5 - Mobile Money and the Human Economy: Towards Sustainable Livelihoods for Zimbabwean Migrants in South Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Emma Mavodza
Africa Development,
Vol. 44 No. 3 (2019): Africa Development: Special Issue on Money, Security and Democratic Governance in Africa (III)
Abstract
This article explores ways in which Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa send, receive and give money through mobile technological innovations. Specifically, the article looks at how the unbanked people access and manage money in their daily lives. Most of these migrants are undocumented and find it difficult to open accounts as financial institutions require certain specifications such as proof of residence, (local) identity cards, work permits, traceable physical addresses and three current consecutive months’ payslips. However, with the advent of mobile money, these migrants can easily relay money to Zimbabwe which records a high influx of remittances which are sustaining an ailing economy and improving the livelihoods of the people. The article also demonstrates ways in which the (un)banked are excluded or included in the transaction of money through social networks, kinship ties, solidarity relationships and other forms of non-monetary exchanges. In addition, it analyses the extent to which mobile money has impacted on social, economic and political relations of the unbanked. Using qualitative methodology, I also illustrate how mobile money improves the unbanked’s access to money and enhances the creation of a society with the attributes of a human economy with reduced inequalities.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Aker, J.C., 2010, ‘Information from markets near and far: mobile phones and Agricultural markets in Niger’, American Economic journal: Applied Economics 2 (3): 46–59.
- Aker, J.C. and Mbiti, M., 2010, ‘Mobile phones and economic development in Africa’, Journal of Economic Perspective 24 (3): 207–32.
- Aggarwal, S. and Klapper, L., 2013, Designing Government Policies to Expand Financial Inclusion: Evidence from around the World, University of California and Development Research Group: World Bank.
- Ballard, R., 2012, ‘Geographies of development II: cash transfers and the reinvention of development for the poor’, Progress in Human Geography 37 (6).
- Chang, M.L., 2010, Short-changed: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Collins, D., Murdoch, J., Rutherford, S. and Ruthven, O., 2009, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Demirguc-Kunt, A., Beck, T. and Honohan, P., 2008, Finance For All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access. A World Bank Policy Research Report, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Demirguc-Kunt, A. and Klapper, L., 2012, The Global Findex Database: New Data on Accounts and Payments Findex Notes, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Demirguc-Kunt, A. and Klapper, L., 2013, Measuring Financial Inclusion: Explaining Variations in Use of Financial Services across and within Countries, Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, Brookings Institution Press.
- Donovan, K., 2012, ‘Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion’, in T. Telly, and M. Minges, eds, Information and Communication for Development, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Dupas, P., Karlan, D., Robinson, J. and Ubfal, D., 2018. Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from three countries. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(2), pp.257-97.
- Ferguson, J., 2004 [1990], The Anti-politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Fukuyama, F., 1995, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, New York: Free Press.
- Gallup, 2012, Zimbabwe media use 2012, http://www.bbg.gov/wp-content/media/2012/11/gallup-zimbabwe-brief.pdf, accessed 23 November 2014.
- Gergen, K., 2002, ‘The Challenge of Absent Presence’, in J.E. Katz and M. Aakhus, eds, Perpetual Contact, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Guyer, J.I., 1993, ‘Wealth in people and self-realisation in Equatorial Africa’, Man 28: 243–65.
- Hart, K., Laville, J. and Cattani, A.D., 2010, The Human Economy, Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Hart, K., 2001, Money in an Unequal World: Keith Hart and his Memory Bank, New York: Texere.
- Johnson, S., 2004, ‘Gender norms in financial markets: evidence from Kenya’, World Development 32 (8): 1355–74.
- Lindley, A., 2008, ‘The North–South divide in everyday life: Somali Londoners sending money home’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies.
- Lindley, A., 2009, ‘Remittances in conflict: some conceptual considerations’, Journal of Economics and Statistics 229 (6): 774–86.
- Makina, D., 2010, ‘The impact of regional migration and remittances on Development: the case of Zimbabwe’, http://www.microfinancegateway.org/sites/default/files/mfg-en-paper-the-impact-of-regional-migration-and-remittances-on-development-the-case-of-zimbabwe-oct-2010.pdf, accessed 23 November 2014.
- Maodza, T., 2014, ‘Zimbabwe attains food self-sufficiency’, The Herald, http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_m_zim-attains-food-self-sufficiency-the-herald/, accessed 23 November 2014.
