including a religious and spiritual dimension (see Biri 2014). We can distinguish between protest against the failures of the homeland from the hopes of what the new home is envisaged. Yet when we look at both the protest and move in hope, they are ends of a continuous precarious hollowing out of life and meaning within the African continent (see Mate 2024). Not so long ago, a Zimbabwean pastor encouraged his congregants to bring their passports for a special prayer aimed at enhancing their chances of migration. Such a prayer in itself articulates both protest and hope. Yet the degree to which the hope is realized (for those who move) may quickly turn into a nightmare. Ranging from cultural to economic hardships, migrants may even be faced with a starker prospect than what they encountered and protested against at home. In South Africa, for example, African migrants have been singled out by fellow migrants for a special discriminatory treatment – xenophobia. Crush et al have described some of these incidents as “acute episodes of extreme xenophobia…(2017: 5). These episodes have led to loss of lives at times and loss of means of earning livelihoods. What is curious about this is that South Africa is host to a multiplicity of foreign nationals who are neither black nor African, but have not experienced such treatment. It could be the case that precarity follows blacks wherever they go. Yet we could also understand the issue as a manifestation of the precarity of black hosts and migrants. The only shared commonality between them is brutal neglect by their governments. Brought together by misery authored in different places, they can only resent each other and such resentment bursts as murder under the banner of xenophobia. What should be acknowledged is that misery and misfortune can never be relied on to build strong communities of care.
While migrants seek to maintain their religious identity, there have been several issues to reckon with. The Johannesburg Methodist church under the leadership of Bishop Paul Verryn, showed how social pressures affect religious commitments that Christians might have been thought to have to each other. The resentment and frictions between people of the same faith over living arrangements at the church for the so-called migrants cum refugees.
However, there is hope among the youth who wish to express their faith in ways that are more inclusive, tolerant, and understanding. New forms of worship that emerged during Covid such as extensive on-line usage and expressions of faith on social media has created a new form of foundation that brings a sense of identity for the younger generation. While it is to be admitted that these alliances are not equivalent to sameness, migrant youths understand their situation of precarity, within these alliances. They also understand that they are descendants of shifting movements in family structures and parenthood. To deal with these shifts and changes they form religious identities of a certain proximity and closeness to God that are radical in nature. The extent to which these identities will live or die will depend on how these shifting identities eventually become a permanent feature of African reality. The church is symbolized as a place of hope and integration by one of our interviewees who states the following:
‘Yeah, the church is like, it’s a mix. There are coloureds, there are South Africans, there are others from Congo, then there are others from Zimbabwe. So, you know, at church, there’s no discrimination. You know, when you go maybe, like outside right now, and then you meet some other people, and then you tell them you’re a foreigner, like, there’s this vibe that they give you. And then when you go to the church, everyone welcomes you. You’re welcome. We are the same. There’s no South African, there’s no Zimbabwe, there’s no white. We are all the same. So, yeah, it really helped.’
References
Biri, K. (2014). Migration, Transnationalism and the Shaping of Zimbabwean Pentecostal Spirituality. African Diaspora, 7(1), 139-164. https://doi.org/10.1163/18725465-00701007
Chikanda, A. 2019. An Analysis of Forced Migration From Zimbabwe. Migration Studies 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnx067
Crush, J. 2017. Living with Xenophobia: Zimbabwean Informal Enter[rise in South Africa. Cape Town: The Printing Press
Enigbokan, O; Edkins, B; Ogundele, O. (2015). Relevance of Migration Theories in the Identification of Influencing Factors for Nigerian and Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa. Conference Paper presented at the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA), Cape Town, 2015https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319102105_Relevance_of_Migration_Theories_in_the_identification_of_influencing_factors_for_Nigerian_and_Zimbabwean_migrants_in_South_Africa/citation/download (accessed 10.09.2025)
Gaidzanwa, R. 1999. Voting With Their Feet: Migrant Zimbabwean Nurses and Doctors in the Era of Structural Adjustment. A Report from the Research Programme: The Political and Social Context of Structural Adjustment in Africa. Uppsala: Motala Grafiska
Machidha,P. 2025. “Faith or Flight? Prophet Joe Daniel’s Passport Annointing Service.”afroGazette”August.https://www.afrogazette.co.zw/faith-or-flight-prophet-joe-daniels-passport-anointing-service-divides-opinion/
Mate, R. (2024). Chronicity, Women’s Suffering, and Prayer: a Budding Prayer Group’s Response to Chronic Developmental Crises in Zimbabwe. Journal of Religion in Africa (published online ahead of print 2024). https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340320
