Zambezia (1977), 5 (ii).MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELS, SALISBURYVALERIE MOLLERCentre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Natal, DurbanCIRCULATORY MIGRATION IS a phenomenon which has held a fascination forsociologists in many parts of the world, but perhaps nowhere has the pre-occupation persisted for as long as in Africa south of the Sahara (Elkan,1961, p.299). For, while the general tendency elsewhere is for circulatorymigration to be reduced to a one-way flow of migration from country totown, in Southern Africa the circular flow of migrants has to a large extentremained and there has therefore not been the abrupt social change whichoften accompanies the rapid urbanization resulting from influx from thecountryside. By a conscious promotion of circulatory migration, the pace ofurbanization is kept within limits and population concentration is preventedfrom overburdening a still developing economy.This paper discusses some of the forces comprising circulatory migration,which may cause popular movements to and from an urban context, andrelates these movements to social change. The data we shall draw uponrefer to African migrant labourers from rural Rhodesia engaged in wageemployment in Salisbury in 1973.Before reviewing the data, a brief outline of the manner in which circula-tory migration works may provide a useful framework for analysis. If cir-culatory migration is described in terms of a mechanistic model, often re-ferred to as the 'push-pull' model, four forces are at work in producing themobility involved in circulatory migration. The scheme shown in Figure 1describes two contexts ( A represents a rural area and B an urban centre)and the disposition of forces (numbered 1-4) which can be described as follows.The first force constitutes a 'pull' expressed as an attractive force towardContext B, which inclines the potential migrant to move from the originalContext A to Context B. The second force consists of a 'push' inducing thepotential migrant to leave his present Context A because it cannot satisfyhis requirements adequately. The first and second forces are complementary,in that their cumulated forces may be considered an effective incentive tomove the migrant from Context A to B. However, in the case of circulatorymigration the process does not terminate at Context B. At some time theconstellation of forces is reversed. Context B now exerts pressure to migrate(Force 4) and Context A provides sufficient attraction (Force 3) to inducethe migrant to return to his place of origin. This reversal of forces only takesplace in cases of circulatory migration and is therefore its chief characteristic.141142MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSFigure 1The tendency for migration to flow from the rural to the urban contexthas become so widespread, that the 'counterstream' flow from urban to ruralareas has largely been neglected in migration studies. Under normal circum-stances the Forces 3 and 4 would relax in time and the migration flow backto the rural area would slowly peter out. In contrast to observations madeelsewhere, as Wilson (1972, p. 158) points out, the circulation of migrationin Southern Africa has been artificially perpetuated by boosting these forces.Although the model in Figure 1 places primary emphasis on the contex-tual situation confronting the potential migrant, it is the migrant himselfwho determines whether, and at what point in time, force constellations arerelevant to him and will influence his movements between contexts. Themotivational analysis has often been championed by students of migration,but only the study of both actor and contextual situation provide an ade-quate basis for the explanation of migration (Garbett, 1975).Migration is by definition a movement from a context, affording low ac-cess to high positions on various status dimensions for the individual, toanother context affording higher access to such positions (Hoffmann-Nowotny,1970). One universal type of context with multiple access to relative better-ment of position on many status dimensions is the urban centre. The con-centration of industry and commerce in most types of urban centres hasprovided a corresponding concentration of opportunities for status improve-ment.If the occupation of a relatively high status position in one context pro-vides a passport to the achievement of another highly desirable status desig-nation in another context, social mobility accompanies geographical mobility.This is particularly evident when migrants shift between contexts withdisparate value systems. Assuming that a migrant will seek to achieve highstatus designations throughout his life, the search for membership in eitherthe rural or urban society may be age-dependent. Thus we may observe theyoung rural migrant exchanging education and work potential status forVALERIE MOLLER143a higher economic status in town, the assets of which can later be convertedinto a secure social position in the rural area after retirement from town.If we trace the mobility of the typical migrant against the constellationof forces outlined above, the migrant feels the relevance of Forces 1 and 2to move toward town at the beginning of his career and the relevance ofForces 3 and 4 to move back to the rural