Covers trends since the post-colonial period.

While increasing attention is being paid to the drivers and forms of entrepreneurship in informal economies, much less of this policy and research focus is directed at understanding the links between mobility and informality. This report examines the current state of knowledge about this relationship with particular reference to three countries (Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and four cities (Cape Town, Harare, Johannesburg and Maputo), identifying major themes, knowledge gaps, research questions and policy implications.

It is well documented that the space of informal economic activity is rising across the globe. This rise has been particularly significant in the least developed and developing countries, especially after the onset of neo-liberal policies and withdrawal of welfare state. There has also been a shift in academic thinking on informal sector, with attempts being made to understand the contribution of informal sector in generating employment and economic growth rather than focusing solely on exploitative labour conditions in these economic activities. Indeed, with the retreat of welfare state and the introduction of contract labour in the formal sector, many issues related to occupational hazards and improper labour conditions do not remain unique to the informal sectors of the economy, particularly in less developed countries. This volume addresses a specific concern: the issue of knowledge generation and innovative activities, which lies at the core of sustained competitive advantage of these activities. The chapters in this book were originally published in the African Journal of Science Technology Innovation and Development.

Describes particular industries, including the black taxi industry, as well as discussing post-apartheid policy aspects.

This book provides a sophisticated analysis of cross-border challenges and problems in the southern African region. It advances explanations that transcend the state-centric narrative that has nationalised cross-border security. It provides insights from non-state actors such as informal cross-border traders (ICBTs), informal cross-border transporters, undocumented migrants, and cross-border communities. It argues that security needs to be understood beyond a state-centric paradigm by focusing on the political, economic, environmental, and societal threats at macro, meso, and micro levels. The book suggests that at the core of cross-border security challenges in the Southern African region is a post-colonial governmentality. This drives the nationalisation of cross-border security as though it is the only security leading to nation-states, in turn depoliticising and invisibilising the security and livelihoods of ordinary people, even when nation-states claim to be protecting the same. The book will be a useful resource for students, scholars, and researchers of African Studies, Border Studies, Human Geography, Migration Studies, Development Studies, International Studies, International Relations, Political Science, and Security Studies.

This volume provides an accessible overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisation of culture in southern African tourism and the related impacts, possibilities and challenges from deep and wide-ranging perspectives. The chapters use case studies to showcase some of the cultural tourism which occurs in the region and link to concepts such as authenticity, commodification, the tourist gaze and ‘Otherness’, heritage, sustainability and sustainable livelihoods. The authors scrutinise both positive and negative impacts of cultural tourism throughout the book and explore issues including the definition of community, ethical considerations, empowerment, gender, participation and inequality. The book will be a useful resource for students and researchers of tourism, geography, anthropology and cultural studies.

This edited book examines the social realities of migrant traders in the informal economy in South Africa. It draws on original research conducted with migrant traders in order to understand their lived experiences in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. With chapters on the diverse types of informal trading, urban versus rural settings, migrant women, xenophobia, crime, poverty, well-being and policy responses, the book will be a valuable resource for researchers, scholars, policymakers and development practitioners whose work relates to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Zimbabwe has witnessed the rapid expansion of informal cross-border trading (ICBT) with neighbouring countries over the past two decades. Beginning in the mid-1990s when the country embarked on its Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), a large number of people were forced into informal employment through worsening economic conditions and the decline in formal sector jobs.

This book provides insight into the diverse aspects of the informal sector, its role in the context of unemployment, child labor, globalization and environment, as well as its multi-faceted interaction with the other sectors of the economy.

To understand the policy environment within which refugees establish and operate their enterprises in South Africa’s informal sector, this report brings together two streams of policy analysis. The first concerns the changing refugee policies and the erosion of the progressive approach that characterized the immediate post-apartheid period. The second concerns the informal sector policy, which oscillates between tolerance and attempted destruction at national and municipal levels. While there have been longstanding tensions between foreign and South African informal sector operators, an overtly anti-foreign migrant sentiment has increasingly been expressed in official policy and practice. This report describes the strategies being used to turn South Africa into an undesirable destination for refugees, including the setting up of additional procedural, administrative and logistical hurdles; the undercutting of court judgments affirming the right of asylum-seekers and refugees to employment and self-employment; ensuring that protection is always temporary by making it extremely difficult for refugees to progress to permanent residence and eventual citizenship; and restricting opportunities to pursue a livelihood in the informal sector. The authors conclude that the protection of refugee rights is likely to continue to depend on a cohort of non-governmental organizations prioritizing migrant livelihood rights and being willing and able to pursue time-consuming and costly litigation on their behalf.