Cashing in on mobility: cross-border shopping and the political economy of the Zimbabwe-South Africa borderland

Abstract

This chapter discusses how cross-border shopping impacts on actors whose livelihoods are premised on mobility and facilitating these activities across the Zimbabwe???South Africa border. It critically assesses how these actors blur the lines by facilitating all kinds of border crossings including border jumping, excise duty-busting and smuggling. The border markets theory is used to explain why Musina, the border town on the South African side of the Zimbabwe???South Africa border, has experienced a retail boom.