area at the end of his workingcareer. The continuous flow of migrants provides a constant influx of labourto the urban area. The geographical movement of people from the ruraland the urban context is accompanied by social mobility involved in ex-changing rural and urban status designations.It would be presumptuous to expect this vast mobility to leave no tracesof change on society both in the urban and rural contexts and especiallyon the individuals imminently involved in the movement. The results of asurvey conducted among a population of migrant labourers in Rhodesia(Moller, 1973) provide us with the opportunity to enquire into this questionin more detail. The research focused on males living in single status inhostels which cater for migrants. It is felt that this particular urban groupmay provide a testing ground for answering the following questions relatedto social change:i) Do migrant labourers in hostel accommodation differ from residentsliving in African accommodation as far as socio-demographic back-ground is concerned?ii) What types of mechanisms are active in maintaining the relevanceof the push-pull forces which keep the migrant in town during hisactive life span?iii) Are there any indications of attitude or behavioural change takingplace as a result of circulatory migration?By studying hostel dwellers in Harare African Township, Salisbury, itwas assumed that we were contacting the most marginal temporary residentsin town. Single accommodation for a foreign labour force is always economic-ally advantageous for the context that receives the migrants, because infra-structure and amenities need only be supplied for the active working popula-tion. The turnover in the Harare Hostels is reputedly very high and accommo-dation of this type is likely to be viewed as a short-term solution to urbanaccommodation. Apart from the manner in which they are accommodated,there was not a priori expectation that hostel dwellers need represent a homo-geneous group in other respects. Our findings do, however, point in thisdirection in many instances.Harare, the oldest African Township in Salisbury, was established in1907 and is administered by the African Administration Department of theMunicipality. It is situated not far to the south of the city centre near theindustrial area. Besides catering for 36 500 Africans living with their families144MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSit provides the only large-scale 'bachelor' accommodation for single men andfor married men whose families are residing in the African rural areas,the Tribal Trust Lands. Approximately 24 000 men are housed in five hostelcomplexes containing a number of different sized barrack-type buildingsof several storeys. These buildings, 51 in number, have different accommo-dation capacities, ranging from 350 to 1 000 men in rooms each of whichcontains five beds.A two per cent systematic sample of 478 was drawn from the entire hostelpopulation, by including the formal occupant of every fiftieth bed. A ques-tionnaire-type schedule was administered to the men included in the sampleduring the first part of 1973. Full response was received from 392, 82 percent of the original sample.A preliminary finding, connected directly to our sampling procedure,showed that the hostel accommodation provided is under-utilized. Cases ofabsenteeism accounted for 13 per cent of the original sample. This was duepartially to the continual turnover which caused time lapses between thedeparture and arrival of men entitled to occupancy of a designated bed.Seasonal labour demands may also account for some vacancies. Some for-mal occupants were reported to have obtained lodging elsewhere in one ofthe Salisbury townships or to have returned to their homes in the rural areafor an indefinite period. In some instances whole rooms were locked duringthe entire survey period or the target bed had been removed from the roomaltogether. This absenteeism was therefore interpreted as an indication ofthe high mobility rate of migrant labour.Socio-Demographic background The ages of migrants accommodated in hos-tels vary between late teens and early forties. Table I gives the proportionaldistribution of hostel dwellers by age group. The lower age limit representsthe starting age for a migrant (cf. Garbett, 1960, p.16; Bourdillon, 1977);the upper limit represents the age where return to the rural area is contem-plated. The preponderance of men in their twenties suggests that hostelsoffer the first urban accommodation to migrants in town.Table IAGE DISTRIBUTION OF HOSTEL DWELLERSAge in YearsN15-1920-2930-3940-4950+unknown34202103321939028,751,826,48,24,9100,00VALERIE MOLLER145Hostel dwellers are almost all newcomers to town, as indicated by thefact that 96 per cent are first generation urban. Most of the hostel dwellersfind employment in unskilled or semi-skilled positions in industry or com-merce. Their median income in 1973 was Rh$32 and only 2 per cent earnmore than Rh$54 a month. The median income places hostel dwellers on apar with the average household head who is the wage earner in the leastaffluent Salisbury township (Rhodesia, 1970).Although the educational standard is not by any means high, it comparesfavourably with that of males in Highfield African Township as recordedby