Ed Nutters UK

Hi Cool Blog,

It's pretty interesting reading some people's stories of how why and when. I've lived in the U.K for 11 years now, while I hate it, and there are certainly other options open to me I have family ties here now so makes things a little difficult.

My mail won't be in exactly the same format as you want, since I've been here so long some of the legal stuff may be void. I thought I'd send over a few bets and pieces that may help potential arrivees. You will also note I haven't attached any pics, I'm sure everyone knows what London looks like. You have my permission to pop in a red bus or phone box from google :-). I though I'd also add the reasons or conditions in South Africa that would prompt me to move back.

I think it's important for people to say when they'd go back to SA, it gives an indication to the politicians (hardey har-har) what work needs to be done. Just recently I've seen there is a Cape Party, not sure how long they've been around or how realistic their dream is, but if their manifesto/mandate is to be believed I definately believe there may be a time I return.

Why I decided to leave

The main reason I left South Africa was to pursue my dream of traveling. Of course the political situation was looking bleak as was the crime situation. I may not have been part of the chicken run then but am certainly part of it now, I would not dream of moving back just yet, if ever. My family's safety and well being is the driving force of this decision.

Why I may come back

I may come back one day under certain conditions (and I'm not holding my breath here)

• Drastic decrease in crime
• Financial security (ie:knowing I will have a job that pays well and I won't be subjected to AA/BEE)
• The death of the ANC/Marxism (Not literally but if some one obliges you won't hear me complaining)

Obviously there are loads of other factors but I suppose those are the main ones.

How difficult it was get through the red tape

To be honest I had it easy, I was a first generation Saffa, my folks emigrated to SA in the 70's when SA was actually a decent place to live. By virtue of my father I qualified for a Dutch passport, although I could have had a British one via my mother's side. So easy peasy for me. I just recently got married to a fellow Saffa girl and she only has a South African passport. It was relatively simple to get her visa o live and work here however it's not always that easy. The best places to find info are the U.K. embassy site or the U.K. Border Agency site (Google is your friend :-) ) The Mrs has an entry visa but not a residents visa which she will eventually need. We have made an application, and it is estimated to take anything up to a year or so to process from this side. So far we've paid nothing this side but an entry visa cots best check with the embassy though.

Advice to those stuck in arsezania

My knee jerk response would be to say get the hell out of dodge, but a more thought through answer is this: If you're not sure whether you want to emigrte the best way to do it would to be to come over for a holiday, and see how the first world actually lives. Don't come in summer try come over in the middle of winter. Why? Because winter sucks here, it's cold, wet, windy and you hardly ever see the sun. On the plus side there is always the chance you get to see some snow (doesn't happen often) after 11 years here and at the age of 35 I love playing in the snow. If you think you can manage the winter you'll be ok for summer.

Sell everything bar the sentimental stuff you can't throw away. It's easy to get a start here. It's a brave decision and most places when rented are furnished. See below in my tips etc.

Would you assist other with contacts etc

I can help with contacts, they are essential however do your research before you come over. FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL.

Regrets

No regrets as such, of course the weather, friends and family left behind, the biggest one I suppose is knowing my son will never grow up the way I did in a beautiful country.

Some Pitfalls of Living in the U.K.

• Weather, will never be the same as SA (get used to it) while there are sunny warm days in summer they are far outnumbered by wet, cold and windy days.
• If you come to the U.K to escape the “mentality of the masses” in S.A. not a good idea, the masses are congregating here too.
• Just because the U.K. is a first world country and it has a vast majority of 1^st world inhabitants does not make it Utopia. There’s a strange phenomenon of upgrading and downgrading depending on your race. To explain further. For the last 40 years or so England on the whole has become a very liberal/bleeding heart and there is a distinct lack of discipline. Basically a dumbing down of the populace (Generalising here). As a result the white kids try to act black, and the black kids try to act white. It's a very disturbing turn of events because eventually there's going to be a generation of the lowest common denominator. If it hasn't already been reached. I have my theories of why this has happened but that's a post for a totally different blog/website
  
• The politicians here are as corrupt as in S.A. just they hide it and go about it differently. As witnessed recently. However it's a lot more tolerable to me here han it would ever be.
  
• You will be surrounded by bleeding heart liberals who think they can cure the worlds ills without ever experiencing the world itself.
• Be prepared to be looked down upon for being South African and foreign (oh the irony)
• Be prepared to meet and be involved with people who are of a lesser intelligence (I know generalising here) than you.
• Be prepared for working with people who have a totally different work ethic to you.
• When they say the U.K is multi culti they mean it, be prepared

Some Tips for Living in the U.K.

· Take the hit, when you first get here lose your dignity swallow your pride and apply for any type of job, whether it’s sweeping shop floors or flipping burgers at Mickey D’s. Your potential will be noticed and you can move through the ranks pretty quick. At the same time you can look for a "proper job". There is a minimum wage here which at last check was £5.73 p/h. At 40 hours a week (if you work full time) after tax etc you should clear £170 it doesn’t seem like a lot at first but it’s a start.

· Don’t look to rent a place on your own, there are plenty of publications (and the net) where you can find house shares. Always look for a place that includes all bills (council tax/water/electricity). As an example the other half and I pay £400 a month for our room in a shared house, which is all inclusive. We have a spacious room and a garden and shared use of the facilities and is fully furnished. Don’t just take anywhere though, and make sure you meet all your potential housemates before signing anything. We find ourselves at the moment living with “another culture” and trust me it’s not cool. There’s that saying you can take something out the jungle but not the jungle out of that something. ALWAYS remember that. Good places if wanting to settle in London, mainly west and south west London (Wimbledon etc) are good places to start there is a big SA contingent there as well as Ozzies and Kiwis, who have a similar outlook on life as we do.

