Losing South Africans to alleged international paradises of peace and tranquility is tantamount to the painful, but unavoidable, removal of a cancer from the human body. We are left weakened, saddened and worse-off, but with a remaining chance to live a full and happy life.
The current available emigration statistics are reportedly unreliable and sound a lot lower than the anecdotes would imply. In 2001, for example, there were apparently 80 000 South Africans in Australia. These days I feel like I’m hearing about more than that number leaving each week. As I drive through my cosy northern Jo’burg suburb I am assaulted by endless “For Sale” signs that I can only imagine have nothing to do with cashing in on the current real estate market.
So, let’s take it as read that a lot of people are leaving and not quibble about what “a lot” actually means. Too many. And, naturally, a lot of those leaving are white and desirable in the economic sense of the word. I’ve recently noticed articles appearing in the media that mourn the departure of this or that senior executive to a presumably attractive position in Australia or England.
Let me say quite clearly: it’s bad news that these people are leaving. Bleeding skills and losing people who are generating money for the economy is a bad, bad thing. Apart from anything else, these are people who have been educated in South Africa, to some or other extent subsidised by taxpayers money, and when they leave they take it all with them.
That said, expecting these people to stay is also misguided. The reality is that the cancer growing in this country is a cancer of fearful, disillusioned, pessimistic, angry and embittered people who can no longer contribute to the future well-being of South Africa. And like any cancer, they need to be removed. It’s the best thing for the rest of us. And (cancer analogy aside) it’s the best thing for them too.
There are upsides to people leaving: opportunities open up for others who may not have gotten those opportunities otherwise. And the country as a whole is forced to streamline and innovate in order to keep growing. The obvious converse is also true: less competition may mean slipping standards. The wrong, unqualified people may find it easy to glide into senior jobs vacated by those who have left for elsewhere.
I think we can see examples of both scenarios. And in this respect we are in the same boat as many other developing countries, competing in a global market for skills against countries with stronger currencies and better stuff. Yes, we have political concerns and crime problems, but we are not unique in that. And as recent world economic developments have shown, everyone (and I mean everyone) has big problems on their plate.
What’s important for us is to cut or zap or otherwise kill the cancer as quickly as we can so that we can start the process of healing what’s left. It’s going to hurt. And it’s going to screw us up. But unless we can get the most miserable people out of here where they can hopefully be less miserable, and where we can find a more positive spirit for the remainder of people, we are going to keep poisoning one another.
It may sound harsh and it may sound unkind, but it’s happening anyway. I think we need to think smarter about it and try and see a light at the end of the tunnel to Sydney.
The point made by Richard P is valid. Many people leave without bothering with any emigration formalities. They go overseas, start working, settle down and eventually become citizens of their new host country and obtain their new passport. Very simple and far less hassle
It’s not “that simple” at all actually, Anton – you are talking b*ll*cks. If it was THAT SIMPLE then many more people would simply never return from their holidays – in fact, considering the popularity of “overseas” this country would be half-empty by now.
SOME do manage do stay on abroad through that method, that is correct – and they are part of the 26000 who did not return in 2006.
Whether or not you leave as a tourist, a student, a temp worker or an official EMIGRANT, you have to leave through one of our airports, border posts or ports. The statistics say that for the year 2006, 413611 South Africans passed through this country’s various exit points and 386997 returned from abroad through them. That gives us a difference of 26614 not returning – for that year.
If you are aware of more people emigrating undetected by method of space craft or UFO I suggest you contact the government immediately…
@ Richard P
“I have long been a British citizen thanks to my pommy mommy”
- That just tells me that you were never really a fully blown South African – you are British and it explains your “don’t give a toss attitude” perfectly. A true “soutie” – you grew up always knowing that you could leave – this would make your mindset different from a true South African without such an option. In your case you didn’t really emigrate, you relocated. You are quite irrelevant to this discussion.
“I can think of no SAn I know who officially emigrated when they left SA; they simply packed their bags and left.”
- British citizens like yourself.
Jack, so you are the true abiter of what constitutes a “true” South African?
Do you have some sort of pencil test for that, then?
Are the only “true” South Africans those with an uninterrupted family tree (on both sides of the family) stretching back to van Riebeeck and beyond ?
Or is there some sort of loyalty litmus test, where only those who are filled to the brim with optimism and faith for the future and who fall over themselves to “contribute”, “true” South Africans? And those who are pessimistic about SA’s prospects have forfeited their “South Africaness”?
