Top Kenyan skilled workers have become part of South Africa’s economic backbone, with the East African country emerging as one of Pretoria’s sources of imported labour.

 

Officials in Pretoria say Kenya is among the “top 10” exporters of skilled workers in sectors including banking, hospitality and logistics, signalling a crucial role in key services that fuel Africa’s largest economy.

This revelation emerged during the Continental and Global Policy Dialogue on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) and Higher Education in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where regional leaders are meeting to harmonise education systems.

Rising pipelineMakhapa Makhafola, the Chief Operations Officer of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), said Kenyan professionals and students are increasingly moving south, making Kenya a primary focus for South Africa’s vetting systems.

While Zimbabwe remains the primary source of foreign labour for South Africa, Kenya has surged into the top tier, alongside West African countries Nigeria and Ghana.“Kenya is now in our top 10 countries,” Dr Makhafola noted on the sidelines of the forum. “We are seeing a steady flow of Kenyans seeking to have their qualifications recognised to unlock opportunities in our labour market.”Mobility barriersThe surge highlights the quality and portability of Kenyan education, while also underscoring challenges in cross-border movement and immigration.

Dr Makhafola pointed out that African talent often finds it easier to move outside the continent than within it, a barrier SAQA is working to dismantle through the African Continental Qualifications Framework. In addition, immigration conditions, including visa requirements, have often made it harder for intra-African skilled labour.

SAQA officials explained that many Kenyans moving south hold “legacy” qualifications obtained in the 1990s and early 2000s from colleges or programmes that have since closed or been restructured.“One of our challenges is dealing with the history of institutions that are no longer there, even though the qualification is legitimate,” Dr Makhafola said. “In these cases, we work directly with the Kenyan government to verify the validity of those records and ensure the programme was accredited at the time of study.”Social tensionsSouth Africa, however, has had to deal with social frictions arising from the entry of foreign labour. Officials admit most of the tensions occur in semi-skilled sectors as well as entrepreneurship, something that may require greater awareness of responsibilities on both sides.

South Africa has often been a top destination for migrants from other parts of Africa, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Nigeria. It also periodically arrests undocumented migrants from other African countries.

An estimated 150,000 foreigners are legally employed in South Africa as expatriates, according to official data, although the number could be as high as 400,000 when including refugees with work permits and students on temporary visas allowed to take up short-term work. Some 40,000 Kenyans live and work in South Africa or study there under short-term residency.

The forum in Addis Ababa, however, praised Kenya’s recent investment in Tvet. As South Africa prepares to phase out nearly 1,000 obsolete qualifications this June to align with modern market demands, Kenya was cited as a positive example of a country elevating the status of vocational skills.“The focus is shifting from obtaining a degree to developing skills that create employers and innovators,” Dr Makhafola said.

As the African Union enters its Decade of Education and Skills Development (2025–2034), the “Kenya–South Africa” corridor is expected to become a blueprint for how African nations can trust each other’s certificates, ensuring that a plumber from Kisumu or an engineer from Nairobi can find work in Johannesburg without bureaucratic friction.

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