· Try and save as much as possible for those rainy days (The other half and I put 80% of our wages/salary into our joint account which is used for groceries, train tickets, rent) Whatever is left over is our savings. I have learnt this the hard way, at the moment after using this method for 3 months we have almost £7k saved up (admittedly we do earn fairly decent money as we are in established professions)

· When doing your groceries, instead of trying to live to the same standards as back home, be frugal, look out for multi-buy specials at Tescos and Sainsbury’s, they’re the two biggest supermarkets here and do sometimes have very good deals. Also look for the reduced sections, these are sections where they stick stuff that is going out of date, at very reduced prices. Swallow some pride, shop at Poundland (as the name suggests every item in the shop costs £1 per item) You can pick up some rather cool stuff, but be careful some stuff may be priced at a £1 there but can be bought for less at the supermarkets. I’ve worked for Poundland in a managerial capacity for a short spell in the 11 years I’ve been here and they buy job lots of some very cool stuff (For example I once got controllers for my PlayStation for a pound!)

· If you are thinking of living and working in London, don’t bother getting a car at first, you will keep your sanity and public transport is awesome, when it works properly. Admittedly there are times you get frustrated with crowded trains, and late running of trains. Invest in an Oyster Card, or buy monthly/annual tickets (It’s cheaper in the long run). I haven’t had a car for years now and have always managed to get to where I need to be, no matter where in England.

· If you do want to buy a car, don’t go out and buy a brand spanking one. It’s not worth it at first. Wait until you are established. Cars and the running thereof is very expensive here. You can’t legally drive a car on the roads here unless you are insured (can be expensive), the car is taxed (also pretty expensive depending on size of engine), and the car has to have a roadworthy certificate. Petrol aint cheap either. That said you can pick up a banger from anything from £50 upwards (but don’t expect it to be roadworthy or taxed). If living in London, it’s not worth it either as you will need to pay the congestion charge, and trust me the traffic is not pretty.

· If you want to go out drinking and have a jol, it’s a very expensive exercise, rather go to the off-licence (bottle store or supermarket) grab a few beers, while you’re at it buy a few bits of meat, invite some mates round and have a braai. Much cheaper and normally ends in a lot of fun anyway. (Weather permitting) However I have had braais in rain, sleet, snow, wind.

The crime situation is no where near as bad as in SA. There are dodgy parts of London, and unfortunately unless you're living in the sticks you will need to lock your doors etc. Beware of hoodies/chavs/yobs, they may look young and may look harmless, they're not they have the gang mentality and wouldn't think twice about kicking your head in for no apparent reason. Obviously that's not the case all the time, but as a general rule I avoid all groups of kids. They can be intimidating.

If you're working and paying National Insurance register at your closest doctor ASAP, it saves time in the long run, as when you get ill you're going to need to register anyway. Who wants to fill in forms when they feel like puking etc. Contrary to popular belief, the health system is not entirely free, everytime the doctor gives you a prescription and you take it to the chemist you pay. (Not too sure of the price but it's in the region of £7).

Dentists on the NHS are like gold and more than likely you will pay big time when you go.It can be very expensive.

When going to watch sport (Particularly when the Boks play) at a pub, try going to a neutral pub or a South African one (There's a few about) you can even go to Ozzie/Kiwi ones, as iT can get a littlE hairy at times, especially if your beloved country wins the rugby world cup against England and you decide to go to a pub and cheer when the Boks score ;-)

All in all it's not a bad place to live, but it's not the ame as the SA I remembe as a kid, but you should feel generally safe, living here. It's a culture shock at first but then living anywhere new is anyway.

Cheers

J

Brisbane, my new home

Awesome website. I'm having a great time reading it and felt like I could contribute a bit by telling my story of leaving Joburg for Brisbane.

Why did I decide to leave? For me it was more a case of wanting to have an adventure than anything else. I'd never gone overseas before (I never had enough money, I haven't even been to Cape Town for God's sake) so when a company in Brisbane accepted my application I thought, what the heck, let's do it!

I was a young guy and had nothing to hold me back, although parting from my girlfriend was a bit difficult. We had luckily only been together for a short while but there were tears on both sides. I just felt like I had to do this for myself and she was very supportive, God bless her. So I packed up my very few things into a single suitcase, can you believe it! I sold all my stuff. In hindsight I should've brought with my frontloading car radio, but ag, what can you do. I disassembled my PC and only took with the motherboard and hard drive in my carry-on luggage.

I came over on a 457 visa which my work paid for. I pretty much just had to show up at the airport. There were a lot of hassles getting my passport, visa label and paperwork - the couriers didn't deliver my x-rays on time so it took a lot of pleading by my migration agent to get them to accept a doctor's letter instead. What a balls-up! On the day I was supposed to fly I went to the Ozzie embassy in Pretoria to get my label. The guy behind the counter lied and said that he couldn't do my label as it wasn't ready yet. My flight was in 4 hours' time! My heart sunk like a stone and I felt like bursting into tears after all that I'd gone through, even moving out of my apartment etc, but then he just laughed and handed over my passport with the visa label. He said he wasn't supposed to but had felt sorry for me so he printed out a label then and there instead of waiting for an official one. Man that guy was my guardian angel, even though he had a laugh at my expense.

It was pretty hard saying goodbye. My entire extended family showed up from both sides as well as lots of friends. We took up half the damn airport! Everybody was crying and making me feel like a shitheel but eventually I gave everyone a kiss and said, "Don't worry, I'll come back to visit!" My aunt said she didn't believe me and started crying. Man, I'll never forget that day. But it was all over with quickly and before I knew it I was on the plane.

Having never been on a plane before, I settled in. It was a Qantas plane and there were Ozzies all around me. Within 10 seconds of take-off I realized that I was never going to be an astronaut - I was scared absolutely shitless! I have a bad fear of heights so being 10km above ground didn't help. Eventually I got over it though and nowadays I fly without problems. Just last year I flew to 2 different countries and 5 different cities alone, something I would never have dreamt of being able to do in SA with the limited opportunities there. Here everyone just flies everywhere because Oz is a RICH nation, much richer than SA with a stronger currency, which means flying is comparatively cheap.

When I reached Oz I had little difficulty finding a place to stay. People from my work helped me out in this respect - someone even met me at the airport which was great. I stayed in a shared flat, then later moved to my own place and got a housemate to split the rent. I stayed right in the city which is very convenient but noisy. You're better off in the suburbs.

