South Africas migrant labour system, enforced by the hated pass laws, was a fundamental component of the apartheid political economy as it developed during the 20th century. In its heyday, the system structured black lives at both ends of the urban-rural spectrum, encouraging residential impermanence and splitting families across space. There are no institutional mechanisms and laws which keep this system in place in post-apartheid South Africa. Yet the events in Marikana in August 2012, when dozens of striking miners were killed by the police, reminded the country that the legacies of the system endure.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.