Navigating Entry and Survival in the City: A Relational Comparison of Migrant Workers and University Students in the City of Durban

ABSTRACT

Worker hostels and student residences are an important point of entry for many poor rural–urban migrants into the city of Durban. This paper brings together and reports on the findings of research conducted in two separate studies, one with hostels (KwaMashu and Thokoza) and the other at the student residences of Durban University of Technology. Hostels and institutions of higher education in KwaZulu-Natal are used as vantage points through which we understand some of the key connections, interconnections, disconnections and reconnections that are taking place in contemporary housing in South African cities. The concept of a bed-space is key for both migrants and students and informs the analysis undertaken in this paper. We also highlight the importance of the lived experiences of migrants (both students and workers) and all the connotations embedded therein.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• rural–urban connections
• bed-space
• housing and social networks
• South Africa
• KwaZulu-Natal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

2 Community residential units are family housing units that were designed by the government to replace former single sex workers’ hostels.

3 That is, people from their home area.

4 For a very recent examination of some of these issues, see Mark Paterson and Jean-Paul Addie’s article “Shaping cities goes beyond student beds” in the Mail and Guardian, 18 January 2019 (https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-00-shaping-cities-goes-beyond-student-beds, accessed 19 January 2019).

5 All names of interviewees have been changed to pseudonyms.

6 To go look for a job.

7 Shameful.

8 Squatting, on the other hand, is informal and illegal; but is done under the table, and without official approval by student housing administrators.

9 A curtain or other screening material used to provide some form of privacy for a man and his female guest.

10 People who have forsaken home.

11 A person who has forsaken home.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama

Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She is also an Honorary Research Associate at the Durban University of Technology. Her book Hostels in South Africa: Spaces of Perplexity has redefined scholarship in the field. Her research interests are related to issues of migration, housing, higher education, rural–urban connections, gender, household relations and everyday lived experiences.

Aisha Lorgat

Aisha Lorgat is a researcher at the Chris Hani Institute. She is in the process of completing her PhD with the University of Cape Town. Her research focus is the socioeconomic rights of migrant workers, with a particular focus on the right to work and rights in the workplace. She is an executive member of the South African Sociological Association (SASA) Council. Her research interests include migration, precarious workers and socioeconomic justice.