Or are all those with dual nationality, regardless of whether they might have been born in SA, lived all their lives there and identify themselves as South African, not in fact “true” South Africans?
Please enlighten us!
For the record, notwithstanding my British citizenship, it never really occurred to me to leave SA until 1999 when, at the age of 33, I was told that there were opportunities in my line of work in the UK (which I had never previously visited) and, needing something of a life change, I decided to go for it. At the time, neither politics nor crime entered my equation (although it did for other friends who left).
It has only been since I have lived in the UK that I have grown increasingly pessimistic about SA (as you well know from our ding dong a couple of months back). Why do I no longer give a toss about what happens to SA except to the extent that it directly affects my friends and family still there? Well, it is the best way I know to stay sane and happy. After getting my knickers into something of a twist a few months back about what was happening (and not happening) generally in SA, I decided to stop caring unless something happened or threatened to happen to someone I care for. I am now a much more relaxed bunny. Done deal.
And for what it’s worth, I am still identified as a South African over here. The accent kinda labels me.
As for my statement that I can think of no SAn I know who officially emigrated when they left SA; they simply packed their bags and left, actually a number of them were SAn citizens only. They just came over on a Commonwealth visa and then looked for work and sponsorship. Sorted. Another friend was married to an EU passport holder. Sorted.
In fact, not that many SAns go through the schelp of formally emigrating. But you know better, don’t you?
Dear me, you do define self-righteousness …
@ Richard P
“Please enlighten us!”
- Ironically, when I started commenting here on T.L. as you should remember from our previous little debate, courtesy of Jarred Cinman, I used to be the one standing up for expats abroad (including dual passport holders) and I insisted that a South African remains a South African, whether negative or positive about their country.
You have changed my mind – and I won’t stand up for the likes of you any more. To be sure, I could not quite comprehend why you would (or how you could) make statements like you did.
My only conclusion is that many, if not most dual passport holders are loyal to two countries and that at some point they make a choice. You clearly did so and there is absolutely no misinterpreting what these measured statements of yours meant:
“My only regret is that I did not leave SA for the UK years earlier.”
“SA could become the next Somalia and I wouldn’t lose any sleep.”
“I might elaborate that that is not an indication of hatred towards SA, but an expression of utter indifference as to what would happen if I had no friend or family remaining there. As it happens, I remain concerned about what happens SA to the extent (and only to the extent) that it directly affects my friends and family. Otherwise, I isolate themselves and are out of touch too. really could not give a toss.”
- So, what more is there to say?
As for people gaining residency thorough various means and methods, I am very well aware of all of those and I had options to do the same – I opted out. How does that change any of the emigration statistics above?
Regarding the news headlines – everything is not what it seems.
I have an open question for you or anybody who supports or shares your outlook:
OF WHAT POSITIVE BENEFIT ARE YOU TO SOUTH AFRICA?
Your accent might make you a Saffa abroad, but your South African soul is gone by your own admission.
@ Jack
Oooh, look who’s got himself into a self-righteous froth!
Of what positive benefit am I to South Africa?
Do I have some sort of duty to be of positive benefit to South Africa? I don’t think so.
I have only a duty to be of positive benefit to my family in SA, not to a collection of strangers who happen to share a common geographic origin or nationality (and that includes you).
So, I have lost my “South African soul”? To the extent that such a thing exists (which it, of course, doesn’t), I can’t say I (or anyone else who know me) noticed, and I can’t say I much care.
Anyway, regardless of what your one-eyed view of me might be, I have recently renewed my SA passport, so I remain a South African.
In conclusion, you seem to lay great store by patriotism (each person must be “loyal” to a particular country).
At the time I left SA, to the extent that I had any such loyalty, it was to SA (not to the UK) but in the years since I have ceased pinning any badge of allegiance to a particular country. My loyalty is to the people I care for, not to a geographic construct.
Patriotism is massively overrated, but if that floats your leaky little boat …
As a Canadian living in South Africa i feel your article is a little unfair and the analogy dreadful.
People leave here and elsewhere for many reasons. The global middle class often circulates between large centres such as New York, London and their country of origin. For me this is the upside of Globalisation.
Now getting permanent employment as a foreign national is a painful affair that I have not yet managed. I am working on that and will be a permanent resident within the year. Nationalism is a terrible thing when it excludes professionals willing and trying to contribute.
