How Africa without borders could help the continent prosper

Members of South Africa National Defence Forces (SANDF) apprehend a mother and her child using an illigal route into South Africa during a patrol on the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe, near Musina on November 28, 2024. [AFP]

The vision of a “borderless Africa” is one of unity and shared prosperity for the continent. It is rooted in the ideals of the pan-Africanist movement.

There are contradictions, however, between those ideals and the realities of governance on the continent.