At a time when the world’s attention is directed towards African migrants trying to make their way north to reach the shores of Europe, little attention has been given to the many thousands of African migrants looking south and moving to Johannesburg, one of Africa’s most affluent cities. Some have ended up living in derelict, “hijacked” buildings in the inner city, an area renowned for crime, poverty, and unemployment.
During the apartheid era in the 1970s and ’80s, the inner city of Johannesburg was a popular area, mostly occupied by white residents and businesses, but once restrictions on the black population were removed, starting in the early 90s, the white population gradually moved out. Some properties were abandoned, and criminals claimed ownership of the buildings.
These are now run by slumlords who collect rent from poor migrant workers, taking the money but providing no maintenance. Often there is no electricity or running water, leaving the residents in unsafe, sub-human conditions in a disease-infested environment.

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It is estimated that South Africa has over two million illegal African migrants, and these buildings house thousands of foreign migrant workers and refugees from countries such as Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, and Nigeria, to name only a few, as well as economic “migrants” who are South African citizens.
Many undocumented migrants have escaped desperate economic hardship in their home countries, and many others have fled war, violence and political persecution.
Their new home is now a constant reminder that their dream when coming to Johannesburg has not come true, their dream of finding a better life in the “golden city” where they hoped to earn high wages, and also help provide a better life for their families back home.
More recently, with South Africa’s national economy struggling, and the unemployment rate at the highest level for twenty years, African migrants have been the target of xenophobic violence, with dozens killed and hundreds injured.

Jonathan Torgovnik

Jonathan Torgovnik

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