This report by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand examines the inner workings and practices of the smuggling industry on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border. The report helps to address the lack of credible research and proliferation of anecdotal evidence that informs calls for additional deterrence, surveillance and policing of the South African border. These often oversimplify the causes of human mobility and overlook the potentially grave consequences of increased investment in border controls.