ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two current issues concerning urban-rural interaction: the impact of returned international migrants from South Africa and Zimbabwe, and the national implications of rural development policies involving agrarian reform together with attempts to eliminate migrant labour. These illustrate well the centrality of rural-urban population mobility and attendant commodity and financial flows to national and international political economic analysis and development strategies throughout the region. Malawi and Mozambique are used as case studies because they have experienced the largest and most rapid reductions in labour exports. In view of the severe land pressure in many rural reserves, agrarian reform and resettlement are prerequisites for equitable development. State policy may also seek to reduce or eliminate migrant labour for moral and equity reasons. Whereas Malawi represented a most unusual case of rapidly increasing domestic labour demand due to labour-intensive economic development, Mozambique was less fortunate and suffered greatly in terms of both unemployment and its balance of payments.
