 Asa historian, we usually like to tell stories, and this is just a story which over the past two days I have tried to improvise so that at least it makes sense to an audience like this. I want to look at informal migration in southern Africa of migrants who were coming from areas that were north of Zimbabwe, this South Africa, north of Zimbabwe, which is somewhat up in this territory. I have a map that will show that in detail during in the period the 1920s and 1950s. Basically the story goes that in the early 1900s, when they discovered gold and diamonds in South Africa, 1867 and 1876 to be more specific, there began a process of colonial labour migration. Which sort of harnessed labour both internally within South Africa as well as Southern Rhodesia which is in Zimbabwe today, as well as externally within the region from territories that were up in the north. In this case we are talking about Malawi, we are talking about Zambia, we are talking about Mozambique and of course the labour market also reached as far as Tanzania. And the South African labour market as well went as far as China in India in the early stages. So you realize that in the present, in Southern Africa, South Africa is an economic powerhouse sort of being inundated with a lot of an influx of migrants. In most cases, most of these migrants are illegal migrants or undocumented migrants. I try to argue in this particular paper that this phenomenon of informal migration or clandestine migration is not uniquely a post-apartheid or post-colonial phenomenon. It is its antecedence in the colonial period and this is the material that I'm trying to talk about just looking at how this whole process of informal migration took place in the period the 1920s and the 1950s. So I take a case of what I call the northern or the northerners migrants from Malawi migrants from Mozambique, migrants from Zambia as a case trying to look at how they migrated over a period of time. And then at the end I'll try to draw some parallels in relation to what is happening in the present. So the basic argument here is that if you look in the period the 1920s to the 1950s, these migrants practiced what I would like to call a stop and go process or in this case they settled in motion. So they were moving but in the process of moving, migrating down to South Africa, they were settling along the way because such a migration process would take quite a long period of time. There is literature which is historical in this case which basically tries to historicize this movement but without it being very explicit on how the northerners practiced this settling in motion, how they sort of moved from the north through Zimbabwe as well as down to South Africa. Basically the point that I'm trying to make here is that much of the information that I use in this particular research comes from the colonial archive in the sense that the period of the 1920s to the 1950s there is very little in terms of ethnographic material. In this case I mean life histories from informants or migrants that I could talk to in relation to their experiences during this period. So I use much of the material from the colonial archive to try to document or to come up with this particular narrative. And what is more interesting in this particular slide is the fact that you realize that most of the most prominent northerners and in this case Malawans who ended up being more influential in the regional politics of South Africa. In this case I'm talking about Clemens Qadali as well as Ernstings Kamosubanda who became the first president or prime minister of independent Malawi went through the process of settling in motion coming from Niasaland which is Malawi today through Southern Rhodesia and then down to South Africa. This is basically a map of the routes that migrants would follow from the north with the main labor pools or labor reservoirs being the ones that I mentioned Northern Rhodesia up there, Niasaland, Malawi somewhere there and those were basically the routes. Most of them would pass through Mozambique, others would pass through Southern Rhodesia and then down to South Africa and there are reasons that I explain why practice such phenomenon. The reasons are here. Basically you realize that of course the whole narrative goes back to the issue of colonization, how colonization split or divided borders into two and then of course criminalizing African mobility, criminalizing movement of people across borders and then the coming in of the creation or the construction of various levels or nomen klacha such as illegal, clandestine, irregular, informal or undocumented migrants and of course most famously border jumpers. So I'm trying to trace the creation or construction of all these levels in relation to the coming in of colonization and there is quite a lot of literature in relation to that. But what is also more interesting is the kind of agency that these migrants had in the period under discussion. We have to bear in mind that colonial labor migration system was so complicated in Southern Africa was so complicated in the sense that officially they were labor recruiting agencies. In South Africa there was the Vitzwatersrand Native Labor Association which was responsible for formally recruiting migrants from the Northern Territories for South African minds as well as in some cases some industries. But you realize that these labor agencies or organizations are the monopoly of labor recruitment and at the end of the day some other teshari or secondary industries in particular agriculture as well as domestic service did not have the privilege to get such labor through the WNLA channels. So in most cases they would hire this labor usually outside the law and this