South Africa's farms hit by labor shortage as migrants depart

Intense anti‑immigration protests and stricter enforcement have prompted more than 160,000 migrant workers to leave South Africa, the majority returning to Zimbabwe. The exodus has created acute labor shortages across the country's agricultural belt, with some sugar‑cane farms reporting up to an 80% loss of their workforce and large areas of citrus and other crops left unharvested. Manufacturing and transport sectors in Durban and other industrial zones also report shortages of skilled workers, hampering production targets.

The departure of migrants has exposed a secondary crisis: displaced workers lose access to social security benefits they contributed to while in South Africa, including pensions, unemployment insurance and occupational injury compensation. Regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have long‑standing guidelines on portability of social security, but these have not been turned into binding agreements, leaving many migrants unable to claim benefits after returning home.