SA Rocks

Have you noticed how many expat-Londoners are returning to SA recently? If you haven’t I think it’s time that I pointed it out.

It’s a strange anomaly I’ve begun to notice. The brain-drain scare has been around since ’94 in South Africa and rightfully so, people have been leaving.

I had noticed it over the past, say, six years. I left high school and a few mates left for “greener pastures”. I graduated from University and a few more left to travel the world, gain more skills, find something new and try out different places. Many left with a bitter taste in their mouths and many swore never to return. However many of them didn’t plan on the recession. Many didn’t plan on the UK working visa taking a turn away from South Africans and many simply realised that with all of our problems, South Africa is still their home and probably always will be.

I attended a pleasant little dinner part of Friday night. I was astounded to note that out of the eight people there I was the only one out of the group who hadn’t traveled to and lived in London. Even more exciting and intriguing was that all seven of the others had been to London, earned some money, saved, gained some extra skill sets and decided to return to SA over the past year or two.

Is this the great reversal of the brain drain? Is it possible that there are many, many more South Africans who are set to return in the very near future? I think it might be. I think there are many young South Africans realising that the earning potential for them if they return to our country is greatly improved now that the recession has hit, now that their visa’s have come to an end and now that families are beginning to buckle down here and stick it out.

The current political climate could also have a great affect on the decisions of returning South Africans. The fact that the ANC is being shaken up, that there are more options and that the political environment has become more competitive things are starting to look more interesting.

I have said this before and I will say it again, it is a very exciting time to be a young South African. Things are happening. We are beginning to realise that we have the potential to earn, to change, to fix, to heal and to make this nation the nation it has the potential to become.

To all the returning expats I say well done and welcome home. We hoped you’d come back.

Popularity: 7% [?]

This is an extremely tricky and sensitive debate to have. I think that there are many heated opinions held by people who still feel strongly about their country of birth (South Africa). This feeling clearly leads them to feel some ownership of SA and the countries ruling party.

But I am not so sure.

I firmly believe that South Africans living abroad temporarily on short term (1-4 year) Visa’s – or whatever the time period is, should be allowed to vote. I firmly disagree with expats who have formally left the country indefinitely who want to vote. If you choose to leave a country and have no intention of contributing to the economy, the social upliftment, the every running of the nation then you unfortunately waver the right to vote.

Come back if you want to vote that badly. But don’t leave and then claim to still love the nation and want to make a difference. If you are on a gap year, if you are on a working visa, if you are on an extended holiday then by all means vote, in fact I think the government owes it to citizens who intend on returning to provide a platform (at SA embassies the world over) for these people to vote.

As far as I am aware there are ± 143 political parties which would make the next elections the biggest since 1994. There is something in the air this year, there is change in the people, the masses are taking back the ownership of their days. It started with Obama and hopefully wont end any time soon. Hopefully that dog, Mugabe will be the next to be ousted.

Popularity: 7% [?]

One of the perks of running SA Rocks is the letters to the editor that I receive. This is one of those letters, one of those moments when people realise that the world is bigger than them and their immediate actions.

Hi Nic

As a major supporter of my home country South Africa, I felt the need to write this, I suppose just to make people aware of the people that actually do work hard in this country without any recognition. Because I truly do believe that SA Rocks!

I was out in Cape Town the other night and we were going to a night club, we took for granted the free entrance that had been organised for us, and we took for granted that we would be able to spend the night drinking and partying with good friends. However, in the car on the way to the club I realised that not everyone finished work at the standard 5pm. It was raining out and it seemed that a lot of the drains in the Rondebosch/Claremont area were blocked. They could just be left like that but instead, the council had sent a team of workers out, in the rain, to clear these blocked drains.

These are all people with friends and family, walking faceless and nameless beneath their rain coats on the city streets after 9pm, ensuring that our country is kept in shape. While we were underneath the club lights, they were beneath the street lights. You will see them in other forms too- the men emptying your bins during the week, the men fixing broken electricity poles in storms late at night and all the people who remain anonymous but keep our lives running smoothly often while we sleep.

It then dawned on me how many people we actually have in this country that do work hard, that do care, that don’t expect any recognition and that just want to support themselves and their families. We often berate car guards for being a nuisance and there are the drunk ones who are not employed by companies who are an irritant.

However, the guys employed by companies are always there, rain or shine, and all they want is a small tip in recognition for their work. I have on many occasions been one to complain about car guards, but then again what do I know about their lives? How do I know what they go through every day to get to work and support their families?

I have seen it in other forms as well. Not long ago I worked for a short time as a delivery person and had to deliver alcohol and drinks to various companies in Cape Town. While office workers sit in their offices and enjoy food and cool drinks from the canteen, they don’t realise the guys and girls who work behind the scenes to deliver these goods direct to their offices and the strenuous physical labour they endure for minimal pay.

I guess this is just to say that there are people out there working hard to ensure our well-being, but we just don’t take the time to acknowledge them.

So in a small manner, this is my acknowledgement to the teams of guys and girls who keep our country great.

Keep it up, there are people thinking of you.

Regards

Sean

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