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  • Title: A model of adaptive population migration in South Africa.
    Author: Hattingh PS.
    Journal: Ren Kou Xue Kan (Taipei); 1989 Jun; (12):187-213. PubMed ID: 12159725.
    Abstract:
    In South Africa, political factors, as well as socioeconomic forces have traditionally shaped the distribution pattern of the population. Economic and political realities have recently brought adaptive changes in government policy with concomitant migration responses. On explaining the model, the author describes 3 recent movements. 2 stem from policy changes as reflected in the national and urban distributional patterns of blacks, and the movement of Indians to the Orange Free State. The 3rd deals with the movement of elderly whites in the city of Pretoria. In the case of the blacks, migration into the white area has been a spontaneous evolutionary adaptation to the presence of strong push factors in the homelands and pull factors in the white area. Since 1910, governments have tried to restrict the influx of blacks by formulating and implementing normative policies of intervention, and since the 1960s, by actively promoting urban development in the homelands. Despite these measures, the numbers of blacks in the white area has swelled to such an extent that the government has adapted by increasing the rights of blacks. Blacks, Asians, and coloreds have also filtered into exclusive, white suburbs, ignoring government legislation. Currently, the government is reacting adaptively by proposing to create free settlement areas, but also normatively by placing more emphasis on areas reserved for specific racial groups. The 2nd example shows that despite efforts by Indians to move into the Orange Free State, progress is very slow. However, the process for adaptive migration to and within the Orange Free State has been set in motion. The 3rd example, that of elderly whites in Pretoria, reflects the migratory behavior of this group in response to the natural process of aging. Here there are no normative policies, but the authorities will probably formulate adaptive policies as the white South African population ages rapidly. Both normative and adaptive government policies flow from evolutionary processes, 1) as policies become outdated or ineffective and new policies are formulated or 2) to curb the trends or ameliorate the effects of past normative policies aimed against adaptive migration. South African society is charging and adaptive migration is playing a significant role in effecting change.
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