Migrant labour has deeply shaped South African history and society for more than 150 years. Men and increasingly women have had to leave their rural homes to work in the cities for long periods of time. They were not allowed to settle there or to bring their families with them.

Some men never returned and others developed second families in the city. Relationships and families broke down. The men couldn’t afford to send money home to support their wives and children, and women had to support their families on their own. Prolonged separation and broken relationships contributed to sexually transmitted infections like HIV and Aids taking a terrible toll, leaving many orphaned children to become the heads of households.

Men, women and children travelled to cities like Johannesburg for many different reasons. Some were looking for partners or parents they had lost contact with. Others were looking for work and hoping to get support from family networks. For some this gamble paid off. For others it didn’t, and they found themselves battling to survive alone. They were easy prey for con men and criminals. Others ended up living on the streets while trying to build new networks and look for work.

Some people think that poor people have big families who can take them in and support them. But for the poor and unemployed, the safety net of family is disappearing. They are often shunned by the very people whose protection they sought,1 competing for jobs and resources. But despite these difficulties, people have found ways to assert and express their humanity. They have found networks of support to sustain and nourish them and family and friends in surprising and unusual places.

Poverty strips people of choice. This is especially true for migrants arriving in a city like Johannesburg. There are many debates about what factors lead to crime. One theory argues that a person’s physical and social environment are primarily responsible for the behavioural choices a person makes. Criminality is often a consequence of poverty. People are often forced into a life of crime.

Peter Delius

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Tell us: Do you agree that many people are forced into crime because of their circumstances?