Credit apartheid, migrants, mines and money

Various actors, including rural patriarchs, traders, government authorities, and appliance retailers, have employed strategies to limit migrants’ control over their wages. Paradoxically, migrants themselves have sometimes embraced these same mechanisms, recognizing the need to safeguard resources for the maintenance of their households back home. This article examines these contradictions, arguing that contemporary forms of debt are rooted in earlier credit practices but differ in their ability to consolidate those practices, enabling an unimpeded flow of money into and out of migrants’ bank accounts. It explores both the benefits and risks of the recent expansion of credit to groups, such as migrants, that were previously excluded from formal financial systems.

• Date: 06/11/2014
• Sector: Any
• Topics: Inclusive finance, Workers' rights
• Regions: Africa
• Resource type: Publications from partners
• Institutions: African Studies