ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the everyday lives and livelihoods of Zimbabwean informal traders in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The chapter provides insights into reasons for leaving Zimbabwe, the journey from Zimbabwe to Makhanda, relationships amongst migrants and their ongoing relationships with family back home, as well as their hopes and plans for the future. It examines the micro-level ingenuity of Zimbabwean informal traders in the face of systemic and deep-rooted challenges of surviving in a foreign country as a migrant whose future in South Africa has no guarantees. Zimbabwean informal traders in Makhanda have built lives and livelihoods through various social networks within their new environment without losing contact with families back home. The informal trade provides a space to create livelihoods for irregular migrants without papers to allow them to find formal employment. The stories of the traders show that survival is an everyday practice, within an uncertain context for informal traders, yet they continue to manage and build lives in Makhanda.
