Migration, Remittances and Development in Lesotho

USE OF REMITTANCES

MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND ‘DEVELOPMENT’ IN LESOTHO 46 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk the children. I think this money makes a difference in providing food, for without it my children would die of hunger. One of my sons has to repeat Standard. He only got a third class pass but I do not know if the money I send will be enough to send him to school. I want to save money but I am unable to do so. Even if I save, my [money] will not go towards my business. There are many deaths these days and the money saved would help in the burial of members of my household or me. I have a Lesotho passport but I do not have a work permit. In order to remain in South Africa, I need to renew my visitor’s permit once a month back at the border. I could overstay and then I have to pay a bribe of M150 to M200 demanded by officials at the border when I return to Lesotho. USE OF REMITTANCES I nterviews with remittance senders and receivers suggest that the former decide how much to send and the latter make most of the decisions about how remittances will be spent. Although there are disagreements, very few respondents indicated that there is serious conflict about the use of remittances, probably because such a small proportion is ever truly discretionary. Once school fees are paid, health costs met, and clothing and groceries bought, there is not much left. Conflict arises when a spouse feels that the wage earner is wasting remittance money on non-essentials or is being dishonest: My husband is no use to our family at all and if things could be reversed it would be better if I went to work instead of him and maybe there would be some change in our lives. My husband does not send money and even when he brings it with him, he takes it to buy beer and entertain himself. He fights for it if I refuse to give him the money. When he comes home he does not even want to take a spade to dig the garden. He says he has come home to rest as he works hard in the mines. Him working in South Africa brings only negative impacts and he is no use at all to the family.84 Her spouse has been working for 20 years on the mines as a migrant. She had no idea how much he earns (but it is probably in excess of R30,000 a year). She claimed she only gets R3,000, all of which she spends on food and clothing, including for her niece and her husband’s MIGRATION POLICY SERIES NO. 52 47 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk mother. The family, she said, do not have enough to eat many times during the course of the year. She is happy about compulsory deferred pay because she would otherwise “never see a cent of it.” However, only her husband is able to withdraw the funds in Lesotho, which he does “without my knowledge and eats alone.” Both remitters and recipients agree that remittances are essential to the livelihood of household members and that without them they would be “lost.” There are plenty of “lost” households in every village. The perceived importance of remittances proved to be extremely high (Table 23). Most households (89%) find the contribution of remittances to household income important or very important. Remittances are also key to having enough food in the household (with nearly 90% saying that it is important or very important). Table 23: Perceived Importance of Remittances Very Important Important Neutral Not Important Not Important at All Don’t Know In Having Enough to Eat 73.4 16.5 2.2 3.0 4.7 0.2 In Having Enough Clean Water 40.2 17.3 9.6 11.6 20.8 0.6 In Accessing Medical Treatment 62.6 25.0 3.8 3.2 5.3 0.2 In Having Enough Cooking Fuel 58.7 28.5 3.9 2.2 6.5 0.2 In Having a Cash Income 63.1 25.7 2.9 2.5 5.6 0.1 N=1026 Source: SAMP Household Survey How do migrant-sending households in Lesotho actually spend their remittance income? First, it is useful to look at household budgets (Table 24). Food and groceries are by far the most important expenditure (incurred by 93% of households in the month prior to the survey...