The Economy of Mobility and Irregular Migration in South Africa’s Limpopo Province

INTRODUCTION

Irregular migration in the Southern African region, particularly in the Limpopo Province between South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, has assumed the dimension of a whole market economy that affects the entire population of settlements in both countries. The economy of irregular migration marks just one of the several issues and dynamics in the region. Security threats traceable to the proliferation of criminal gangs, illegal business economies, and the endangered health and wellbeing of South Africans are emerging concerns that have been linked to the increasing level of irregular migrants in the country.¹ This relates to the smuggling of some criminals disguised as asylum seekers, illicit goods, and trafficking of migrants seeking refuge in South Africa. Transborder movement is not a recent or altogether novel situation around the Limpopo Province which links four SADC nations – South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe.² Some Zimbabweans have been engaging in irregular migration into South Africa since the early 2000s, when the country experienced dire economic and political crisis. This movement has continued unabated through regular and irregular channels even though the South African government has attempted to regulate these movements through draconian and restrictive migrant policies. The movement of immigrants from Zimbabwe and other countries to South Africa has not been without certain existential and social issues, especially considering that a reported 1.5 million Zimbabwe migrants reside in South Africa, – the majority of who came in through irregular channels.³ The history of these movements is however, traceable to the early 1920s when South Africa sought cheap labor from neighbouring countries for the fledgling nation, thus attracting a significant number of regular and irregular migrants.⁴ This pattern of movement was banned in 1986 by the South African government but it had already etched the country as a major economic destination for her poorer neighbours, many of whom not only engaged these patterns (regular and irregular) of migration but also brought their families through the same channels.⁵ This movement of different groups over the years have established a “pseudo economy” of mobility within the border regions connecting South Africa Zimbabwe. However, the stringent border laws did not hinder migrants but appears to have motivated irregular movements from migrants over the years, including the emergence groups who make a living out of smuggling them through irregular channels as well as engage in the movement of goods through these irregular channels.⁶

KEY ISSUES

Some key issues have been raised about the consistent mobility of irregular migrants and economic labour across the Zimbabwe-South Africa border region. First, is the proliferation of smugglers (Malaishas) and thieves (Mgumagumas),⁷ who facilitate these movements. Second, is the proliferation of informal cross-border traders,⁸ border officials complicit in the crime of illegal crossing,⁹ and business supply chains dependent on smuggled goods for survival.¹⁰ These various phenomena and activities raise serious issues for governance and national security in towns, cities and settlements around border areas. For instance, a report shows that major supermarkets and grocery stores in Zimbabwe around the border area are mostly dependent on smuggled goods from South Africa.¹¹ These are supplied by informal cross-border traders, mostly women, who consistently transverse this border routes and in some cases live in the border towns.¹² Third, is the consistent increase in crime rate and criminal syndicates operating around the borderlands due to the activities of irregular migrants. A 2009 report¹³ shows that Malaishas and Mgumagumas were rapidly taking advantage of the desperation of irregular migrants and the stringent migration laws of South Africa to make money on illegal routes on a daily basis. According to the report, these actors who use clandestine routes and crossing paths, offer their services to irregular migrants and get paid in return.

WHY THE ECONOMY OF IRREGULAR MIGRATION CONTINUES TO THRIVE

The economy created by irregular migration seems to be booming in the border towns and cities of Limpopo Province and this is indicative of the fact that this phenomenon has gotten support from quite a number of stakeholders and patronisers.¹⁴ Informal cross-border trade continues to thrive because there is a geometric increase in the number of traders who engage in this act. And because their livelihoods and sustenance depend on this, they have to continue in this ‘business.’ A significant population of informal migrant traders in the Limpopo Province of South Africa are women – some of which are refugee entrepreneurs that owns businesses in the border towns and cities and show preference for employing women in the borderlands.¹⁵ On arrival in their destinations in South Africa, migrants send for their families and spouses to come join them using the same irregular routes for either economic or filial purposes. Applications for asylum are usually done in Musina, and it is reported that the process takes up to six months hence, the clustering of migrants in a large number in the South African border town awaiting approval.¹⁶ This has attracted illegal migrants and contributed to the establishment of market system in the town that caters for refugees settling or awaiting the status report of their application. The implication, however, is that this location provides sufficient opportunity for smugglers, illegal traders, and criminals to conduct their illegal activities for desperate migrants. It has been reported that the Mgumagumas have appropriated a portion of land between the Limpopo River and Musina to themselves – a route which many irregular migrants have to take to enter South Africa.¹⁷ As a result, many Zimbabwean migrants are always at the mercy of these transnational criminal gangs and groups who subject them to violence, extortion, torture, and even death in the attempt to cross over to South Africa.

