The uneasy ties of working and belonging: the changing situation for undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in northern South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines some of the mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion operating for Zimbabweans on the commercial farms and in the border town of Musina in northern South Africa since the 2000s. In particular, it looks at the changing political economic and regulatory contexts as well as the particular ‘modes of belonging’ operating in these two sites. Undocumented and documented Zimbabwean migrants have worked through these changing contexts, becoming included or excluded through overlapping, hierarchical ‘modes of belonging’ operating at localized scales. Such forms of inclusion/exclusion of variable durability generate senses of (in)security for the Zimbabwean migrants that directly inform their livelihood strategies in South Africa. This paper seeks to shed light on such socio-political nexuses in this border zone and contribute to conceptualizing undocumented workers more broadly.

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