- Maurer, B., 2011, ‘Regulation as retrospective ethnography: mobile money and the arts of cash’, Banking and Finance Law Review 21 (1): 299–313.
- Mauss, M., 1967, The Gift, New York: Norton.
- Martin, M., 2009, ‘Hundi/hawala: the problem of definition’, Modern Asian Studies 43 (4): 909–37.
- Molony, T.S.J., 2007, ‘“I don’t trust the phone; it always lies”: trust and information and communication technologies in Tanzanian micro and small enterprises’, Information Technologies and International Development 3 (4): 67–83.
- Monsuti, A, 2004, Afghanistan War and Migration: Social Networks and Strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan, London: Routledge.
- Noko, J., 2011, ‘Dollarization: the case of Zimbabwe’, Cato Journal 31 (2): 339–65.
- Plaza S. and Ratha, D., eds, 2011, Diaspora for Development in Africa, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Polanyi, K., 2001 [1944], The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Time, Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
- Rakopolous, T., 2013, ‘The crisis seen from below, within, and against: from solidarity economy to food distribution cooperatives in Greece’, http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/41201/Rakopoulos_Crisis_2014.pdf?sequence=1, accessed 28 October 2014.
- Rutherford, Stuart (2000), The Poor and their Money. New Delhi: Oxford.
- Schramm, M. and Taube, M., 2003, ‘Evolution and institutional foundation of the Hawala financial system’, Internal Review of Financial Analysis 12 (4): 405–20.
- Scott, J., 1988, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University of Press.
- Sen, A., 1999, Development as Freedom, New York: Anchor Books.
- Singh, S., 1997, Marriage money: the social shaping of money in marriage and banking. Allen & Unwin.
- Singh, S. and Bhandari, M., 2012, ‘Money management control and in the Indian in joint family cross generations’, Sociological Review 60 (1): 46–67.
- Sultana, F., 2009, ‘Community and participation in water resources management: gendering and naturing development debates from Bangladesh’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 34 (3): 346–63.
- Suri, T., Jack, W. and Stoker, T.M., 2012, ‘Documenting the birth of a financial economy’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109: 10257–62.
- UNDG, 2010, Country Analysis Report for Zimbabwe, United Nations, Harare.
- UNDP, 2010, United Nations Report, United Nations, Zimbabwe.
- Verhoef, G., 2001, ‘Informal financial service institutions for survival: African women and stockvels in urban South Africa’, Enterprise and Society 2 (2): 259–96.
- World Bank, World Development Report, 2000/1, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVERTY/Resources/WDR/approutl.pdf, accessed 28 October 2014.
- World Bank, 2009, ‘Migration and remittances trend 2009’, Migration and Development Brief 11.
- Yunus, M., 2003, ‘Expanding micro-credit outreach to reach the Millennium Development Goals: some issues for attention’, Dhaka: Grameen Bank.
- Zelizer, V.A., 2011, Economic lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
References
Aker, J.C., 2010, ‘Information from markets near and far: mobile phones and Agricultural markets in Niger’, American Economic journal: Applied Economics 2 (3): 46–59.
Aker, J.C. and Mbiti, M., 2010, ‘Mobile phones and economic development in Africa’, Journal of Economic Perspective 24 (3): 207–32.
Aggarwal, S. and Klapper, L., 2013, Designing Government Policies to Expand Financial Inclusion: Evidence from around the World, University of California and Development Research Group: World Bank.
Ballard, R., 2012, ‘Geographies of development II: cash transfers and the reinvention of development for the poor’, Progress in Human Geography 37 (6).
Chang, M.L., 2010, Short-changed: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Collins, D., Murdoch, J., Rutherford, S. and Ruthven, O., 2009, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Demirguc-Kunt, A., Beck, T. and Honohan, P., 2008, Finance For All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access. A World Bank Policy Research Report, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Demirguc-Kunt, A. and Klapper, L., 2012, The Global Findex Database: New Data on Accounts and Payments Findex Notes, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Demirguc-Kunt, A. and Klapper, L., 2013, Measuring Financial Inclusion: Explaining Variations in Use of Financial Services across and within Countries, Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, Brookings Institution Press.
Donovan, K., 2012, ‘Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion’, in T. Telly, and M. Minges, eds, Information and Communication for Development, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Dupas, P., Karlan, D., Robinson, J. and Ubfal, D., 2018. Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from three countries. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(2), pp.257-97.
Ferguson, J., 2004 [1990], The Anti-politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fukuyama, F., 1995, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, New York: Free Press.
