[Tony Leon is saying the logical think – from a white perspective. But people forget that the blacks are paranoid, and grabbing hold of power is crucial for them. Whites in jobs could be a threat… from their point of view.

So how “moderate” is Mr Mbeki really? In the end… even the “moderate” (by South African standards), black leaders don’t really want us around and they do what they can to drive us out of this country. I have never had any illusions about this. Jan]

CAPE TOWN “ Government needs to take a hard look at its œrace-fuelled myopia, and find ways to retain the skilled citizens needed for economic growth, the only way to reduce poverty and create jobs, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.

Recent reports emanating from the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) indicated about a fifth of white South Africans had emigrated over the past ten years, he wrote in his weekly newsletter on the DA website.

œThere is no doubt that we can ill afford to lose such a substantial number of our citizens — regardless of their race, Leon said.

All concerned South Africans should be worried by the steep rise in white emigration.

The figures confirmed a distinct trend, whereby large numbers of productive and skilled South Africans had chosen to leave their homeland for good.

œAn overarching question suggests itself: why have they chosen to do so, and what are the likely consequences for the country? According to the IRR report, the main reasons given by emigrants were crime and affirmative action.

œI would like to add a third, which at a deeper level — the level of citizens™ emotional stake in the country — explains why the other two reasons, instead of being issues worthy of debate and contestation in the public arena, become definitive, Leon said.

This was the ANC™s disturbing attitude towards minorities, and the consequent perception this fostered among whites that their citizenship was undervalued.

œPut bluntly: the ANC government is not merely indifferent to the lot of minorities, especially whites, but in many instances has frankly expressed hostility to their interests.

While Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka recently admitted the skills drain was costing the country dearly and expressed her desire to lure South African emigrants back from overseas, the attitude deriving from the highest office in the land was disturbing.

After initially taking care to present himself as a racial reconciler in the admirable mould of ex-President Nelson Mandela, President Thabo Mbeki — as well as his closest political associates — had in recent years continuously called the bone fides of the white community and their commitment to change into question, Leon said.

œThis obsession with whites™ so-called racism is pursued with a relish and determination that can only be described as racist itself.

There was a disturbing message from government — minorities, tolerated at best, actively resented at worst, should either put up or shut up.

œIs it any wonder that many South Africans, feeling excluded from our common future, have voted with their feet and departed for destinations where they feel wanted?

œUnpleasant as government™s racial slurs may be — both the direct brickbats and the more subtle innuendoes — the truth is that we as a nation cannot afford to lose skilled and hard-working citizens of whatever hue.

œSouth Africa stands poised for massive investment in our economic infrastructure in the near future, such as government™s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative and the 2010 World Cup, he said.

At the same time, as Mlambo-Ngcuka conceded, South Africa was experiencing a chronic shortage of skills necessary to drive and harness these developments.

œRather than allowing skilled citizens to vacate without a murmur, we need to retain their expertise to sustain the growth our citizenry as a whole so desperately needs.

œWe have generated capital to spend on investment, but we don™t have the people to spend it effectively.

œIn fact, the pursuit of transformation at all costs, especially in the public sector, has incapacitated the state and seized up its machinery at the very point that most is expected of it, he said.

œGiven a globalising world in which skilled individuals as well as capital investment are more mobile than ever before, and are maximising their careers by moving elsewhere, government needs to take a hard look at its race-fuelled myopia, and create the conditions that encourage productive South Africans to stay and contribute to growth – which in the longer term is the only real answer to joblessness and poverty.

œIn short: government needs to reassess its message so that all feel included and valued.

œFoot-dragging at best and vindictiveness at worst undermines all of our futures — most especially those South Africans for too long disadvantaged by our apartheid legacy and whose interests the ruling party professedly wants to advance, Leon said.

Source: SAPA
URL: http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?p…br>[Posted by: VERENA]