Elections and Emigration

South Africa's fourth round of "all race" national elections since the end of apartheid will take place on April 22 -- less than a month from now. Election news dominates the newspapers and television broadcasts, and the daily news cycle reveals a new scandal within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party by the hour.

I had the opportunity to hear Jacob Zuma, the ANC's candidate for president, speak in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha in late February. Zuma revealed himself to be a charming figure -- singing a song and performing his trademark dance. But aside from his gimmicks, his candidacy poses real problems for the ANC and the future of South African democracy at large. No other political party can directly challenge the ANC's rule. (The ANC took nearly 70 per cent of the vote in 2005.) The ANC holds enough seats (a two-thirds majority) in the national parliament to amend the Constitution without the say of the opposition. Zuma's own allegations of rape and corruption do not assuage concerns.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party with broad based support from whites and coloureds, frequently takes to comparing ANC rule of South Africa to Robert Mugabe's 29 year (and counting) control of Zimbabwe. The DA intends for the comparison to frighten voters, but most South Africans dismiss the allegation as a simple scare tactic in the heart of an election campaign.

When I talk to a white South African, I am constantly asked where I come from in the States. Massive white emigration, a fact of life in post-apartheid South Africa, leaves middle-aged and retired whites in South Africa and their children and grandchildren scattered around the world. The whites I speak to simply want to know if their family members or friends live near me. The friendly Jewish Studies Librarian is flying to Australia for Pesach to have seder with her daughter. The proper Rhodesian lady I met at the mall speaks to her daughter daily in St. Louis. Everyone knows South Africans living in the U.S., the UK, Australia, New Zealand or Israel. South Africa's Jewish population alone has fallen from a high of 120,000 in 1970 to 70,000 today. And the consequent rise in Australia's Jewish population nearly matches South Africa's decline.

White South Africans are voting with their feet -- and they do not see a future here. Even though white South Africans give up a tremendously comfortable life (large homes, domestic labour, cheap cost of living, strong communities and generations of family roots) to begin afresh overseas, they feel that the opportunity abroad is worth the risk. South African law makes transferring money abroad nearly impossible, so the whites surrender vast sums of assets to emigrate. Of course, the global recession has prompted a return of some South Africans from overseas, but the general out-migration trend seems unlikely to end.

Even the white students my age at UCT speak of their imminent departures after graduation to the UK or other destinations in the English-speaking world. Students feel guilty about abandoning their parents and grandparents here, but many parents themselves encourage their children to leave -- especially students from the Johannesburg area.