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MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND ‘DEVELOPMENT’ IN LESOTHO 26 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk family. The other form of migration on the increase is children’s migration as orphans are sent to live with extended family members in different parts of the country or in South Africa.64 The HIV/AIDS epidemic has left many farmers unable to do the hard physical labour required to work the land and many migrants without the physical energy or resources to continue to migrate for work. As Turner notes: “There is no doubt that the pandemic will exacerbate poverty as the nation’s aggregate capacity to farm is reduced by sickness and death.”65 HIV/AIDS has a number of implications for households in Lesotho including: • Increased household dependency ratios. Chronic illness and death in the working age population are increasing the ratio of dependent consumers to producers in the household; • Changes in household headship. The death of male household heads is increasing the number of widows and female-headed households; • Incomplete Households. One parent or one whole generation is missing; • Households with Additional Orphans. Orphans are the responsibility of the next of kin; • Orphan-Headed Households. These are apparently not as common in Lesotho as elsewhere but are likely to increase in number; • Defunct Households. When both parents die, there are no resident adults and the children are dispersed to live with relatives.66 All of these changes in household structure, division of labour and livelihood strategies are increasing the economic vulnerability of households . Households that experience the death of a migrant from HIV and AIDS generally experience increased poverty. MIGRANT DESTINATIONS PURPOSE OF JOURNEY M igrants from Lesotho go almost entirely to South Africa. MARS found that 99.8% of Basotho migrants work in South Africa and the remainder are in Botswana. South Africa not only has the strongest and most diverse economy in the region, providing a variety of employment and livelihood opportunities , it is also by far the largest and most affluent market for migrants with commodities to sell. In addition, it has the greatest variety of goods for purchase, consumption or trade. The long tradition of labour migration , together with linguistic and cultural traits shared with the South MIGRATION POLICY SERIES NO. 52 27 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk African population, makes it an accessible and familiar destination. Why people go to South Africa from Lesotho has a very clear influence on where they go. For example, the majority of people going to purchase goods for their own consumption or trade go to the South African border towns of Ladybrand, Ficksburg and Thaba Nchu/Botsabelo (Table 13). Bloemfontein, the nearest large South African city, is also a popular destination. The primary destinations for those going to work are the mining towns of Welkom and Virginia (24% of all Basotho going to these towns go there to work), Johannesburg (16%) and Bethlehem (14%). Other smaller towns scattered around the Free State and Gauteng Provinces also attract migrants going to work. Those running their own business (mainly informal sector traders) make up 40% of Basotho visitors to Cape Town and 21% of visitors to Johannesburg. Overall, minework is still the profession of the majority of male Basotho migrants. The dominant employment sector for female migrants is domestic service (with 50% of female migrants). Overall, women are employed in a wider variety of jobs and sectors than men although no other sector employs more than 10% of female migrants. Another significant difference between male and female migrants lies in selfemployment . Only 3% of male migrants but 16% of female migrants are Table 13: South African Destinations by Purpose of Journey Shopping Own business Leisure Employer’s business Education Work Medical Services Other Total Bethelehem 21.4 35.7 - 14.3 7.1 14.3 - 7.2 100 Bloemfontein 25.4 20.9 17.9 9.0 17.9 6.0 2.9 100 Cape Town 40.0 - - 20.0 40.0 - - - 100 Durban - 50.0 - 50.0 - - - - 100 Ficksburg 48.5 22.4 6.0 2.4 0.2 5.2 3.7 11.6 100 Johannesburg 2.3 20.9 41.9 7.0 2.3 16.3 - 9.3 100 Ladybrand 60.6 18.9 8.7 6.3 0.8 - 3.9 0.8 100 Pietermaritzburg - - 100 - - - - - 100 Pretoria - 10.0 10.0 30.0 50.0 - - - 100 Harrismith 14.3 28.6 14.3 14.3 14.3 14.4 100 Thaba Nchu 31.6 5.3 26.3 10.5 5.3 5.3 15.7...

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