One of my dreams has always been to be a millionaire, which I am now, if you measure it in Rands! Hehe...still getting there in dollars, not long now. I lead a VERY comfortable life here, and my income has increased about 20% per year on average for 5 years. That comes from hard work and never taking a "sickie" when I didn't have to. I live in a beautiful house on the crest of a hill with my gorgeous Ozzie wife and two cute dogs. Every arvo we go for a walk down the road with them. No taxis, no random killings, nada. We leave our expensive Sony MP3 car radio in the car at night, which is parked in front of our house. Children run around on the pavement and go and play in each other's front yards, just like when I was a child. Our house doesn't even have a fence around the front (the one at the back is purely so the dogs don't escape) None of our windows have burglar guards. If we are going out during the day we don't even lock the door sometimes, it's not worth the trouble. Our suburb is 20 mins drive from the city. We are also about a 10-minute walk from the ocean, albeit Moreton Bay which is more like a lake. But it's so lovely. If you guys could see our lifestyle you would apply for a visa straight away.

My advice with red tape etc is to do as much paperwork in advance as you can. Get a migration agent registered with the Ozzie government if you can afford it. Most importantly, LEAVE PLENTY OF TIME for stuff to travel between SA and Oz like X-Rays. Research your visa carefully, especially the requirements. This will clue you in to what documents you need and you can set about getting them ahead of time. And in SA a R50 note placed in the right pocket when you slide your ID over the counter can REALLY speed things up, let me assure you. It's well worth it. Don't try this in Oz though, they will probably stick you in jail. But that's a good thing!

Costs involved? For me, basically nothing. Mostly it was the cost of selling up, which is less something you pay and more an indirect loss. I spent thousands of rands on things like speakers, bed, etc that had to be sold for a 95% discount when I left. But this is unavoidable. Generally it's cheaper to just buy stuff in Oz once you get here, unless it's of extreme sentimental value or very valuable stuff like a computer. Computers are small and can generally fit in your luggage if you pull out the motherboard, hard drive and leave the case and monitor behind. Those parts are cheap anyway and can be easily replaced. My work paid for my entire relocation, airfares etc.

To those stuck in SA, I say, get the f*ck out "terwyl jy nog kan". It's just like in the Bible where the door is closing and only the righteous are being let through, except you go through the immigration department which is actually a part of Hell. Leaving SA hasn't meant I am no longer an Afrikaner. In fact, I will always consider myself one and will raise my children to speak both Afrikaans and English. And I will teach them to be little Afrikaners too so that they will have a sense of culture when they grow up. Be honest with yourself, do you see a future for our culture in SA? We are heavily outnumbered by people who basically want to kill us. I tell people that being white in South Africa (and worse, an Afrikaner) is like being a Jew in Hitler's Germany. You generally haven't done anything wrong to anybody, but you'll get blamed for everything anyway. Why make your children go through that? And then there is the Night of the Long Knives, coming soon to a suburb near you. Don't believe me? Hah. Check out the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last YEAR 5.4 million people were killed there, by a bunch of guys with knives and guns. Just because they were in the wrong TRIBE, let alone a totally different race. I don't want to talk too much about this stuff, it's too depressing. Do what you can now to get the hell out. If you are well prepared (en watter Boer ken nie hoe om 'n goeie plan te maak nie?) you will prosper. In fact, in Australia, I am confident you will do extremely well.

The South African work ethic is well known in Oz. We take it for granted in SA, but over here it is a rare thing. We don't let setbacks get us down and we "just make things happen". For instance, my aircons broke recently. My wife wanted us to get in a tradie (generic term for someone who comes to your house to fix stuff), but I said, stuff that. After a bit of testing and tinkering with the power turned off at the outlet I found that the start caps were blown. $40 later I had replaced both aircons' caps. How much would a tradie have cost? Over $300. My wife couldn't believe it! She said nobody she knows just does stuff like that, but that's the Boer mentality, and it's a powerful thing to have on your side. People here see it and appreciate it. Ozzies have a different view - they would rather pay $300+ and wait a week for a tradie to show up. I guess many of them are rich beyond your wildest imagination, but still, come on!

Regrets...I have a few...haha, just kidding, it was the best thing I ever did in my life. That, and marrying my lovely Ozzie wife! I would totally do it again 1000 times. If you've never been overseas you cannot even imagine what it is like here. If you have the cash come for a visit and see for yourself before you decide. I guarantee you will like it. There are so many things that are good! Brisbane in my opinion is the nicest place in Oz. Melbourne is big and a bit dirty for my taste, Sydney is just impossible in a thousand ways (unless you are a millionaire in dollars). Perth is supposed to be nice but it's a bit isolated. However it's a good option, don't discount it! In fact any place in Oz is pretty sweet compared to SA. And the freedom from crime is priceless.

Good Things About Australia:
* Great public transport (excluding Sydney and Melbourne). Brisbane has fantastic public transport compared to other cities. All the buses, trains and ferries are clean and air-conditioned. You swipe a card to get on & off. Most areas are serviced by public transport and it's cheap.
* Solid infrastructure. Power outages are very rare and usually only because a tree fell on a power line. The roads are in excellent condition. The entire city is swept clean every night by guys on little tractors with brooms on the front.

* Freedom. You can go where you want, when you want. Feel like a midnight stroll through the city? You can do it. In fact on weekends the city is so crowded at 2AM you can barely move on some streets. Stroll down the beach with your children? Take a 90 minute drive from Brisbane and go hang out on the Gold Coast. Remote bushland? There's plenty to be had within 2 hours of Brisbane. Often there won't be a soul for miles, and the people you will meet in the bush are generally glad to see someone else and will stop for a chat and a cup of tea. There's no roving bands of farmer-killers here like "good old SA".

* Nice people. As others have said, if you are enthusiastic about Oz, the Ozzies will be very happy with you. They are generally a friendly people but they also generally don't "take kak", so just bear that in mind. If you are nice to them, they will be very warm towards you. Whatever you do don't criticize Ozzie sports teams, that is a very bad mistake. Sport is like religion here. My wife is an Ozzie and her family consists of some of the friendliest people you've ever met!