Stopforth (1971, pp.25-6). Under 10 per cent have had no schooling andjust over 11 per cent have had 8 years of schooling or more. The majority havecompleted or reached the last years in primary school. These findings suggestthat lack of urban experience and contacts in town rather than lack offormal education account for the hostel dwellers' low occupationalstatus in town. By urban standards these migrants occupy a marginal posi-tion in the urban employment sector. Nevertheless these rural Africans maybe exchanging their relatively high educational status (measured by ruralstandards) for what by rural standards is a higher occupational status intown.Fifty-seven per cent of the hostel dwellers are married and most of themhave their families in the Tribal Trust Lands. Half the married respondentshave been married over five years, and expressed as an average a marriedrespondent has three children. Sixty-five per cent of the married respondentsare married traditionally without official registration, which means theymay encounter difficulty in applying for legal family accommodation in atownship house if desired. Although the chief role of maintaining linksbetween the migrants in town and their families in the rural areas is assumedby the migrants themselves, 67 per cent of the wives of married hostel dwel-lers visit their husbands in town occasionally.The survey findings indicate that migrants come straight to the largercentre, Salisbury, from various rural areas situated in the eastern half ofRhodesia. They do not engage in 'step-migration' by stopping at smallercentres on their way to larger ones, as is often the case in rural-urbanmigration (McGee, 1971, p.56). Recruitment areas are those Tribal TrustLands closest to Salisbury, districts along the main communication lines anddistricts situated in the eastern half of Rhodesia (that is, to the east of theloosely defined language-cultural boundary between the Shona and theNdebele, as shown in Figure 2); only 8 per cent of the sample respondentscome from outside Rhodesia, from Malawi and Mozambique.The urban experience of hostel dwellers varies greatly according to theage of respondents and 50 per cent have under seven years experience. Bycomputing a stabilization index relating urban experience to the age ofrespondents (Mitchell, 1956, p.705), it is seen that hostel dwellers in all agegroups have spent over half their adult life in town. Age groups above 45146MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSyears show a tendency to have spent proportionally less time in town. It istherefore concluded that the older migrants who have not returned to therural areas at the age of 45, started their migration career relatively latein life and are compensating for their previous lack of urban experienceby remaining in town when they are older. Some older respondents withhigh stabilization indices (that is, having spent the greater part of their adultlives in town) might, however, be regarded as potential permanent urbanresidents, circumstances of employment and accommodation permitting.Hostel dwellers have as a whole spent half their time in hostels. Seventy-one per cent of the respondents have spent less than five years in hostels;just under 10 per cent have lived in hostels over 10 years, and a small mi-nority have even been there up to 24 years. This maximum period roughlycoincides with the original provision of hostel accommodation.A high turnover of jobs held in town is recorded. It can be estimatedthat one in four jobs held by hostel dwellers in town are changed each year.Figure 2RHODESIADISTRICT BOUNDARIES100,0VALERIE MOLLER147Change of employment does not seem to be a voluntary move on the partof hostel dwellers, judged by the frequent references to 'having lost one'sjob'. Change of employment does not therefore necessarily imply socialmobility indicated by a rise in occupational status or wages. The employmentpattern shows a marked influence on the migration pattern. Change or lossof employment is taken as an opportunity to return to the rural home, butthis home visit may not be altogether voluntary since accommodation intown is often forfeited with unemployment.Contrary to widespread belief that this type of home visit tends to inter-rupt the migration cycle of a single migrant and split it into numerous sub-cycles, the incidence and length of rest periods in the rural areas duringa migrant career do not appear extremely high in our sample. We estimatethat, of those who have changed jobs during their migrant career, 67 percent had been home for a visit once in two and a half years or even less,after loss of employment. The incidence of termination of the migrant careercannot be estimated due to the design of the survey. However, during thewhole of their working careers in town, under 20 per cent of the hosteldwellers have spent more than a year at a time away from town. Theseresults point to the conclusion that urban wage employment is a more closedphase in the migrant career than formerly anticipated.Communication and visiting patterns Communication patterns of hosteldwellers provide some new insight into possible mechanisms operating tomaintain stabilization of migrants during their productive life span (effec-tive influence of Forces 1 and 2 in the