Socioeconomic and cultural impacts of labour migration on migrant mineworker families in the kingdom of Eswatini

Abstract

Mainstream literature on the migration-development nexus suggests that labour migration has developmental effects for both receiving and sending states. The expectation is that migration will result in poverty alleviation and improved socioeconomic conditions in the sending states. However, case specific investigations on migration impact continue to show how communities within sending states do not always experience this anticipated development. This study sought to gain insights into migration’s socioeconomic and cultural impacts on migrant mineworker families in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Using a mixed methods design, survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect empirical data. The study found that although remittances were received, left-behind families often claimed that these were not enough to cover the respective families’ expenses. The remittances had to be supplemented by other locally generated sources of income. Therefore, for these families, chances of economic development and significant improvements in living standards were extremely low. Migration was also found to have adverse sociocultural effects on the left- behind. The study identified a number of affected areas which included the considerable disruptions on adolescent socialisation, shifts in traditional family roles and functions which were found to have cultural and psychological consequences, the impact on emotional and relational welfare of the left-behind and their vulnerability during the migrants’ absence. Consequently, the recommendations to acknowledge the importance of multi-sectoral and context specific investigations into migration impact, in order to fully understand its true impact on the left-behind, were made on the basis of these identified gaps between the anticipated positive outcomes of migration on the left-behind and the actual outcomes as demonstrated by the empirical evidence. The study also recommended that interventions aimed at training and developing skills of able-bodied left-behind members of migrant households should be instituted in order to increase their chances of employment, especially self-employment, and meaningful contributions towards the households’ survival and welfare.