* Real government. Unlike SA, the government actually fears the people here. They know that if they stuff up, they will lose their jobs. Compare that with SA - your next President is a rapist who believes that a shower can wash off AIDS. Good luck with that! I'm sure he'll take the country in an awesome new direction!

* Air Travel. Hopping on a plane is a very common thing to do here. I never once flew in SA as it was waaaaaay too expensive, but last December alone I flew to 3 cities in Oz. I fly Qantas or Virgin Blue.

* Wonderful sights and sounds. Especially around Brisbane! There is so much stuff to do here that you can barely keep up with it. My personal favourite so far has been going to Stradbroke island, which is a 45 minute train ride + 45 minute ferry ride away from Brisbane City. It's a massive sand island with a 20km white sand beach. It really is one of the most amazingly beautiful places I have ever been. If you go to one place in Oz, this has to be it. It's very sparsely populated and peppered with wonderful resorts. The Sunshine Coast (especially Noosa) is also glorious. All these places are very clean. They remind me of my childhood when I grew up in Warner Beach near Durban - clean streets, lovely sea breeze, etc.

* Good career opportunities. Since I came here my income has increased at least 250%. I lead a VERY comfortable life. The clothes I wear (Ralph Lauren) are not available in SA. There's no BEE, although companies are encouraged to hire Aborigines and people with disabilities by being given special tax cuts. Unlike BEE, I feel this is a fair system because it doesn't force companies to hire people based on their ethnicity - it gives them the option to do so and everyone benefits. The office next door to ours is an indigenous film company and a lot of their guys are of an Aboriginal background, but they're very nice people to work with. There are no newspaper ads with "BEE only" or "Affirmative Action" here - they do state that they would LIKE an indigenous applicant, however they will accept anyone with the right skills. Considering the small number of indigenous people here, I feel this is fair enough. I've certainly never felt like I lost out on a job because of this policy, unlike SA, where my family is having real difficulty finding work even though they are skilled.

* Culture. The Ozzies have a great culture which you will find very familiar. Some things are different - for instance, I didn't know the etiquette of waiting in line for a taxi, as I'd never done it before. If you see a pregnant woman on the bus, you have to give her your seat. I mean come on, it's not like we are Arabs who only eat Halal and bow down to Mecca every 2 hours. We are truly Western and you will fit in fine here. In fact until you open your mouth people won't even know you're foreign.

* For the guys: Many women here LOVE a foreign accent, especially if the speaker can speak good English. Don't get me started on this, I will go on forever. You'll find getting a girlfriend to be very easy. Just don't keep saying "Back in SA" as it gets annoying (trust me). And strangely if you can do some basic cooking and wash the dishes now and then, the girls absolutely love it. Oz men just don't do that stuff! Even if you just vacuum now and then you get showered with praise. This is a small cultural difference that you can really use to your advantage. South African men also tend to be more courteous towards women, and boy do they notice it. Also, learn to dress well. People in Oz generally have a better sense of fashion than in SA. If you get a few nice suits or a decent pair of jeans you will be well ahead of the game.

Bad Things:

* Australia isn't perfect. NO COUNTRY IS. If you really don't get along with Australians, don't come here. Same goes for NZ.

* Weather. In Brisbane for 3 months a year it gets REALLY hot. If you suffer from asthma or any other disease that hot weather makes bad, go to Adelaide, Perth, or NZ. However I personally love the weather as I grew up in Durbs. Most of the year is absolutely lovely and it never gets cold enough for a jacket. I have three jerseys, that's all I need! In Melbourne and Sydney on the other hand you will freeze your ass off in winter. However snow is very rare in those cities.

* Expense. If you are coming here from SA, prepare to take a financial hit. In the long run it will be worth it, though. You can't put a price on things like being able to take your children to play in the park in the evening. WHERE IN SA can you do that? Be realistic. The stress and tension (not to mention life-threatening crime) are ALREADY reducing your lifespan. How much more can you take? When I went back to SA my wife (who had never been to Africa) picked up the sense of danger and she said that Johannesburg was a scary place. TOO RIGHT MATE. She didn't like it at all (although she loved meeting my family, they get along like a house on fire)

* The flipside of the expense thing is that once you're earning $$$ you will become very well off quickly, provided you work hard. And when you go back to SA and ask the ATM for a balance, you will get a big surprise :)

* Language barrier. This will affect very few SA people as we can for the most part speak both English and Afrikaans. Your English will really improve if you live here. On the other hand, being able to speak another language is a very valuable skill that you can use to your advantage in job interviews. It also opens up extra opportunities. E.g. you could spend 3 months in a course to learn German or a couple of weeks to learn Dutch. Any other Ozzie would take more than a year to get up to the same level because very few Ozzies are bilingual.

Sorry I don't have any pics but I'm doing this on my laptop which doesn't contain them. Hope to see you here soon!

Best regards,
D

South African family pleads to stay in New Zealand

A family facing deportation say they would rather give up their daughter for adoption than see her face an unsafe future in South Africa.

Forrest Hill man Daniel Labuschagne is desperate for his family to stay in the country despite Immigration New Zealand not renewing his work permit.

He fears for the safety of his children and the future of his family should they return to South Africa.

"I’m fearing for my kids’ lives. It was not safe for our kids over there," he says.

"I will do anything legal to keep my daughters in this country where they have a chance to survive."

Mr Labuschagne and wife Liza decided to move to New Zealand after suffering a string of crime in South Africa.

Liza had her car window smashed and handbag stolen after stopping to give money to a young man begging at traffic lights. Glass showered on her then nine-month-old baby Amelia, who was asleep in the backseat.

The last straw came when an elderly family member was mugged at an ATM machine by five assailants.

They moved to New Zealand and were granted a two-year work permit on June 30 2006, which allowed Mr Labuschagne to get his current job at Chubb Security.

