This paper investigates the changing nature of migration of the African population from the former Transkei, particularly the rural to urban migration to the Cape Metropolitan Area over the period 1991 to 2001 using data from the 1996 and 2001 censuses. The study compares the characteristics of those who migrate from the Transkei to the CMA with those who migrate within the Eastern Cape and those who do not migrate and investigates whether the characteristics of these migrants have changed significantly over this time. Nationally there has been an increase in migration of females and the young and of migration to non-metropolitan areas. Migration flows appear to have stabilised. However this is not uniformly the case with migration from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape remaining strong. The labour market environment confronting migrants has worsened with significant increases in percentages of migrants who are unemployed and some de-skilling of the occupations in which migrants are finding employment. The dire labour market situation in rural Eastern Cape maintains the flow of migrants despite this hostile environment for migrants