model in Fig. 1) and at the same timeprepare for the effective reversal of forces moving away from town to therural areas after the urban wage employment phase (Forces 3 and 4 in themodel in Fig. 1).One established form of communication between migrants and their familiesin the rural areas is through remittances sent back regularly. Eighty-eightper cent of the hostel dwellers send home remittances and 69 per centdo so monthly or more regularly. The monthly remittance is most popularand the majority of remittances sent home at any one time vary betweenRh$l and Rh$15, the median value being Rh$8. From a rough calculationbased on sample medians, it is estimated that possibly one quarter of thehostel dwellers salary is remitted per month. This estimate is substantiatedby Bourdillon's report (1977) from the rural pole of the migration cycle.Contact with the rural area is not maintained by receiving rural visitorsother than wives. Only 44 per cent of hostel dwellers reported visitors fromrural areas and for all hostel dwellers an average of two visitors per yearv/as estimated. The fact that hostel dwellers can offer no accommodation tovisitors and assume the chief visiting role themselves may account for thisfinding.Travelling or home-visiting is presumed to be one of the chief mechanismsoperating to achieve urban stabilization while providing rural connections,148MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSwhich ensure future access to the rural social structure on retirement. Almost90 per cent of the sample had visited the rural areas during the year previousto the survey. Two numerically equal groups can be distinguished amongtravellers: occasional visitors and regular visitors. The category 'occasionalvisitors' refers to travellers whose visits to the rural area do not fit anypreconceived frequency pattern and occur when migrants are given severaldays free from their work, such as during leave or public holidays. 'Regularvisitors', on the other hand, travel to the rural areas on regular days off, atweekly, fortnightly or monthly intervals.The findings indicate that the chief reasons for all travelling are familyvisits, followed by leave, or holiday visits which, of course, can also be theoccasion for family visits. Thus, travelling can primarily be considered asa means of communication between the head of the family residing in theurban area and the other family members in the rural areas. All regularvisitors included public holidays and leave visits in their visiting patterns.Apart from visiting on public holidays and during their annual leave inthe manner of occasional visitors, regular visitors utilize whatever time theyhave off from work for travelling. A longer, monthly, interval betweenvisits was, however, more popular than the shorter, weekly, interval. Thetypical occasional visit lasted most frequently three or four days, less oftentwo or three weeks. Only a small percentage exceeded a period of threeweeks. Regular visits nearly always lasted one or two days.Almost all travelling was undertaken by public transport, mainly by bus.The long-distance bus network caters almost exclusively for the Africanpopulation and extends to nearly all parts of Rhodesia. A somewhat smallerproportion of travel was done by a combination of train and bus or trainalone when visiting occasionally. There are significant variations betweenoccasional and regular visiting in respect of distance and cost. Expressedin terms of the journey from Salisbury to the destination (i.e. not the round-trip), median cost per occasional visit is Rh$l,20 against Rh$0,70 for aregular visit. The median distance covered on an occasional trip is 126 milesagainst 85 miles on a regular trip. Few occasional visits exceed a distanceof 300 miles, which would take a migrant to most places within the Rho-desian border. A single fare of more than Rh$3,00 was seldom paid; anda distance of 20 miles costing c.Rh$2,00 was rarely exceeded on regulartrips.An analysis of destinations showed that almost all visits are to TribalTrust Lands and only a very small percentage toward African PurchaseLand and other areas in Rhodesia. Less than one per cent of all visits in theyear previous to the survey were to foreign countries. These destinationsnearly always represented the respondents' own homes. Foreigners marriedto Rhodesian wives visit their wives' homes on rare occasional visits (2,7per cent of visits in the previous year). Trip distance is therefore a directconsequence of the distance of the respondent's home district from Salisbury.VALERIE MOLLERTable II149TRAVELLING STATISTICS FOR ONE YEARPer YearTotal Number of VisitsTotal Visiting Time(Days)Total MileageTotal Cost RhS (Salisburyto Destination)OccasionalVisits2,826,3378,63,70RegularVisits18,034,41436,613,70AllVisits11.741,5103110,40Table II gives an overview of the statistics of patterns of travelling for oneyear. Differences in the patterns of regular and occasional visiting emergeeven in the yearly totals. From these yearly, totals we infer that the averagetravelling hostel dweller makes e.12 trips to the same destination, whichcoincides with his district of origin in the rural area. He is out of town forjust under 1,5 months, covers 2 060 miles in this period and spends Rh$20,80on travel