WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-05-09 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Bronwyn Gerretsen
South Africa’s brain drain is not the crisis it is made out to be.
Although many South Africans are leaving the country for perceived greener pastures, and taking with them much-needed skills, a percentage of them are returning, often with increased skills to contribute to the economy.
Also, skilled foreigners and their families are emigrating to South Africa.
This is according to several emigration specialists who admit that, while there are many skilled South Africans leaving, people neglect to ask how many of those people are returning to the country.
Leon Isaacson, managing director of Global Migration SA, said 80 percent of the company’s work was in bringing people into the country from other parts of the world.
These included engineers, science professionals and teachers. About 10 percent to 15 percent of his clients head for the United Kingdom on family visas, skilled employment visas or working holiday visas.
“The people who leave do so for a number of reasons. Some are uncertain about the country’s political issues, there are economic concerns, concerns about crime and their children’s futures… Often there are also family ties to the UK,” he said.
Isaacson said those leaving the country included medical personnel, teachers and people trained in the sciences or engineering.
He added, however, that many people simply regarded working experience in London as vital to their careers and worked there for a few years before returning.
“When people leave, often they come back, some of them after three to five years’ international work experience. They then add their skills to the economy,” he said.
Global Migration brings 60 to 100 skilled people to South Africa every month and “sends out” 15 to 30 South Africans to other countries. Of this amount, Isaacson said, 30 percent to 40 percent eventually returned.
He added that there was a shortage of skills worldwide and that South Africa was not the only country grappling with the issue.
Jandy Godfrey, director of Premium Placements, a recruitment company in Canberra, Australia, said South Africans were among her biggest clients and were sought after by employers in Australia because they were qualified, highly skilled and English-speaking.
Brain exchange
She said she preferred to think of the “brain drain” as a “brain exchange”.
“I like to see people growing as world citizens. People are more mobile and prepared to live and work in other countries,” she said.
Canberra, a city experiencing an economic boom, was in desperate need of professionals, tradesmen, civil engineers, accountants and “all kinds of people on construction sites”.
Erik van Zyl, owner of Visa One, which specialises in immigration to South Africa, said there was no doubt that people were leaving the country and taking with them vital skills, but a percentage returned, sometimes with foreign partners and new families.