That is at risk because Immigration New Zealand has not accepted an application to renew the permit. Its initial asessment says there is no shortage of security guards in New Zealand and Mr Labuschagne’s position can be filled by a New Zealander.

The family is devastated they may have to return to South Africa.

Mr Labuschagne’s step-daughter Ashleigh is about to sit year 13 exams at Westlake Girls High School and fears she will not be able to go to university in her home country. The family is uncertain if NCEA credits will be accepted by a South African university.

She narrowly avoided an attack when she returned there to celebrate her 18th birthday in April.

Six-year-old Amelia speaks with a Kiwi accent and knows New Zealand’s national anthem, while Liza has worked in customer service in Glenfield for 15 months.

Mr Labuschagne says the family now feel like "Kiwis" and call New Zealand home.

"We have bought everything here and built our lives here. If we’re back there I don’t know what we’ll do," he says.

Immigration New Zealand says it has not yet made a final decision to deny Mr Labuschagne a permit.

It has given him until tomorrow to provide information showing there are no New Zealand citizens qualified for his position.

The fact that he had previously been granted a permit does not "automatically mean he will be granted a further permit".

An endorsement of his work by Mr Labuschagne’s employer will be balanced against a Work and Income assessment of the local labour market.

SOURCE

Meet the Esselmonts...

CHRISTCHURCH NZ

In 1993 my wife Leah and I decided to trek to NZ. We saw no future for our two young sons in SA, so we applied for our NZ residence visa through NZ's London embassy, as NZ didn't have an embassy in SA then. NZ Immigration Service (NZIS) processed our visa application. Our medicals were vetted by The Hague medical consultants, which took time. I didn't look for a NZ job offer, as we thought we had enough visa points without searching for a job offer for points.

Although I had two degrees, I only got visa points for my biology teaching diploma and first degree (vetted by NZ Qualifications Authority). As we didn't have enough visa points our "successful" application was put in the visa pool, while a SA friend in Auckland did our "sponsorship" application, enabling us to get our residence visa, before our pooled visa application expired, requiring an expensive reapplication. It took about a year for our residence visa to be processed.

In 1995 "sponsorship" was stopped by NZIS, as "sponsorship" caused scamming. In NZ, we never heard from our Auckland Scottish Society "sponsor," although they'd taken our application money. Although we'd paid Jo'burg's Network Migration Services R1000 to expedite our "sponsorship," they took our money and did nothing. In NZ, media have reported on scams by migration agents in NZ and other countries.

In 1994, I hired a car in Auckland for my LSD trip. I found NZ wasn't "clean and green," as summer grass was brown like the platteland, although native bush was dark green. I disliked Auckland freeways and thick traffic, but liked NZ's laid-back lifestyle, with mostly friendly, caring people. I liked the beer too, more variety than SA.

NZ houses were wooden-framed, due to earthquake danger. We've got used to earth-tremors, and NZ school kids were trained about dangers and safety. NZ Fire Service, cops and Civil Defence knew what to do in an emergency.

In 1994-95, winding up our affairs in East London, we sold our SA properties to pay our way to Canterbury plain .Waar die kranse antwoord gee. Deur ons ver verlate vlaktes. between the Alps and Christchurch Port Hills.

In 1995, we warehoused our goods in Port Elizabeth, and flew from Durban, Singapore Airlines, with four suitcases, four overnight bags, and half our funds in travellers' cheques and a bank draft. Our SA bank transferred the rest of our funds after our arrival.

In Auckland, we bought a second-hand car from a car dealer. NZ had a substantial second-hand car market selling Japanese cars. We later found we could've bought a cheaper car at car auctions, or bought a car off the street. We toured NZ, as we wanted our sons to know NZ. Cook Strait ferry between Wellington and Picton for our car and us was expensive.

Having grown up in Durban, Leah and I thought if we could survive our first NZ winter we could survive anything in NZ. Christchurch winters were cold and wet, and there were four distinct seasons, with a dry nor'wester from the Alps: good biltong-making weather.

Leah's Christchurch cousin told us how to settle in: good suburbs; second-hand clothing stores like Salvation Army; cheap groceries at Pak 'n Save supermarkets; bargains at garage sales and school / church fetes; state Family Assistance for our sons, as Kiwis and residents with families were entitled to Family Assistance; Inland Revenue Department (IRD) tax number, as NZ employers wouldn't employ us without NZ tax numbers; NZ drivers licence, as it served as ID; Community Services Card, which helped with medical costs if our pay was low.

We rented a two-bedroom cottage, with stove, in Sumner, a warm north-facing suburb. We borrowed a saucepan from a Kiwi neighbour, bought a plastic table and chairs, and appliances like TV, fridge, washing machine, toaster and electric kettle, and sponge mattresses for our sleeping-bags on the floor. We waited for our container with our goods to arrive on the Osaka Maru at Lyttelton port. At a Sumner primary school, our eldest son jumped up a grade, as SA pupils had started schooling a year older than NZ pupils did. Our youngest son attended Sumner kindergarten.




Due to unfavourable SA-NZ exchange rates we lost mega-bucks, but we would've lost more if we'd tekked to UK. I couldn't find teaching work due to my deafness (hundreds of job applications). Teaching jobs were scarce in Christchurch, and teachers stayed in their jobs for years. There were many older teachers in Christchurch, and some new graduates had to find work elsewhere.

Temp labouring I did in Christchurch nurseries, orchards, warehouses and a bakery paid less than NZ$9 per hour, under the aegis of the Employment Contracts Act, which benefitted NZ employers, did little for employees, and weakened trade unions. As NZ's population was about four million, the job market and other markets were small. My low wage couldn't pay all our bills, so our SA funds subsidized our NZ expenses, as we couldn't apply for the dole during our first year of residence. Leah couldn't work as she was caring for our sons. I laboured for two years, despairing at our funds pissing into the Pacific. I thought about leaving Leah and sons in NZ, and working in SA, Australia or UK. A friend even offered to pay for my flight to London.

