Zimbabwe has maintained first place in the top 20 countries from which people migrate to South Africa.
In the census 2022 figures released on Tuesday by statistician-general Risenga Maluleke, Zimbabwe led with more than 1.01-million citizens in South Africa, an increase from the 672,308 Zimbabwean citizens recorded in the 2011 census.
Experts said the increase reflects the economic troubles in that country.
Mozambique came second with 416,564 migrants, an increase from 393,231 in the previous count.
In third spot was Lesotho with 227,770 people, an increase from 160,806.
Malawi also registered an increase in the number of people who migrated to South Africa from 86,606 recorded in 2011 to 198,807.
The UK is in fifth place. However, the number has declined to 61,282 from the 81,720 in 2011.
A number of prominent people have recently criticised the influx of foreign nationals into South Africa, arguing it places immense pressure on basic services such as health and education.
Last year Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba came under fire for what was described as an inhumane comment to a hospital patient.
A video showed her telling the patient Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget.
Organisations such as Operation Dudula have openly blamed problems including high crime in Gauteng on the presence of foreign nationals in poor communities.
However, Wits University anthropology lecturer Kuda Vanyoro said such sentiments are misplaced.
“That is a political scapegoat. It is not a coincidence that sentiment gets validated in a context where governance has gone to the lowest point,” Vanyoro said.
Migration is a reality. It is not going to go away. Zimbabwean and Malawian migration is not new. These are people are looking to work and they do find what they need and contribute to the economy
— Kuda Vanyoro, Wits University anthropology lecturer
“Migration is a reality. It is not going to go away. Zimbabwean and Malawian migration is not new. These are people looking to work and they do find what they need and contribute to the economy.
“What we’ve seen is the politicisation of that, which says they are here to take jobs. People identify opportunities where there are gaps. They would not be here if those gaps were not there to be filled.”
If all foreign nationals were to leave, this would not solve the problems South Africa faces, Vanyoro said, adding the surge in Zimbabweans moving south was an indicator of the economic situation in that country.
“Nothing has really changed in Zimbabwe since 2008, when people were fleeing because of the economic crisis.”
Vanyoro said the decline in the number of people coming from the UK was due to the low levels of economic growth that South Africa has seen over the past decade.
Census researchers found immigration to South Africa was driven by the quest for economic opportunities, political instability and, increasingly, environmental hazards.
Census 2022 has revealed a treasure trove of information about how South African residents live, from the nature of their homes to whether they are provided with services such as water and electricity.
It revealed 88.5% of people live in formal dwellings, an increase from 77.6% in the previous census.
People living in informal dwellings declined from 13.6% of the population to 8.1%.
Results showed almost all households in Limpopo (94.7%) and Mpumalanga (92.2%) resided in formal dwellings. As expected, provinces with larger rural areas such as KwaZulu-Natal (8%) and the Eastern Cape (11.7%) recorded the highest proportion of households living in traditional dwellings.
The average household size decreased from 4.5 people in 1996 to 3.5 in 2022. Provincial variations showed Gauteng had 2.8 members per household and the Western Cape 3.3 members, the provinces with the lowest average household size.
KwaZulu-Natal, the second most populous province, recorded the highest average household size of 4.4 members.
Researchers found almost half (49.6%) of households were headed by women. Female-headed households were most common in KwaZulu-Natal (53.1%) and the Eastern Cape (51.9%) and least common in the North West (46.3%) and Mpumalanga (46.9%).
The census revealed 41.6% of dwellings are owned and fully paid off, which is similar to the proportion recorded in 2011. These are homes where people have fully paid off their mortgages. The proportion of households that occupied their dwellings rent-free, which is homes they own but have not paid mortgages on, increased from 18.6% in 2011 to 25.6% in 2022.
Only 6.6% of households lived in dwellings owned but not fully paid off, which is a decline from 11.8% in 2011.
Households that resided in rented dwellings were more common in the Western Cape (27.8%) and Gauteng (36.6%), while in Limpopo only 10% of households lived in rented dwellings. Slightly less than two-fifths (37.9%) of households in Limpopo occupied their dwellings rent free, close to double the proportion reported in the Western Cape (18.2%), and Gauteng (20.1%).
All provinces, with the exception of the Western Cape (12.6%), reported a proportion lower than 10% for dwellings owned but not yet paid off.
The census revealed 82.4% of households in the country have access to piped water inside their dwelling or inside the yard.
Households with piped water inside their dwellings have surged from 32.3% in 2001 to 46.3% in 2011 and to 59.7% in 2022.
The proportion of households that accessed piped water outside their home halved from 17.9% in 2011 to 8.9% in 2022.
Households in the Western Cape were more likely to have piped water inside their dwellings (85.5%) compared to Limpopo, where less than one-third (31.4%) accessed piped water inside their dwelling.
“Though the national picture regarding access to piped water shows improvement over the years, there is a sizeable proportion of households in Limpopo (20.5%) and the Eastern Cape (19.5%) with no access to piped water,” the census reported.
Households that received water from regional or local water schemes were asked if they experienced interruptions in their piped water supply in the past 12 months. The Western Cape (27.7%) and Gauteng (40.5%) reported the lowest proportions of water interruptions, below the national average of 48.4%.
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