Navigating Borders and Drones: A Case of Zimbabwean Migrant Women Entrepreneurs in Botswana

Abstract

Border regimes in Southern Africa are increasingly characterised by the deployment of physical and digital surveillance infrastructure. The exclusionary logic echoes colonial-era exclusionary practices where Africans faced strict border controls, while individuals of European and North American descent received preferential visa entry as investors, experts and tourists. The Southern African borders replicate Europe in design and similarly restrict poor African immigrants while facilitating the movement of citizens from the Global North. This article focuses on Zimbabwean migrant women, who are overlooked in migration studies, despite being victims of a long history of mobility restrictions. Using a thematic analysis of social media discussions and in-depth interviews, the study explores how these women navigate bordering in the era of drones and biometric surveillance systems. Drawing on Sharchar’s concept of the shifting border and Martina Tazzioli’s concept of ‘choking without killing’, the analysis examines the explicit and covert strategies of the state that undermine the mobility and entrepreneurial activities of migrant women. Paradoxically, the digital tools in the form of social media communication enable the migrant women entrepreneurs to evade state surveillance. While the digital technology is deployed to exclude, it is simultaneously appropriated by the migrant to evade the surveillance systems.