“Negotiating the Border”: Zimbabwean Migrant Mothers and Shifting Immigration Policy and Law in South Africa

Abstract

Abstract:Based on an extended study of Zimbabwean women migrants in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, this article focuses on these women both as mothers and as labor migrants, seeking to understand their migration intentions in relation to changing policy and law in South Africa. It also focuses on their responses to the changes in policy as they seek to renegotiate the border. The strategies adopted by the women in negotiating the border not only demonstrate their agency, but are also intricately linked to their migration intentions. Their responses are critical to our understanding of contemporary migration in the region.