Summary

South Africa and immigration is debated in the entire Southern African region, and in wider debates on global migratory trends. This study engages with some strands of this topic, for example South Africa's international legal obligations to immigrants, and its moral obligations to the Southern African countries given the impact of the apartheid regime on the region. It considers the tremendous pressure exerted on South Africa as a relatively prosperous country in a region beset with the kinds of socio-economic conditions and instabilities likely to generate economic migrancy and refugees; and sets this against the reality of the country's capacity and limitations to absorb more people, given its own economic problems. It further discusses how to distinguish between 'illegal' immigrants and refugees, and advises on the role of the South African state and stances it should adopt to manage these phenomena effectively.