Migration Policies in the Region: Thinking Beyond the Enclaved Political Economy

Abstract

In general, migration represents an important livelihood and coping strategy due to ecological and economic downturns in the region. Migration flows in Southern Africa consist of millions of economically active people and an unspecified number of undocumented migrants who comprise of many vulnerable populations. This complex and mixed pattern of migration poses a number of challenges for migrants and receiving communities. On the flip side of the same token, if managed properly, migration has been proved to contribute to positive outcomes in both sending and receiving countries. It is therefore not a caricature for one to say that there is a thoughtful need of regionally crafted migration policies which address the problem on mutual and common grounds. The migration policy formation discourse has been marked by a bone of contention in the region in the twenty-first century due to the fact that some countries’ favourable migration policies might not be favourable to other countries. It is therefore fundamental for countries within the region to be bound by common policy frameworks rather than a concoction of national policies which neither speak to each other nor aim to harmonise the region in all sectors of interest.