fares. Approximately Rh$l,70 or 5,3 per cent of the mean income,is spent by visiting hostel dwellers on long-distance travel per month. Thelong distance travel expenditure of hostel dwellers who assume the chief travelrole in the family, is similar to the travel expenditure of a whole family of simi-lar income in a Salisbury township (Rhodesia, 1970).An important finding of the survey is that whereas all rural relatives, eventhose in the remotest districts, have occasional contacts of at least oneyearly visit with their migratory kin, only the families living in districtssituated within 125 miles from Salisbury receive regular visits from theirmen in town (cp. Figs 3 and 4). There is a tendency for the frequency withwhich a district is visited to decrease with distance; and this is emphasizedby the finding that occasional visits to foreign countries occur at even lessthan once a year. The additional time and cost involved in travelling longerdistances is offered by way of explaining varying visiting frequencies.The findings above support the notion that at least one home visit a yearensures the continuation of the migrant career. Home-visiting does notseriously threaten termination of a migrant career before the migrant hasreached the end of his normal working life span. Similarly, the incidenceof prolongation of occasional trips beyond the preconceived visiting periodis only 0,8 per cent. This indicates that the push-pull force constellation,bringing migrants back to town after rural visits, operates effectively.150MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSIt is suggested that the home-visiting pattern described above is a charac-teristic mechanism sustaining the migration cycle during the productivelife of the migrant (cp. Mitchell, 1973). It allows for the benefit derived froma higher economic status for the wage earner and indirectly for his family,without a complete loss of contact with the rural social structure. The regularvisiting pattern may be considered the maximum fulfilment of this require-ment, the occasional visiting pattern the minimum fulfilment.Figure 3Migrants as mediators of social change A question related to the consequencesof regular visiting for the promotion of social change might be raised atthis point. Theoretically, a regular visitor may be less subject to urban in-fluence, because he spends most of his leisure time out of town. His regularcontact with the rural area however puts him in the ideal position to conveyurban values to the rural area. It is highly unlikely that the mediating rolewill adequately be played by regular visitors, as they must rely largely ontheir working time to absorb urban values. As the survey did not inquireVALERIE MOLLERFigure 4151RHODESIADISTRICT BOUNDARIES-\--:> ,~~, , ?% ?* rfiinto leisure-time activities of respondents in town, whether this was spentamong other rural migrants in 'home-boy' groups (Mayer, 1961) or in pur-suing urban contacts and making use of urban facilities, this question willhave to remain open to mere speculation at present. It has been suggestedby Mayer (1962, p.584) that migrants engaged in frequent home-visiting arelargely influenced by the rural social context and may retain the rural valuesystem throughout their working life in town.Although our findings indicate that the majority of hostel dwellers havebeen in town in a working capacity most of their adult lives, it is question-able whether the urban environment exerts an influence toward a change inperception or attitudes. Such a change is unlikely to happen when exposureto an urban way of life is avoided, as it appears to be in the regular travel-ling pattern. The migrant who is only exposed to urban influence in the worksituation and not during leisure is precisely characterized as a person 'intown but not of it'.152MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSThe extent to which urban attitudes may have been adopted, was measuredby comparing the response to sets of questions posed on other occasions togroups considered less marginal to the urban context. 'Townsmen', repre-sented by a sample of heads of households in Highfield African Township,and 'urban elites', represented by Africans living in a prestigious area inHighfield, were taken as reference groups. This typology of urban groupsis based largely on differences in accommodation, education, occupation andincome status. Stopforth (1973a, pp.8-11) has shown real differences betweenthe Highfield 'townsmen' and Chitepo Road 'elites'. It has been reportedabove that hostel dwellers have limited access to higher occupation andincome status positions. It was therefore assumed that 'urban elites' wouldhold more urban values than 'townsmen'. 