I wasn't the only battler: I picked apples with Southern Africans in Christchurch orchards. I picked beans and strawberries with Samoans and Aussies. I packed cookies with Cambodians and Tongans in the bakery. Taiwanese doctors couldn't find work, and after 3 years in Christchurch got NZ citizenship and returned to Taiwan.



NZ Labour government replaced the Employment Contracts Act with the Employment Relations Act, improving employees' minimum wages. Leah started work as a teacher-aide, while I reversed roles, learnt to cook, looked after our sons, and did Leah's book-keeping. Leah taught learning-disabled kids at schools and at our rental house in Halswell, where we lived for eight years. She upgraded her qualifications, then taught learning-disabled kids and lectured local teachers and expats at Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Recently she joined the KiwiSaver pension scheme, with pension transferable from employer to employer.



We had dealings with state Income Support (dole office); state Employment Service (no help); and Workbridge (for my deafness, also no help); which later combined into Work and Income NZ (WINZ), the biggest state department. WINZ processed dole and other benefits. We regularly told WINZ what our pay was, so WINZ could adjust our dole, which subsidised our low pay. Bureaucrats harassed us with paperwork, phone-calls, useless meetings and useless "training." WINZ was good at providing dole, but no help at providing real training with real job outcomes, and matching our professional qualifications and work experience with relevant jobs.

In 1996 I did a semester of horticultural studies at Lincoln University. It took me ten years to pay back my state student loan with compound interest. Our sons went to primary school in Halswell. Our eldest son went to Hillmorton High School, but we were disaffected by his teachers' slack controls of his schoolwork. After school he went flatting, and took out a state student loan and student allowance for tertiary studies. If he stayed in NZ, he didn't pay compound interest on the loan. If he left NZ, he had to pay back the loan with compound interest. He worked for three years at the Fox & Ferret gastropub, Riccarton, and planned more tertiary studies. It remained to be seen whether NZ National government would reintroduce student loan compound interest.


As NZ schools were zoned, which inflated house prices, we moved to a rental house in Burnside, so our youngest son could attend Burnside High School. Our sons grew up in Christchurch, made good friends, and NZ will have their loyalty and labour. The future is theirs.' NZ for us was safe: no burglar-guards; no ferocious dogs, just a cat; no firearm for security; no aggro from door-knockers. We haven't been burgled in NZ and our cars haven't been stolen or tampered with. I didn't feel anxious when Leah came home late from work, and we both still marvel at young women jogging streets alone and walking and mountain-biking Christchurch Port Hills alone.

In SA, our taxes paid for apartheid. In NZ, our taxes paid for state Waitangi Treaty settlements to Maori iwi (tribes) and for the welfare state. Some of our taxes returned to us as dole, Family Assistance for our sons, and state subsidies for medical costs.

We found NZ cost of living high relative to low wages, so we didn't save much, and saving for a house deposit was impossible on one low salary. We've abandoned costs like life insurances, annuities and insurance against theft. Our only insurance was third party insurance for our two old cars.

With the slump in NZ housing market, houses were overrated and overpriced: NZ average house price NZ$375,408; Christchurch NZ$355,828 (Nov. 2008, Scoop). Houses sold for less than inflated council valuations. Our Burnside Chinese neighbour took nine months to sell his three bedroom house, after chopping big bucks off his vendor price.

Annually we've planned to apply for NZ citizenship, but more pressing expenses arose. Maybe NZ citizenship in 2009? Being deaf, I found Kiwis paid lip-service to Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO), which conflicted with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), so employment for me was low paid labouring or clerical work.

As Leah became our breadwinner, I haven't worked in NZ for ten years. After our youngest son leaves home, we would no longer get state Family Assistance for him. Whether I worked again depended on Leah's income, and employers' willingness to employ a deaf migrant who could be hazardous to their Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) premiums.

Mark JS Esslemon
Christchurch


Useful Websites:

* NZIS: NZ Immigration Service. Check with NZIS for current advice, like "Skills we need" list: www.immigration.govt.nz

* SINZASA: South Island NZ Association of Southern Africans. SINZASA website has useful links for migrants: sinzasa.srv.co.nz

* SANZ: Southern Africans in NZ, an Auckland organization: sanztrust.org.nz

SA World Books by Gary Robertson

To Pack up and leave Freinds and family is one of the toughest things to do in life. It is no small feat to start anew in a foreign country, and be successful at it.

This book is neither a travel guide to London nor is it a self-help book on emigrating from South Africa to London.

It’s simply a book of human interest about ex-South Africans who now live in London, why they chose to go there and how they are adapting to life there.

It is not about backpackers or youngsters on a gap holiday. It is about ex-South Africans who have lived in London for many years and have taken British citizenship or are in the process of doing so.

It is not written as a political book and I would prefer it to stay that way. However, the subject matter automatically draws some political emotions. Whilst this could be true of most subjects or countries in today’s world, South African politics interfere more than most - from sport to business to leisure and especially to a subject as touchy as emigration.