Michael, many SA emigrants want it both ways – they insist on reminding us how important they are – how the ship is sinking without them, “if only there was less crime and corruption they would have stayed – ad nauseum”, but we know many would have left anyway – they are just not being honest about it. On top of that many go out of their way to run the country down, but still expect to be “cried about” for having left.
Well, my SA emigrant friends (I have travelled a lot myself), but if you haven’t realised it yet, if you are not here, you are NOT RELEVANT, capiche??
(SA Expats abroad are responsible for their own bad reputation)
I posted this elsewhere, but it’s relevant here too:
- How much do you hate your expats?
Not all people who leave are traitors, that’s clear. Many give a balanced view of S.A. abroad and are generally “good ambassadors” for their country (even if that seems like an old fashioned concept).
Others – many others (its not clear if they are in the majority, but they may well be) tend to have nothing positive to say about S.A. All they can ever do is refer to crime and corruption – to the point of being obsessed with it. If you probe a bit you will find that often that’s not why they had left – more likely they left for economic reasons or better opportunities. The crime and corruption justification is a popular SA-abroad talking point, it creates a sense of “unity” amongst expats, the subject matter is never disputed and it takes the focus off other reasons – it also negates guilt feelings for whatever reasons, for example “not helping to build the New South Africa” (with an education obtained under previous privileged circumstances) or for “deserting one’s family”.
And some expats do tend to exaggerate the negative in S.A. deliberately, like its a feel good factor for them: “You guys are all doomed, at least I escaped while I could and don’t come and tell me there’s corruption and crime elsewhere too, NOWHERE can be as bad as South Africa!!!…” When you try to make comparisons or point to statistics that seem to indicate things are not always quite as bad as they may seem, they will point to your “naivety” and “unrealistic optimism”.
The fact is, as other posters have pointed out, emigrating is an extremely difficult process, traumatic even and once you are on the other side, there is no turning back – at least for the short term. It’s ALWAYS harder abroad than back home, definitely so at least for the first few years while you adapt and settle in, with few exceptions. When people make such a large personal commitment to relocate, their new place simply HAS TO BE BETTER – they could never admit to possibly have made a mistake or to have acted a bit impulsively, or to not have had all the facts about their new chosen destination (courtesy of their “Utopia Next” Emigration Agency)
I similar quality of live than what people had lived in SA (if they were middle- or upper middle class) can often take years of hard work to recreate or replicate in their new destination.
So, that’s why South Africa HAS to be “CRAP” to justify being there and for putting themselves through so much “hard-ship”.
Well, unhappy citizens are not precisely cancerous – or they wouldn’t be desirable elsewhere. But to take the analogy – cancer is usually the result of other conditions. If you spend too much time in the sun without sunscreen, get a cancerous melanoma, have chemo, and learn nothing, the problem will simply recurr. And every time will be worse. That sounds more like SA. We’ve had 15 years of the same dumb behavior that is making us sick (just after we had surgury that treated the previous problem) We need aggressive treatment of the patient (SA) lifestyle issues or the symptoms (unhappy, talented migrants) will simply recurr. That means short term strategies like getting rid of the dictatorship in Zimbabwe, and setting Swaziland on the road to democracy, actually doing something dramatic about crime and corruption and ineptitude. Most of the ANC and their crony-appointees need to go. We need to keep doctors and fire Peggy, to put it in medical terms. There are plenty of able black people who are not just in this for self-enrichment, and with a few painful examples corruption would look less attractive. Then we could make major strides with education. Yes, fire useless teachers. Kids older than 19 need to go to adult ed, not school, and we can turf this world-discredited OBE nonsense. Finally we could settle equitably the land issue – including the ‘tribal land’cesspit. There really is enough for food production, and security of tenure. Of course major landowners – Anglo, the sugar conglomerates, timber conglomerates, etc., and the state need to go. (per hectare owned they’re unproductive, and also per hectare employ FAR less than SMME’s. But when comes to land restitution… they have connections and lawyers.)
Yes, then SA would make a rapid recovery and be a wonderful, rich, happy, progressive country. But we all know that’s not going to happen. The cancer causing behaviour will just get worse. So if you have talents you might as well leave and save yourself pain.
I consider my leaving ZA as cutting a cancer out of me. Since I left, I’ve never felt happier, better, safer, cleaner and less stressed. I am healthier, I have lower blood pressure, and I am enjoying life.
I know a lot of ex-SA expats who feel exactly the same way.
Perhaps you have your metaphor the wrong way around? Perhaps ZA has the cancer, and those that leave are becoming healed?