'Migrants', represented by thehostel dwellers of the survey, would be less urbanized than either 'townsmen'or 'urban elites'.A Family Reliance Test adapted and amended by Stopforth (1972,pp.64-5) from a similar projective test first administered by Koyama (1966)in Japan, is employed in gauging social change in the different urban groups.Although it is assured that with the development of modernization, the socialfunction of kinship relations will have greatly decreased, they may still provesignificant and their functions may not be negligible in the substantial wayof life. This is expected to be the case in ten situations of need, which can-not adequately be met by urban institutions. Respondents are asked on whomthey would rely in ten such situations.The response to the Test shows that migrants (hostel dwellers) are similarto townsmen (Highfield African Township) and urban elites (Chitepo Road)in respect of reliance on kinsmen or relatives. Overall, the hostel dwellers donot appear to rely on kinsmen to a significantly greater extent than the othertwo urban groups, for their mean reliance is just under 50 per cent.Looking at the single need items, significant differences between the threeurban groups are recorded for the five items: jobs, cash, sickness, specificconsumption needs and calamity. These differences are gradual and in theexpected direction of more kinship reliance for hostel dwellers. On two furtheritems, rent and employment, the hostel dwellers do not differ significantly fromtownsmen, but differ significantly from the urban elite represented by ChitepoRoad residents. Only on one item, cash, is the expected direction of morekinship reliance for hostel dwellers reversed. The items on which hosteldwellers tend to projectively rely more heavily on kinsmen than other urbangroups are job hunting for relatives, sickness, money for specific needs,unexpected calamity and unemployment. Similar family reliance is observedfor cases of children's education fees, safeguarding of property and pay-ment of fines. On one item hostel dwellers would rely significantly less onkinsmen than the comparative urban groups, namely when they are shortof money. In such cases hostel dwellers rely on friends, co-workers andemployers.Table 111PERCENTAGE KINSHIP RELIANCE OVER TEN NEED VARIABLESNeed Variable1. Education2. Jobs3. Cash4. Property Safe-guarding5. Rent6. Fines7. Unemployment8. Sickness9. Specific ConsumptionNeeds10. CalamityMEANHostel Dwellers:Difference fromHighfieldAfricanTownship49,113,827,251,833,260,059,484,142,875,749,7N = 392*########ChitepoRoad#########*Highfield AfricanTownship^44,85,741,462,137,957,557,557,528,764,445,5N = 87ChitepoRoad^40,52,743,262,245,959,548,648,629,762,244,3N=37* Significant difference**Very significant differencet From Stopforth, 1973a> Tables I la154MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSIn accordance with his model of differential change, Stopforth (1973b,pp.42-3) maintains that situations previously experienced in a traditionalenvironment will receive a more traditional response than those closelyassociated with an urban environment. More pronounced traditional re-sponses of kinship reliance, due to lack of alternative choice at present, aretherefore expected with the following items: property safeguarding (4), fines(6), sickness (8), calamity (10), and unemployment (7). Less kinship relianceis expected with items relating to urban life: education (1), jobs (2), cash(3), rent (5) and specific consumption needs (9),In Table IV Stopforth's proposition is tested for the hostel-dwelling groupcompared to the other two urban groups. Each group sets its own standardof family reliance, although these standards differ only slightly and insignifi-cantly.The general pattern of family reliance is followed by all urban groups;the differences observed on the single items are only a matter of degree.Table IVKINSHIP RELIANCE BY TYPE OF SITUATIONExpectedKinshipReliancehighlowKinshipmeanvery lo\*SituationInvolvingNeed Item4. Property Safe-guarding6. Fines8. Sickness10. Calamity7. Unemployment1. Education2. Jobs3. Cash5. Rent9. SpecificConsumption NeedsReliance Percentage:f 11very high hhlowhigh1h!HostelDwellerhhhhhhh1111111150under 30over 7030 < 1 < 5050 < h < 70HighfieldAfricanTownshiphhhhhhh111111146under 31over 6131 < 1 <4646 < h < 61ChitepoRoadhhhhhhhh1111(h)*1144under 29over 5929 < I < 4444 <h< 59* Insignificant deviance from patternVALERIE NIOLLER155Very revealing are the cases of extremely low family reliance with hosteldwellers: jobs, cash and rent. Reliance on 'others' is related to the specificsituation of the migrant labourer. Family connections for the provision ofa job for a relative may be non-existent in town. Being the sole wage earnerin the family with few kinship ties in town, the hostel dweller is more likelyto turn to friends or persons at his place of work than to his family in therural areas. The situation involving rent may be somewhat differently de-fined in reality for the hostel dweller than for other urban groups and leadsto a higher non-family reliance response to the pertinent projective question.The employer is liable for the hostel dweller's rent either by direct paymentor through deduction of the rent from the hostel dweller's wages. Onlythrough his status as employee is the hostel dweller entitled to the occu-pancy of a bed in the hostels. Accordingly, over 20 per cent of the respon-dents state 'employer' as the agent of reliance on this need item. The non-kinship agents on whom migrants rely in situations of need may indicatethrough which groups the migrants are initiated to a more modernisticapproach to life in keeping with an urban environment, where life is regu-lated by a series of institutions other than the family.In the situations where 'other' reliance is dominant (items 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 