Zimbabwe at Forty, usukhulile/wakura 1

Abstract

Celebrating 40 years as an independent nation state sounds like a monumental achievement for Zimbabwe, and yet the country in many ways has failed some, if not the majority, of its citizens. The volatile socio-economic and political downturn since the dawn of independence has driven countless sons and daughters of the soil to stoop as low as becoming illegal migrants in neighboring countries. This chapter exposes the plight of Zimbabwean migrants, particularly women who suffer not only because they are illegal migrants but also because they are women. Women who are illegal migrants uniquely suffer sexual harassment and exploitation than their male counterparts in various phases, for example, while illegally crossing the border to and from Zimbabwe, during their stay in South Africa, as well as in their endeavors to secure meaningful employment. This chapter is an extract of data from an ongoing research project documenting the experiences of illegal Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. The data presented herein derive specifically from the experiences of Zimbabwean female migrants from Mberengwa district, in ward 32 under Chief Bankwe. This project, which commenced in 2011, is located both in Zimbabwe’s Mberengwa district and in South Africa, mainly in Gauteng province. For the purposes of this chapter, I will single out data from 23 women who narrate the experiences that led them to leave Zimbabwe, how they crossed the border, and their ordeals in South Africa. This chapter concludes that although all migrants suffer a great deal in the diaspora, women suffer doubly from patriarchal and xenophobic attitudes, experiencing discrimination not only based on their migrant status but also based on their sex. Hence, the chapter urges the Zimbabwean leadership to take the onus of wholly shouldering the responsibility of providing all the basic needs for their citizens instead of continuing to create conditions that force people to run away from their country to become economic refugees in neighboring countries and elsewhere.