Government concerned about high emigration rate

Earlier this year the Department of Home Affairs introduced a new White Paper proposing that South Africans who plan on being out of the country for more than three months should register with the government.

The rationale is to keep track of South Africans abroad and curb the high emigration rate.

Last Friday Home Affairs officially gazetted the White Paper for public comment.

According to BusinessTech this marks the first time the Home Affairs Department has included emigration control in official policy, something it directly attributes to the high number of skilled workers and money leaving the country.

‘Like many other developing countries, South Africa loses a significant proportion of its skilled workforce every year,’ the White Paper states.

‘Little attention has been paid to maintaining links with South Africans who have settled in other countries.

‘The current international migration policy framework does not cover citizens who wish to or have migrated to other countries.

‘The current international migration policy does not enable South Africa to proactively manage and harness emigration for development purposes.

‘Apart from economic incentives, many emigrants maintain links with South Africa and there are various ways in which they can contribute to national development.’

Emigration rate

Using recent census data, the White Paper estimated that more than 520 000 South Africans had emigrated between 1989 and 2003, with the numbers growing by about 9% a year.

About 120 000 of the emigrants had professional qualifications.

‘This represents about 7% of the total stock of professionals employed in South Africa and is more than eight times the number of professionals immigrating to South Africa in the same period.’

‘Another factor to note is that many persons classified as white under apartheid emigrated, mostly in the 1990s, owing to ‘push factors’ that include fear of change and opportunities open to professionals.’

‘In recent years, however, white emigrants appear to be outnumbered by growing numbers of black professionals who have joined the global skills market,’ it read.

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Not surprising

Economist Dr Irrshad Kaseeram, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law at the University of Zululand, said while it is highly commendable that the authorities are attempting to address the emigration policy gap by documenting, monitoring and maintaining links with its diaspora, it is not surprising that black professionals are leaving for perceived greener pastures abroad.

‘The middle class is deeply concerned about the value of their savings, investments and pensions should they continue to live and work in South African over the next few decades.

‘Many middle class parents are worried about the quality of life in South Africa given our education challenges, poor governance, endemic corruption and rising crime and poverty.

‘This is especially worrying given that we have been accorded junk status post 30th March with the political risks remaining dangerously high, dismally weak business and consumer confidence, a reluctance of the private sector to invest and hence economic growth prospects remaining stubbornly low.

‘The young professional classes are the most mobile. As long as their deep concerns are not credibly addressed, we will see a rising emigration rate without any hope of the authorities stemming the outflow or attracting expatriates to return,’ he said.

Kaseeram argued that the only convincing action on the part of government that will reverse the negative perceptions of potential emigrants, is to decisively deal with corruption and state capture at all levels of government, as well as growing the economy through private-public partnerships and boosting small to medium sized businesses by addressing onerous red tape and inflexible labour policies.