inTable IV), there is high reliance on friends and on one's employers. Thisfinding is consonant with the notion that access to a specifically urban lifestyle is channelled through the work situation. The reliance on the employeris not limited to job-oriented needs, but extends to other needs generatedby an urban life style involving money transactions. Migrants turn to co-workers only for cash needs. Other agents relied upon in the case of educa-tion and jobs are the modern institutions concerned, such as the people inpositions of power within the school or employment agencies. Self-relianceis also placed in this category.Where family-reliance is dominant (items 4, 6, 8, 10, 7 in Table IV), thefriend is the most popular agent outside the family. Where money is theforemost interest, the employer is stated more often. Reliance on neighboursfor safeguarding of property is perhaps very item specific. The low relianceon kin in cases of unemployment is due to the pattern of returning to therural area, which might be interpreted as 'self or 'family' reliance dependingupon means of livelihood at the rural home.Thus, in summary, when hostel dwellers rely on others in different needsituations, the family is by far the most important source of help, followedby friends and the employer. The dependence on the employer in times ofneed is regarded as a means of imposing a reciprocal dependency of theemployer on his employee. By borrowing from his employer before periodsof absence, the employee is guaranteed higher job security on his return.This type of reliance compared to the other urban groups reveals a moreperson-oriented reliance pattern. Chitepo Road people tend more than theHighfield sample to insist on self-reliance as opposed to corporate reliance,and on reliance on urban institutions such as employment exchanges, banks,insurance and building societies (Stopforth, 1973a, Table 1; 1973, p.43).156MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSThe difference between Highfield townsmen and hostel dwellers may beminimal, as the Highfield respondents also tend to rely mainly on employersand friends.Several questions were put to hostel dwellers, to probe whether any signsof aspirations of a more permanent urban status or acceptance of an urbanlife style could be detected. Given the condition that the hostel dweller couldhave his family with him, 73,5 per cent would prefer to live in the ruralarea and only 19,6 per cent would choose to reside in town. Given a residen-tial choice in town, the hostel dweller would prefer to live in a house in atownship. Only 10 per cent would prefer to stay in hostels. Their preferencesfor their sons' residence is again the rural area with 70,3 per cent. The restof the choices are split equally between the choice of town residence andother combinations of rural-urban living. The rural home offers better social-ization opportunities. The child can be put under family supervision andis not subjected to the bad influences of town at an impressionable age. Therural home is also visualized as the traditional African home. While therural homestead is considered the ideal place of residence for a young son,the projection of a migrant career at later stages of a child's life is close athand. The economic advantages of temporary town residence in a workingcapacity are frequently referred to in this context.The fictive choice of old-age security also reflects a rural orientation.The choice of cattle is regarded as an indicator of a traditional rural orienta-tion, the choice of a pension as an indicator of a more modern, urban orien-tation. A significant percentage of respondents (68,4 per cent) choose cattle.More objective measures of rural-urban orientation included the assessmentof the number of relatives already living in town. It is concluded that thenumber of relatives living in town does not constitute a substantial bindingto urban 'presence' (Reader, 1963, p.269) or an urban way of life. Althoughthe number varies greatly throughout the sample, the mean is relatively lowwith 3,8 relatives on the paternal side.The orientation probing revealed the general dominance of a rural out-look. The above questions were regarded with some apprehension by re-spondents and considered politically provocative in some cases. This isshown in a higher rate of non-response than expected. It is sur-prising then that in contrast with the preference for a rural life style, only60 per cent of hostel dwellers claimed to possess land rights in the ruralareas at the time of the interview. Possibly some of the younger hosteldwellers will acquire these rights with a higher age status. If land rightsare forfeited through prolonged urban stabilization, an adequate pull-forcedirected toward the rural area may not provide the incentive to return tothe rural home at the end of a migrant career of normal length.The results of an attitude scale administered along with the survey testedattitudes toward two attitude objects 'townsmen' and 'accommodation', us-ing a Guttman-type scale which can be constructed in advance according toa method developed by Jordan (1971). The departure from the theoreticallyexpected scale order was interpreted using Blalock's (1960, p. 19) principle- iVALERIE NIOLLER157that such deviation may