While the economic and social implications of these movements have attracted attention amongst key national, regional, and international stakeholders in the region, the activities of criminal networks and gangs facilitating the flow of armed and criminal gang members through these borders also present significant challenges to peace and security in the region.¹⁸ This is specifically identified in the Limpopo Province border region, where smugglers and drug traffickers from as far as West Africa were reported as engaging these routes to gain access to South Africa.¹⁹ Xenophobic attacks in provinces and regions within South Africa have been traced not merely as an affront to African migrants but to gangs involved in the shadow economy of hard drugs and gang wars, two phenomena that affects the personal and social wellbeing of young South Africans (especially of the middle and lower economic classes). To make matters worse, there have been reports of border officials being complicit with these criminal networks and benefitting from the market economy thriving in border towns and cities of South Africa’s neighbours.²⁰ The erection of a 40km fence on both sides of her Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe built at a cost of R40million²¹ to curtail the activities of transnational gangs facilitating irregular migration in the region have yielded little results in terms of the internal security of member nations. Reports also show that some of the criminal activities carried out within border regions and within South Africa were allegedly conducted by immigrant criminal networks from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and even Nigeria.²²

Some Concluding Remarks

The SADC region, particularly South Africa, is affected by growing irregular migration.  Although irregular migration has been a major phenomenon in South Africa’s history, the increasing activities of criminal gangs, networks and syndicates present new dimensions to peace and security that the nation is grappling with. Reports of conflicts between rival drug gangs, as well as the allegations of money laundering businesses for these gangs in the country, are emerging aspects of the security dimensions of irregular migration. In light of these new realities, SADC member-states and Limpopo Province have enacted immigration laws designed to keep transnational criminal networks from gaining access into the country.²³

To address these issues, however, especially at the local authority level, there needs to be a more decisive implementation of regional security policies throughout all levels of governance. Significantly, there is a disconnect between the government policies and the reality regarding the deterrence of criminal elements in the region hence, the failure of some of these policies in tackling irregular migration in the Limpopo Province. In the mix is a big question that begs for an answer: can the Limpopo provincial and municipal governments, that have benefitted economically and continue to benefit from this phenomenon, be willing to throw their weight behind localising and implementing national policies aimed at combatting irregular migration in the region?

Endnotes

1. Takaindisa, J. 2021. “Our Borders are many and don’t require any documents, just your money” Undocumented Zimbabwean Migrants in Botswana and South Africa under COVID-19. Arnold Bergstraesser Institute Working Paper, April 2021.
2. Maunganidze, O. A. 2021. Migration Policy in South Africa: Lessons from Africa’s Migration Magnet for European Policymakers. DGAP Report, No.17, September 2021. Berlin: German Council on Foreign Relations.
3. Mabeba, B. 2021. Exploring Factors Contributing to Irregular Cross-Border Movement into South Africa. Research Report submitted to the University of Witwatersrand. February 2021
4. Rayner, N. 2022. Country Report: South Africa Complementary Pathways and the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project. D4.2 Interim Country Reports.
5. Musoni, F. 2020. Border Jumping and Migration Control in Southern Africa. Indiana University Press.
6. Mbiyozo, A. N. 2018. Aligning South Africa’s Migration Policies with its African Vision. Policy Brief. South Africa: Institute for Security Studies.
7. Takaindisa, 2021.
8. Mpondi, D. and Mupakati, L. 2018. Migration Trajectories and Experiences of Zimbabwean Immigrants in the Limpopo Province of South Africa: Impediments and Possibilities. Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.12, no.1, p.215-235.
9. Mixed Migration Centre (MMC). 2023. Southbound: Mixed Migration Routes, Experiences and Risks along the Journey to South Africa. Available at https://mixedmigration.org/resource/southbound-routes-experiences-risks-south-africa/
10. Farley, A. 2019. South African Migration Policy: A Gendered Analysis. Policy Insights 70, June 2019.
11. Munyoka, E. 2020. Causes of Irregular Migration of People from Zimbabwe to South Africa in the Post-Mugabe Regime. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, vol.7, no.3, p.34-46.
12. Ibid
13. International Organization for Migration. 2009. Migrants’ Needs and Vulnerabilities in the Limpopo Province, Republic of South Africa. Report on Phase One November-December 2009. Pretoria, SA: IOM.
14. Ibid
15. Farley, 2019.
16. IOM, 2009.
17. Mpondi & Mupakati, 2018.
18. Nshimbi, C. C. and Fioramonti, L. 2013. A Region without Borders? Policy Frameworks for Regional Labour Migration towards South Africa. MiWORK Report July 2013.
19. Dube, M. 2022. Botswana Expresses Concerns over Influx of Asylum Seekers. VOA News, 19th October 2022.
20. See Mixed Migration Centre (2023) Report.
21. Takaindisa, 2021.
22. Maunganidze, 2021.
23. Nshimbi & Fioramonti, 2013.