Gallup, 2012, Zimbabwe media use 2012, http://www.bbg.gov/wp-content/media/2012/11/gallup-zimbabwe-brief.pdf, accessed 23 November 2014.
Gergen, K., 2002, ‘The Challenge of Absent Presence’, in J.E. Katz and M. Aakhus, eds, Perpetual Contact, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guyer, J.I., 1993, ‘Wealth in people and self-realisation in Equatorial Africa’, Man 28: 243–65.
Hart, K., Laville, J. and Cattani, A.D., 2010, The Human Economy, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hart, K., 2001, Money in an Unequal World: Keith Hart and his Memory Bank, New York: Texere.
Johnson, S., 2004, ‘Gender norms in financial markets: evidence from Kenya’, World Development 32 (8): 1355–74.
Lindley, A., 2008, ‘The North–South divide in everyday life: Somali Londoners sending money home’, Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies.
Lindley, A., 2009, ‘Remittances in conflict: some conceptual considerations’, Journal of Economics and Statistics 229 (6): 774–86.
Makina, D., 2010, ‘The impact of regional migration and remittances on Development: the case of Zimbabwe’, http://www.microfinancegateway.org/sites/default/files/mfg-en-paper-the-impact-of-regional-migration-and-remittances-on-development-the-case-of-zimbabwe-oct-2010.pdf, accessed 23 November 2014.
Maodza, T., 2014, ‘Zimbabwe attains food self-sufficiency’, The Herald, http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_m_zim-attains-food-self-sufficiency-the-herald/, accessed 23 November 2014.
Maurer, B., 2011, ‘Regulation as retrospective ethnography: mobile money and the arts of cash’, Banking and Finance Law Review 21 (1): 299–313.
Mauss, M., 1967, The Gift, New York: Norton.
Martin, M., 2009, ‘Hundi/hawala: the problem of definition’, Modern Asian Studies 43 (4): 909–37.
Molony, T.S.J., 2007, ‘“I don’t trust the phone; it always lies”: trust and information and communication technologies in Tanzanian micro and small enterprises’, Information Technologies and International Development 3 (4): 67–83.
Monsuti, A, 2004, Afghanistan War and Migration: Social Networks and Strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan, London: Routledge.
Noko, J., 2011, ‘Dollarization: the case of Zimbabwe’, Cato Journal 31 (2): 339–65.
Plaza S. and Ratha, D., eds, 2011, Diaspora for Development in Africa, Washington, DC: World Bank.
Polanyi, K., 2001 [1944], The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of our Time, Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rakopolous, T., 2013, ‘The crisis seen from below, within, and against: from solidarity economy to food distribution cooperatives in Greece’, http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/41201/Rakopoulos_Crisis_2014.pdf?sequence=1, accessed 28 October 2014.
Rutherford, Stuart (2000), The Poor and their Money. New Delhi: Oxford.
Schramm, M. and Taube, M., 2003, ‘Evolution and institutional foundation of the Hawala financial system’, Internal Review of Financial Analysis 12 (4): 405–20.
Scott, J., 1988, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University of Press.
Sen, A., 1999, Development as Freedom, New York: Anchor Books.
Singh, S., 1997, Marriage money: the social shaping of money in marriage and banking. Allen & Unwin.
Singh, S. and Bhandari, M., 2012, ‘Money management control and in the Indian in joint family cross generations’, Sociological Review 60 (1): 46–67.
Sultana, F., 2009, ‘Community and participation in water resources management: gendering and naturing development debates from Bangladesh’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 34 (3): 346–63.
Suri, T., Jack, W. and Stoker, T.M., 2012, ‘Documenting the birth of a financial economy’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109: 10257–62.
UNDG, 2010, Country Analysis Report for Zimbabwe, United Nations, Harare.
UNDP, 2010, United Nations Report, United Nations, Zimbabwe.
Verhoef, G., 2001, ‘Informal financial service institutions for survival: African women and stockvels in urban South Africa’, Enterprise and Society 2 (2): 259–96.
World Bank, World Development Report, 2000/1, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVERTY/Resources/WDR/approutl.pdf, accessed 28 October 2014.
World Bank, 2009, ‘Migration and remittances trend 2009’, Migration and Development Brief 11.
Yunus, M., 2003, ‘Expanding micro-credit outreach to reach the Millennium Development Goals: some issues for attention’, Dhaka: Grameen Bank.
Zelizer, V.A., 2011, Economic lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.