There are – always have been and always will be – people from countries who emigrate from their country for any number of reasons, and continue to love their country of birth. They might emigrate for reasons such as: to broaden their personal experiences, to provide better opportunities for their children, for career or career promotions, for health reasons, to be closer to other family members, to escape persecution, to enjoy better weather or a higher standard of living, or even simply because they just want to experience something different. They might eventually decide to return to South Africa or they might not. It remains their right to choose. Furthermore, although they are now living in a new country, they will continue to have their viewpoint and their opinions on South Africa. These will invariably be discussed at some time in their new country with family members and with new work colleagues and friends, as well as with their future offspring. When citizens of Britain or the United States of America for example, criticize their governments it is considered a healthy aspect of democracy. When they decide to emigrate it’s considered their democratic right and they are off to explore a new country and culture. For South Africans who decide to do this, however, all the nonsense in the world is written about them and political propaganda takes over. ‘They’re taking the chicken-run to Perth’, ‘Toronto should be pronounced To-Runto’, ‘a loser is someone who moves to Perth’, and ‘an entrepreneur is a South African who moves to Bulawayo’. Yeah, sure. Nonsense is written that emigrants from South Africa are people who find it hard to reconcile with the fact that the country is now run by blacks. If ever there were people who were anything but racist it’s those South Africans I met in London. As you will see after reading their stories, the majority do have possible plans for returning to South Africa for good sometime in the future, depending of course, on the stability of the country at that future time. If they do so then when they return they will bring with them vast experience. If they do not then it is South Africa’s loss. It simply is not the case that an emigrant, who subsequently invests in property and has a mortgage, a career, children in school and a secure environment, will give it all up after 10 or so years just because some politician says they should return to South Africa. Some of the people I spoke to were anti-South Africa and others were not. That is the way this life is and it’s not for anyone to judge their views. It’s not an easy task to leave your father and mother or brothers and sisters and friends and head off to a new country and make it work for you there, to settle there and have children who will not see their grandparents from one year to the next. Such a decision is not taken lightly and should not be written off by the wave of an arm and an accusation that these people are running away. That is an insult. Some of these people are highly qualified and others are hard working entrepreneurs. Without exception, all are wonderful, down-to-earth South Africans with characteristic South African warmth and friendliness, strengths that would be an asset to any country they decided to settle in. These people are salt of the earth. I know there are those who are loud and more brash than others but every country has its share of people like that. It would be incorrect to regard all South Africans as such because of those few individuals. In South Africans in London the interviewees talk about life in London, their social lives, business, about friends and family in London as well as back in South Africa, about property, accommodation, European countries (and their citizens arriving in London searching for employment just as the Kiwis, Australians and South Africans do), sport, networking, emigration, children and schooling, health care and transport. The people interviewed include: chartered accountants, chiropractors, occupational therapists, teachers, nurses, a travel agent, tradesmen and a plumber, secretaries, financial advisors, a photographer, a shop owner, businessmen, entrepreneurs, clerks and a church minister. I met these people in coffee shops, restaurants, their places of business and in their homes. I have not edited or changed what they have had to say. When I set off for London to do the interviews for this book I was worried about how the South Africans I was going to meet would receive me. I need not have worried. If there is a race of people on this earth who are friendly, open and who speak from the heart then it is South Africans. Some of the people I interviewed have since returned to South Africa or moved on to other countries such as Israel and Australia, but their London experiences and comments thereon remain valid. These interviews were done in 2007. General emotions do, however, remain the same year after year despite changing political landscapes.

Gary Robertson's SA World Books are available HERE

Hacked again...???

Hello daar almal..!

Well, as many of the regular supporters of this blog know, the popular South Africa Sucks blog, which for the past (almost) 3 years was hosted by Google, on this Blogger server...was censored...after much teething problems, reshuffeling and shaking, it is back up and doing great on it's own domain.
You can get the low down on the Turd World Hellhole our once proud and stunning country has morphed into by visiting the new site HERE.
A link is also to be found to the left of this blog in our links list...

Thanks to all of you who supported us and showed an interest...Keep those comments smokin'...and see you there babies!

Take care,
Auntie Rave

South Africans get top Aus jobs

I love the famous old number by Frank Sinatra, New York New York, there is a line in there that says "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere..! It's up to you.."

Well Sweeties, after the very negative screed by the poor unhappy chap in the post below, let me put you on a bit of an upper again. Not that I just want to give you good news about leaving Mandelatopia, because reality isn't all good news, and problems, homesickness, weird people, funny accents and what all and what not is par for the course when you disrupt your life and move clean across oceans to new countries.

But my experience has been that ever since 1994, white South Africans became ever more resourceful and tenacious in finding ways to get around loosing jobs and coping with Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment. As a matter of fact, there was a creative boom that saw white South Africans opening and starting up all manner of small businesses in a bid to make a living in a country where over the years they have become increasingly marginalized and especially so in the job market.-it saw many professional people being forced out of their professions and having to get creative and learn new skills and come up with new ideas. In doing this many, many beautiful businesses were started up, some even from garages and home workshops. From handcraft to Bed and Breakfast accomodation...all number of small businesses mushroomed around the country, run by creative, hardworking and clever men and women alike!
If South Africans can be this resourceful in South Africa, why would they not make a success in another country? Most of them do, because its a matter of survival. That said, take a look at this article below...and take a bit of courage, have faith in yourself and your abilities, because if you can make it there...you can make it anywhere!

Johannesburg - South Africans who have moved to Australia have the best jobs and earn the most.

They have better qualifications than immigrants from Europe and America and also live in the wealthiest suburbs, said professor Dharma Arunachalam, a professor in political and social studies at the Australian Monash University.

He said they did not realise how much talent South Africans were bringing to Australia until they started checking census statistics in 2006.

"We were surprised by the facts," he said.

SA immigrants are generally younger than other immigrants and are well-qualified with professional and managerial skills. Most bring their families and earn more than any other group.

They live mostly in wealthier areas like Queensland and in the western part of the country.

Before 1996, the immigrants were mostly English-speaking South Africans, but more Afrikaners, Indians and black people have joined their ranks.

The SA population in Australia has grown from 55 821 in 1996 to 104 129 in 2006.

Johan Eybers - Rapport

Die waarheid omtrent emigrasie

This is an interesting piece that I thought deserved a post. Most posts on this blog are from South Africans who are happy in their new home countries, this persons story is different.
Thanks to the anony who posted it to comments. I am interested to hear what expats in New Zealand think of it, as well as folks who have plans of heading toward New Zealand. Your comments will be appreciated. Gavin, if you read this, I would like to hear your thoughts.

To those of you who's posts appear on this blog already, thanks for the great contributions and pics...! They are of great interest to fellow South Africans either in the diaspora or still inside South Africa, and may just be of some help to someone.
To all readers, please keep sending in your posts, we enjoy reading about your adventures crossing the globe!

Groete
-DR

Anonymous said...

Here is an article about the disadvantages of emigration, from a pretty serious source.

Some very hard words are spoken.

The article is unfortunately only in Afrikaans.

Should I translate it at some stage? (...would be jolly good of you mate!)

http://praag.co.za/content/view/3513/402/

Die waarheid omtrent emigrasie
Geskryf deur Gekwelde Emigrant
Dinsdag, 18 November 2008
Digg!

