Johannesburg
It’s called the ‘Reverse Jive’, retracing your steps to where your journey began, and you’ll hear it talked about all over Johannesburg, especially now, with an election next Wednesday and immigration such a hot-button issue.
South Africa has a huge informal sector where the poor can at least scratch a living
In Pretoria, the government estimates there are more than three million Zimbabweans, or ‘Zimbos’, living in South Africa. Decades of oppression and mismanagement at home have collapsed the economy and Zimbos form a visible presence in Jo’burg, Durban and Cape Town. And thousands of them have done the Reverse Jive.
Enelise comes from Bulawayo and works the till at my local corner-store and, with me being Zimbabwean and a ‘home boy’, we always chat while I pay. She is 28 and rents a room in a nearby house. One night, on her way home from a party, Enelise was stopped by police looking for illegal migrants.
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