Fly the beloved country
Date: 10-02-2008
Producer: Michael Duffett
Adri Kotze
Presenter: Devi Sankaree Govender
Researcher: Lindile Mpanza
Michelle Lippert
Genre: Business and Financial
It's been a rollercoaster ride for South Africans over the past few months: a political power shift at Polokwane, our top cop in court, the president elect also up for fraud charges, the Eskom blackouts which has the potential to severely damage our economy. But one person who won't be affected is Ian Pettey whose job it is to relocate South Africans who emigrate.
Ian Pettey (International relocation): 'I would say that in the last six months our international moving business has increased by about 50 percent.'
Devi Sankaree Govender (Carte Blanche presenter): 'Fifty percent?'
Ian: 'Fifty percent, yes.'
Johan Roux (Water purification expert): 'If they manage crime and if they manage the bribery and corruption issues, then why would I want to leave?'
Johan Roux and his family have had enough. They've survived an armed robbery at their home, in a separate incident his wife was held up at gunpoint, and recently a friend of the family was shot dead for a cellphone.
Johan: 'Crime is the big issue here. Crime for me is the number one issue.'
Also leaving soon is previously disadvantaged Redaan Adams, who lives in Cape Town and works as a mechanic to support a wife and two teenaged daughters.
Redaan Adams (Auto mechanic): 'I am raising my two daughters behind four walls, which is a far cry from what I had when I was growing up.'
Devi: 'These people made their decisions to leave South Africa at least a year ago. But since Polokwane, the charging of our top cop Jackie Selebi, charges of corruption against Jacob Zuma and Eskom's burnouts, there seems to be a surge of South Africans wanting to leave.'
Gary Eisenberg's phone hasn't stopped ringing. He runs a large emigration practice in Cape Town.
Gary Eisenberg (Immigration lawyer): 'During the last two months our emails and our telephones have spiralled upwards.'
Eden Joubert is an emigration lawyer in Johannesburg.
Eden Joubert (Emigration lawyer): 'When we came back from the summer holidays our phone lines and our fax lines just started to get clogged up completely by people inquiring about going to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.'
After surviving a car hijacking he is leaving.
Eden: 'At the end of the day, I have to look after my family. My government, as far as I am concerned, does not look after me.'
The remarks of Safety and Security Minister, Charles Nqakula, to parliament are still fresh in the minds of people.
Redaan: 'I am terribly sad. My family is here and my friends are here.'
Redaan would prefer to remain in Cape Town but he does not want his family to become another statistic.
Around 17 000 murders every year, armed robberies are up, we boast the highest incidences of rape in the world and our people are being literally exterminated for no sane reason - whether they live in Houghton or the townships.
[Carte Blanche Feb 2008] Ursula Picton-Turberville: 'He said, 'Take whatever you want. Just take and go.' Then the other guy just came up and just shot him. Just shot him in the head.'
[Carte Blanche Feb 2008] Ten-year-old Samantha and nine-year-old Bryony saw their father being shot.
[Carte Blanche Feb 2008] Girl: 'At the moment I didn't cry. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there and looked at him.'
Last week we told of how close to 50 percent of our children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. And this week, the Institute of Race Relations released alarming statistics.
Marco Macfarlane (Institute of Race Relations): 'Only 23 percent of our kids feel safe in school. That is quite a shocking statistic. Of the countries that were included in the study, we came absolute bottom of the list in the world.'
Marco Macfarlane heads up research at the institute. The institute is a democracy monitor, providing statistics for policymakers. It has also kept tabs on emigration trends.
Marco: 'What you would expect is that it would be the old guard guys that would be going. The guys in their forties or older, who are already established and thought that maybe the country will go to hell ... we are going to cut and run now. But actually the opposite effect has occurred. It is young whites between the ages of about 20 and 35 who are the ones that are missing.'
We don't know the actual up to date emigration figures over the last few years because in 2004 Home Affairs no longer required those leaving to stipulate reasons for their departure. But Marco has the previous figures.
Marco: 'Between 1995 and about 2005 up to 850 000 whites had left the country. That is about a fifth of the white population. That is quite a wave of people leaving the country, especially in this transition phase when we need every single skilled person that we can get our hands on.'
So what's bringing on this new wave?
Devi: 'It seems to me that when Eskom turned off the lights people wanted to leave immediately.'
Marco: 'With the fears of running blackouts and probably no alleviation until maybe 2016, that is very worrying from an economic point of view. If the economy slows down there is no way that we as a people can live up to the expectations that we had for this country and the kind of promises that government has made for a better life for all.'