labor that was hired usually outside the law was in most cases informal and it is these secondary industries that sort of fed from the informal migration that would take place within this particular period. What is also interesting here is that in the period under discussion South Africa and Southern Rhodesia were in competition for labor, for regional labor. Why? Because both of them were colonial economic powerhouses. Southern Rhodesia was also expanding in terms of mines, in terms of agriculture. The same with South Africa and at the end of the day you would realize that South Africa because it was lying at the bottom of the map much of the labor that would come from the north would first pass through Southern Rhodesia. And in order for South Africa to benefit from such labor they would encourage this illegal movement or informal movement of migrants who would pass through its borders getting down into South Africa. So there is from the colonial archive there are statistics in terms of the movement of these migrants and the whole idea of them sort of settling in motion. What is imaging from the colonial archive basically is that officials from Southern Rhodesia were sort of complaining that in most cases migrants were coming from the north do not stay very long at their workplace. Most of them whenever they get into Southern Rhodesia they have an intention, they show an intention clearly that they want to go as far as South Africa. So there are a lot of statistics coming from various colonial officials in this case native conditioners who document northerners who are asking or requesting for passes to go down to South Africa. And in one of the instances in the 1930s thereabouts it was estimated that at least 7000 northerners would find their way illegally down to South Africa and the numbers would sort of increase in the 1940s to about 14000 a year. Of course the year is something that almost relates to what I have been seeing so far. In terms of the quantities of Africans who domiciled themselves within South Africa in the period 1911 to 1970. These are the kind of figures in relation to the year as well as the country. These figures include both of course the documented ones as well as the undocumented ones. What would usually happen with South Africa as I said before is that the South African authorities would make sure that they document that particular person in terms of numbering. So much that by 1951 the number of foreign Africans or regional Africans within South Africa reached a peak of almost 600,000. Which of course Mozambique as well as Lisoto as well as Malau some extent being the main supply of this particular regional aleba. The narrative of this migration also showcases various levels of agency especially amongst these northern labor migrants. So there is quite a lot in the colonial archive that sort of relays how Africans who were migrating down to South Africa sort of exploited various channels that were offered by the colonial system so that at least they would reach their goal of going as far down in South Africa. And one of them was the issue of social networks. In this case there were complaints that were coming from colonial administrators, colonial officials of migrants in South Africa sending messages, sending letters to their colleagues in the north about the better working conditions that were prevailing in the union of South Africa. So it realized that a lot of northerners were usually caught or arrested within Southern Rhodesia with such incriminating letters about the better working conditions within South Africa. And the main complaint there was that it is because of these messages or these letters that Rhodesia was sort of suffering from labor inadequacy during this particular period. And the other element was of course the issue of forging of passes. This sort of also relays to what I will talk about in the end in relation to issues of connections or parallels of what was happening during the colonial period with what is happening today. So it realized that these northerners had a penchant of forging registration certificates, ideas of forging passes so that it would enable them to move across the region as fast as possible getting into South Africa. So there were a lot of these guys who were never caught with such forging passes. This is one of the examples of such passes which they would forge. Of course this is tapped. They usually wrote these things on using their own handwriting. And this would be a pass that would allow somebody to pass through Southern Rhodesia and go as far as South Africa. And in most cases these letters were sort of forged. I came across various individuals and as well as bigger syndicates of people who were caught involved in this forgery of passes. And one most interesting case study that I came across is of this particular Malawi who was called Webster. He had gone to work in South Africa and then I think he was fired from work and went back home to Malawi in New Zealand by then. But on leaving South Africa he stole a booklet of passes which he ended up of course selling to colleagues who wanted to go to South Africa. And a number of people or a number of his clients were sort of caught up in Southern Rhodesia with such passes. And at the end of the day they would incriminate him for giving them those particular passes. In the present if you want to go into South Africa whether you are coming from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi or Zambia you can formally get into South Africa. Of course you are given those number of days. In most cases it's usually two weeks to a month and in some cases up to three months. So you are entitled to 90 days of staying in South Africa if you do