Interrogating the Challenges of Cross-Border Management in the SADC Region

For over 20 years, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region has failed to institute a free movement protocol to enhance regional integration. This has led to nationalistic migration management approaches, part of the problem that has led to cross-border security challenges in the SADC region. This chapter conceptualizes coordinated border management and employs a secondary research approach by reviewing the literature as a data collection approach. Thus, this chapter argues that problems such as irregular migration, cross-border crime, arms, and human trafficking, to mention a few, reflect the challenges associated with border management in the SADC. Migration cannot be stopped by militarization and securitization of borders. Instead, all SADC nation-states need a coordinated approach to migration management. This approach should tackle migration and cross-border-related challenges from a collective perspective.