History, Trends and Dynamics of Cross-Border Movements and Trade in the SADC Region, Christopher Changwe Nshimbi, Inocent Moyo

Christopher Changwe Nshimbi

University of Pretoria

South Africa

Inocent Moyo

University of Zululand

South Africa

Abstract:Cross-Border migration in the Southern African region has a long history. For example, from the late 1800s, 

Mozambicans worked seasonally on farms in the Western Cape of South Africa . Furthermore, in the 1860s, large-scale migration to the diamond fields in Kimberly from Mozambique , Botswana , Lesotho , Malawi and Swaziland , among others, preceded migration to the gold mines on the Witwatersrand in the 1880s. This migration increased significantly in the 1990s. The exact numbers of undocumented migrants in particular are unknown. What is certain is that the Southern African region is characterized by complex historical patterns of cross-border movements. This is the setting within which this Chapter explores these complex migration trajectories, with the aim of demonstrating how this provides a template for the current migration patterns and its implications for the SADC region.

Citation:Nshimbi, C. C., Moyo, I. (2017): History, Trends and Dynamics of Cross-Border Movements and Trade in the SADC Region. In Moyo, I. (Ed.):Migration, Cross-Border Trade and Development in Africa, Vol. 1, pp. 1-13. WASD: Brighton, United Kingdom.