In the article Local People’s Attitudes Toward Young Zimbabwean Immigrants, the writers discuss the negative attitudes the citizens of Musina have against the young Zimbabwean immigrants. Zimbabwe is a country in South Africa. Musina is a developed city located on the border of Zimbabwe. Musina locals feel that the immigrants compete with locals for business, housing, and health care. The locals have also emphasized that immigrants are more preferred for jobs than locals because immigrants contribute labor that is cheaper. In April 2015 the South African Zulu King made a public state regarding anti-foreigners which resulted in the locals attacking and the disposal of immigrants belongings.
Researchers believe the negative attitude that surrounds immigrants is an outcome of culture, language, nationality, and personal contact barriers. In addition, another influence is the size of the population. Zimbabwe’s large population makes locals of Musina fear that the immigrants will take all their resources.
In the article, the writers conducted a study in Musina to get primary evidence on how the locals feel about Zimbabwe’s youth immigrants. In the study, they found 43.7% of locals feel they display a positive attitude toward immigrants. These individuals believe that Zimbabwean youth are family, and contribute to economic growth by working occupations that not preferred by the locals. In addition, locals stated that youth Zimbabweans increase business sales by purchasing goods in bulk Musina and reselling the goods in Zimbabwe. However, 56.3% of the locals feel youth Zimbabwean are problematic when the youth take high paying jobs. Also, the locals indicated when Zimbabwean immigrants are in desperate need of money they engage in criminal activities.
The writers concluded the study by recommending that the Musina locals and young Zimbabweans must be taught entrepreneurial skills, therefore, they can create jobs for others and don’t have to compete over scare job opportunities.
R., Chinyakata, et al. “Local People’s Attitudes Towards Young Zimbabwean Immigrants: The Case of Musina, South Africa.” Gender & Behaviour, vol. 16, no. 3, Dec. 2018, pp. 11908–11917. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134055081&site=eds-live&scope=site.