not have a particular permit. Be it a study permit or a permanent raise or a working permit. So you are given at most 90 days in a year to stay in South Africa. But what usually happens even today is that when you go into South Africa and you are given let's say two weeks most people make use of those two weeks. They get into South Africa and in some cases simply disappear within South Africa and stay forever. In some cases you get your passport stemmed at the border. You get into South Africa, you send back your passport on the bus. You remain maybe in Jobek, you send back your passport on the bus. It gets stemmed out indicating that you have moved out of South Africa. At least you are still inside. So it can get stemmed out and then it returns to you. So this was also prevailing during the colonial period where of course people would simply get rich as far as Musina or Messina which is at the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa. They would be given granted four days and then they would disappear into the tentacles of South Africa. What is also interesting there is the kind of deviancy or misdiminence that characterised some of these northern migrants as they were moving gradually across southern Rhodesia getting to South Africa. There were a lot of issues that were reported about the various misdiminence that they had. For example, they would deset the workplace since of course their main target was to reach the shores of South Africa. So they would work for a short period of time at a particular workplace going down and down until they reach South Africa. In most cases there were a lot of reports with regards to theft, theft of stock, theft within the stores. By these particular northern migrants. And this sort of characterisation or stereotype is also prevailed in the present. Not necessarily on targeting Malawans, Mozambicans or Zambians, but generally regional labour migrants that are getting into South Africa today. We know very well that South Africa is having a crime and in most cases people who are usually blamed first for such crimes be they robberies and everything are usually the migrants. So there is a connection that one can also draw to that extent. Of course the colonial authorities tried to keb this illegal influx of migrants. But one of the main challenges was of course the border was so porous. Why? Because it was so huge, so long. In most cases it was very difficult for the colonial police to monitor a movement along the border. This is also prevailing even today where both the South African and Zimbabwe authorities find it very difficult to take control or to manage the border. So there is a lot of movement, illegal movement of both people, contraband and everything, a lot of smuggling that is even taking place today. Cars being stolen in South Africa, they find their way into Zimbabwe because the border is very very long. The same with this lack of stringent laws or fines. You realize that in the colonial period when you were caught without adequate documentation you were simply detained, sometimes jailed for a week and then released. And on release these northerners were not deported but they would be simply told to pay some 15 shillings for a permit which would allow them to get employment within South Africa. And it is today as well that we realize that the scenario is almost replaying itself within South Africa where of course when one is detained on getting deported they go as far as the bad bridge border post and when they are released very soon they find their way back into South Africa. On this particular slide I just wanted to emphasize the point that the issue of agents as well where the northerners made use of colonial infrastructure and in this case the transport system to make, to quicken their journey across the region into South Africa. And it happened in 1936 that the traditional authorities introduced free transport for northerners who were coming from Malawi and Zambia. And it is with this transport that some of them found a way of getting to South Africa as quick as possible. So we realize that some colonial authorities ended up complaining about this particular incentive. In the last 15 years this is what has been happening along the border. There is a fence, there is a Kropodial infested river which is known as Limpopo River. During dry times people try to cross, some succeed, some don't. At the height of the Zimbabwean crisis from 2000 to 2008 a lot of Zimbabweans tried in vain to cross into South Africa and in most cases it is these images that I am showing here of people trying to reach the promised land of South Africa. And my argument here is as I have said this is its antecedence in the colonial period. So in the end I am trying to make connections between what was happening in the colonial period with what has been happening today in the last 15 or 20 so years. You realize that for example the South African government continues to exploit these illegal channels of influx of labour. For example there is quite a lot of noise that has been made with regards to how the post-apathetic South African authorities exploited formally illegal migrants to construct infrastructure for the 2010 Soka World Cup. Of course they simply granted these formally undocumented migrants special permits so that at least they would be able to work and construct. So over time this has been the process but what is critical which sort of relates to what has been said all along is that this migration remains a critical component of the regional economic system within South Africa both in terms of the remittances that are sent back warm by these migrants as well as the various infrastructural development that is taking place.