A Region Without Borders? Policy Frameworks for Regional Labour Migration Towards South Africa

Despite the long history of international migration in the region, Southern Africa lacks an official governance system to manage cross-border movement of persons and labour migration. Such migration is occurring at an increasing pace with the globalisation of the world economy, and South Africa attracts the largest number of cross-border migrants from Southern Africa. There is evidence that South Africa’s current responses to the reality of regional migration in Southern Africa do not provide the most optimal solutions to the phenomenon. This policy brief, therefore, makes the case for the Southern African Customs Union to establish itself as a regional migration policy laboratory, where new innovations could be introduced before considering a potential/incremental expansion to the SADC region.