| Abstrakt: |
This paper examined the circumstances of migrants from two West African countries, namely Ghana and Nigeria, who live in the city of Durban, South Africa as a transit destination, before moving to other preferred international destinations. In an increasing global panorama of complex migration flows and routes, particularly towards Europe and more recently towards the United States of America and Canada, step-by-step migration1 has emerged as a migration strategy among African migrants as part of the transit migration process. The study explored how increasing border restrictions in Europe (a preferred destination) and the political turmoil in African countries, far from halting migratory flows, have reshaped migration routes among Nigerian and Ghanaian migrants in the period 2017 to 2018. In both their composition (students and skilled migrants) and their trajectories (including return migration to Nigeria and Ghana), preferred destinations have been reconfigured. The objective of the study was threefold and examined the following aspects: the migrants' previous destination(s); their motivations for being in South Africa and their awareness of being in =transit'; and the migrants' motivations and decision-making choices for remaining/moving to another destination(s) in the future. The study was based on a mixed methodology approach comprising indepth interviews, questionnaire and informal conversations. The triangulation of qualitative fieldwork data with quantitative survey-type questionnaire and other secondary sources enabled the verification of assertions made by the participants. The study brought to the fore that, in the process of multiple transits and/or destinations, what is considered the ultimate desired outcome for the migrants is variable and dependent on a range of external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
