The migration of Malawians to South Africa for wage employment dates back to the late nineteenth century following the establishment of diamond and gold mines in Kimberley and the Witwatersrand. Also the genesis of this migration is associated with working in the mines, with time some Malawian labour migrants sought employment in various other sectors. This paper advances the view that this labour migration may be divided into two periods: the old migration period (1880s-1980s) and the new migration period (1980s onwards). During the old period labour migration from Malawi was either formal or informal (selufu), whereas during the new period it was exclusively informal. The paper focuses on the increase in informal migration (selufu) during the new period, particularly in the 1990s. It argues that although selufu picked up following the demise of mine migrancy in the 1980s, this selufu escalated mainly as a result of micro-level and macro-level factors in the 1990s. The findings in this paper are based on data that was collected using archival, oral and secondary sources. Oral interviews were conducted with labour migrants in Mzimba and Nkhata-Bay districts in northern Malawi, but also in Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper also shows that labour migration during the new period is influenced by the functional theories which posit that labour migrants emigrate as a result of rational decisions which are made at household or family level. © 2018 Centro Andaluz de Medicina del Deporte. All Rights Reserved.

Formal Migration Functional Theories Old Period Informal Migration Selufu New Period

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