Zuma, crime, power failures occasioning brain drain? It's not for your children

The prospect of a Jacob Zuma presidency, a disturbing crime rate and power failures are being cited among the major reasons for what could be a substantial brain drain from South Africa over the next few years. This in itself is a cause for concern as our fledgling multiracial democracy comes to terms with its substantial growing pains.

South Africa will need many of the skills and experience that are in danger of being lost to other countries.

It is for this reason I have urged South Africans to put things into perspective and not be driven by fear into decisions based on circumstances on which we will have a new perspective on a different date.

While no one can guarantee you safety, happiness and prosperity in South Africa today, this month or beyond, neither can anywhere else. The fact is that geo-political and economic considerations, as a result of modern technology are changing the face of the planet almost daily.

Apartheid, the Berlin Wall and communism, believed to be the great and eternal bogeymen of our parents, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The Soviet Union with all its military might, gone and forgotten — so analysts thought, yet in no time at all it is back, in tandem with China, as the counterweight to the planet’s hyperpower, the United States.

Global warming, which was largely ignored, is now in your face. Ten years ago it was about the loony scientists.

Whenever you speak to people who are leaving South Africa, they tell you that it’s the crime, electricity or Zuma factor that disturbs them. Then they tell you that it’s not for their sakes but for their children.

What a load of garbage.

If it’s for your children, cancel the flight — nobody can predict how any country in this world will look two months from now, never mind two years. If you are speaking about your children’s future, in the main, you must be plotting a course for at least 10 years ahead. I dare anyone to predict the future of any country one year ahead. If you are leaving, it’s for yourself and not your children.

If you analyse each country in terms of global warming, system of government, economic prospects and day-to-day living, you may well be surprised at how good things actually are in South Africa.

You might also be surprised, if you compare your destination of choice with your own country, to see in how many categories South Africa is superior in terms of future prospects.

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It’s the bitterness that lasts

So don’t yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different date
And if you don’t give up, and don’t give in
You may just be OK.

(Mike and the Mechanics — Living Years)