represent attitude complexes, which are perceivedas logical entities by the respondent group.With the 'townsmen' attitude-scale, one of the most marked results wasthe high consensus of hostel dwellers on all items but one, referring to thepreference for sharing the townsman's way of life. The rejection of the scaletype representing the societal stereotype of the townsman and the simul-taneous acceptance of the nirm and behaviour-orineted attitude scales was in-terpreted as expressing the desire to have greater access to a townsman'sway of living without necessarily being considered a townsman. It is suggestedthat the reunion of the family and greater security are aspects of a life ina township, which may appeal to a hostel dweller more than the prestige ofbeing a townsman.In responding to the other items on the 'townsman' attitude scale, respon-dents agree that hostel dwellers' families cannot be expected to be as closelyknit as those of townsmen. In most cases people denied the notion that hosteldwellers live in this type of accommodation because they prefer to keeptheir families in the rural areas. The greater security of townsmen is accept-ed by almost 70 per cent of respondents. Only 54,2 per cent of respondentswould consider bringing their families to town. Half of the respondents feelthat differential supervision is exercised on hostel dwellers and townsmen.Hostel dwellers appear to think that others do not accept them as townsmenand are therefore aware of their marginality on the urban scene.In response to the 'accommodation' scale, the advantages of townshipaccommodation go largely undisputed. The inferiority of hostel accom-modation as against township accommodation is accepted by 77 percent of respondents. The belief of hostel dwellers in their rights to townshipaccommodation is stressed. The type of response to the accommodation scalesuggests again that the hostel dweller is primarily interested in obtainingequal access to the basic urban security of accommodation. The aspirationof adequate accommodation does not appear to be tied to the notion ofobtaining a prestigious urban status, but primarily to the more practicalaspect of securing an urban foothold, which entitles a migrant to a highereconomic status in town.CONCLUSIONThe rural orientation and the attitudes toward townsmen and urbanaccommodation are accepted as indications that the hostel dweller representsthe typical migrant in town during his working life span. Survey findingsshow that foreign migrants differ from Rhodesian migrants in this respect.There is a tendency to greater permanency in town as indicated by theirlonger urban presence, lack of ties and communication with the rural areain Rhodesia or in their own country. This is reflected in the high incidenceof no home-visiting, even of the widely-spaced occasional type among foreignmigrants. There is also a tendency toward urban orientation as against ruralorientation. It is felt that the potential for progression from the migrant to158MIGRANT LABOUR IN HARARE HOSTELSthe townsman type is given for many foreign hostel dwellers, but in factnever realized in the case of single men. It is suggested that some of theseforeigners can be considered 'inhibited' immigrants and should have beenclassified as 'townsmen' according to the typology employed in our research.In the case of the Rhodesian migrant the economic advantage offered bythe migrant labour system is sufficient to sustain temporary stabilization intown for persons in the 20-45 age bracket. Mechanisms such as home-visitingand remittances help maintain the push-pull force constellation between theurban and rural areas, which makes migrant existence in town feasible.Home visiting is especially effective as a regulatory mechanism in the case ofmarried men being accommodated as bachelors in town.It may be suggested that at the termination of the migrant career theeconomic mobility afforded by the urban sojourn is exchanged for statuscriteria more relevant to the rural area, such as land rights. Meanwhileaspirations for a less marginal position in town, by acquiring access to betteraccommodation in town are latent. Mobility along the accommodation dimen-sion is regarded as being reserved for the particularly successful or fortunatefew. It is therefore unlikely that hostel dwellers will pursue this type ofmobility to any great extent or consider more permanent urban residence.Town life is in all probability at present still regarded as a means to theend of securing a better economic status, and is one phase in the circulatorymigration process.ReferencesBLALOCK, Jr., H. M. 1960 Social Statistics (New York, McGraw-Hill).BOURDILLON, M. 1977 'Korekore labour migrants', Zambezia 5 (i), 1-29.ELKAN, W. 1961 'The persistance of migrant labour', in Migrant Labour in AfricaSouth of the Sahara (Abidjan, The Commission for Technical Co-operation inAfrica South of the Sahara).GARBETT, G. K. 1960 Growth and Change in a Shona Ward (Salisbury, Univ. Coll.of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Dep. of African Studies, Occasional Paper No. 1).1975 'Circulatory migration in Rhodesia: Towards a decision model',in D. Parkin, Town and Country in Central and Eastern Africa (London, OxfordUniv. 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