But with job losses already, our high interest rate and the value of the rand dropping, not everybody is gloomy. Allan Knott Craig Jr heads up Iburst. Recently an employee was in tears because she felt the country was falling apart. Allan penned an email to his staff urging them to be positive. This email has spread throughout the business community.
Alan Knott Craig Jr (Internet Service Provider): 'A lot of people have phoned us and emailed us, to say thank you - not to deny the problems that South Africa has, but for the reality check and to put things in perspective.'
Alan reminded his staff South Africa has had it tough before.
Alan: 'I said, 'don't panic.' This is not the first time and this is not the last time it is going to happen. In 1989 there was something called Black Monday, the rand crashed and it was basically an economic disaster. In 1994, not everybody, but some people thought that when the ANC took power there would be a war. In 1998, interest rates went to 25 percent. In 1998, you couldn't imagine in a million years that South Africa would have the fastest growing residential property sector in the world.'
But that's the economy. How do the people rate government?
Devi: 'As a nation, we marvelled at our smooth transition into democracy. We went through the Mandela euphoria and we are now almost at the end of the Mbeki reign. But now new research indicates that we are facing a crisis of governance. Confidence in our leaders and our institutions of democracy has declined sharply.'
For the last four years the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation published research called the 'transformation audit ' it's an opinion poll. Over the last two years approval of government has dropped by 20 percent.
Dr Fanie Du Toit (Executive Director, IJR): 'This is not just a simple judgement on a politician's character - for example, the President Mbeki versus Zuma debate. It is not so much about that as it is about how we use our institutions and to what extent our institutions reflect inclusivity, reflect accountability and transparency. It seems that ordinary South Africans are saying that we are not convinced that these institutions are serving our best interests. It is a groundswell of opinion.'
These institutions include municipalities. And when they fail to deliver - we saw what happened in a place like Khutsong - scenes reminiscent of the late eighties and early nineties.
Fanie: 'Another major issue in terms of public trust is corruption: the Travel Gate scandal, individual members of parliament that are found guilty of any number of crimes and are then tapped on the wrist and let off. I think those things must be lethal for public trust.'
Johan and Rozelle Venter are an example of this diminishing trust. They have lost confidence in South Africa and in two weeks they fly out to New Zealand. John was headhunted by Air New Zealand.
Devi: 'Were you always thinking about leaving the country?'
Johan Venter: 'No, not really. I was quite happy living my life here. I am a bit disappointed about how the country is managed as a whole. There are insecurities that have set in at the company I am working for.'
It was a traumatic decision.
Rozelle Venter: 'I had all the security here. I have my kids here and I have my family here. I am leaving all this behind and I am starting afresh on the other side. It is scary.'
What is frightening for South Africa is that Johan knows of 61 other technicians in his field who are taking up positions with Air New Zealand.
Devi: 'The greatest criticism is that you are just a bunch of whinging whites.'
Johan: 'No, I don't think so. In fact, it would have been better for people to take hands and join forces. The knowledge that I have, and other people that might be whites have to offer this country, is needed.'
Marco: 'But it would be fine to replace those skills because the colour of someone that leaves actually shouldn't be of concern to anyone. But the fact is that someone who takes all those skills with them is taking the economy with them as well. In terms of replacing those skills, we are not doing that fast enough. Our education system at the moment is, to an extent, in disarray.'
The state of education is directly linked to our skills shortage. Consider this: over 1.6 million learners entered the school system in 1995. Of those, only just over half a million wrote matric, with about 368 000 passing. The maths exemption on the higher grade was only attained by about 25 000 learners, of which less than 2 000 were black.
Because of the skills shortage, South African companies are having to scout from overseas.
Ian: 'When it comes to looking at PDIs, the previously disadvantage individuals, they are not applying for these jobs because they are not qualified. We are bringing in foreigners at a premium to come and work here, which is very sad.'
Redaan: 'Hopefully, there is a chance that I come back one day if the situation improves.'
So Redaan hasn't turned his back completely on South Africa, nor Johan Roux for that matter.
Johan: 'If I can see that things are getting better and they are doing things to govern crime and stuff like that I will probably come back.'
Alan: 'Two weeks ago it felt like people were making decisions that weren't based on fundamentals; I understand, leaving for safety. No problem. But to leave because suddenly everybody has become all negative and decided that the country is going to come to an end - there is no fundamental difference between where the country is today and where it was a year ago or two months ago.'