Weens my eie kennis en ervaring van emigrasie, bekommer die geweldige toename in voornemende emigrante onder Afrikaners my. Emigrasie is nie vir enigeen nie. Bo en behalwe die finansiële eise, vereis dit opofferings op sielkundige en kulturele vlak waartoe meeste mense nie in staat is nie. Gerugte hier in Nieu-Seeland wil hê dat die egskeidingsyfer onder Suid-Afrikaanse immigrante 80% is. Gegewe die hoeveelheid gebroke Suid-Afrikaanse gesinne wat ek al hier teëgekom het (baie meer as in SA), sal ek verbaas wees as die statistiek nie erger is nie. Die hele proses is doodeenvoudig so stresvol dat meeste huwelike dit nie kan oorleef nie.

So waarvoor kan die voornemende emigrant hom- of haarself voorberei? Ek weet nie of mens jouself werklik kan voorberei vir hierdie ingreep nie. Uit my ervaring kan ek bloot praat oor wat immigrante in Nieu-Seeland deurmaak op grond van gesprekke met Suid-Afrikaners; ander immigrante duskant die Tasmansee (in Australië) kan ek ook beperkte getuienis daaroor lewer. Volgens die verhale wat hier die rondte doen, is die ervaring daar maar dieselfde as hier. Vir spesifieke professies soos mediese dokters en verpleegsters is dit ietwat makliker, maar dit is bloot omdat hulle makliker werk vind. Die res van die spanning is maar dieselfde vir almal.

Die kleinste van die aanvanklike stresfaktore is om behuising vir jou en jou gesin te vind. As jy aan die standaard van Suid-Afrikaanse woonhuise gewoond is, moet jy jouself regmaak om in 'n plankieshuis te woon. As jy meer gelukkig is, kan jy iets meer moderns kry wat van kunsmateriale gemaak is. Nogtans gaan dit baie klein en baie duur wees. Huise hier is klein en glad nie goedkoop nie. Boonop is Nieu-Seelandse huise geensins aangepas vir die land se relatiewe kouer klimaat nie. Die isolasie is deurlopend onvoldoende en daar is geen sentrale verhitting in verrweg die meeste huise nie. Pak maar warm klere in, want soos in SA is elektrisiteit duur...

Die meeste woonbuurte steek erg af by SA se voorstedelike woonbuurte. Ek sou enige voornemende emigrant aanraai om, voordat hy of sy hierheen (dit geld ook vir Australië) toe kom, so 'n persoon eers vir 'n jaar op 'n plek soos Springs, aan die Oos-Rand, gaan bly. So raak jy ten minste gewoond aan die estetiese aspek. Wat boukwalitiet betref, sal selfs Springs jou ongelukkig nie voorberei nie.

Die volgende stresfaktor waarmee die voornemende emigrant gekonfronteer gaan word, is die puntestelsel. By verre die meeste sal nie op grond van hul ervaring en kwalifikasies alleen in die gasheerland toegelaat word nie. Die meeste sal bykomend tot minimumkwalifikasies ook 'n werksaanbod moet verkry. Dit is 'n uiters moeilike proses aangesien potensiële werkgewers nie graag mense aanstel wat nie 'n werkspermit het nie, maar terselfdertyd kan jy nie 'n werkspermit kry sonder 'n werksaanbod nie - die hoender of die eier. Boonop sal jy gekonfronteer word met: "Do you have any Kiwi work experience?" Die werksoekfaktor is egter die aspek wat die meeste spanning veroorsaak. Voor die resessie sou dit jou ongeveer 6 maande neem om werk te vind, maar soos werkloosheid nou hier toeneem kan mens net raai hoe lank 'n immigrant werkloos sal bly. Sommige Suid-Afrikaners hier sal vir jou vertel hoe maklik dit is om hier werk te kry. MOET DIT NIE GLO NIE. Dit is baie moeilik en as jy bo 32 is, raak dit net moeiliker.

Behalwe dat die Kiwi's wesentlik agterdogtig jeens Suid-Afrikaners (oor die algemeen word Afrikaners soortgelyk aan Nazi's beskou) is, het hul bittermin waardering vir ons werkservaring. Terwyl Britte as ere-Kiwi's behandel word, word ons as arrogante en agressiewe (selfs agterlike) derdewêreldmense beskou. Terwyl sekere aspekte van Nieu-Seeland se infrastruktuur erg afsteek by Suid Afrika s'n, glo hulle dat ons uit die boendoes kom en dus nie veel waarde sal kan toevoeg nie. Hoewel heelwat van Suid-Afrika se infrastruktuur baie meer indrukwekkend as hulle s'n is, dink hulle ons ry op grondpaaie en het oor die algemeen weinig begrip van tegnologie. Ek weet bv van 'n SA siviele inginieur, wat paaie in SA gebou het, wat nie hier werk kon kry nie omdat hulle net nie kon glo dat ons teerpaaie het nie. Wanneer jy eendag dus wel 'n werk kry, wees maar bereid om vir 50% minder te werk as wat jy nou kry. Baie hoogs gekwalifiseerde Suid-Afrikaanse mans eindig in junior poste of selfs as hande-arbeiders.

So seker as wat die Suid-Afrikaanse rand ondergewaardeer is, is die NZ-dollar oorgewaardeer, wat beteken dat kos, klere en ander lewensbenodighede baie duur is in vergelyking met wat mense verdien. Maak dus maar reg om by 'n laer salaris en hoër lewenskostes aan te pas. Ten minste werk mediese en ander sosiale dienste en is goedkoop as jy voorsien dat jy dit mag benodig. Nogtans sal jy 'n permanente inwoner moet wees voordat jy ten volle voordeel daaruit kan trek.

Hoewel die Suid-Afrikaners 'n gemeenskap vorm in byvoorbeeld Auckland is daar geen gemeenskapspoging om voornemende immigrante te help nie. Daar is wel enkelinge wat met beperkte welslae probeer help. My algemene ervaring van die SA gemeenskap, wat meestal in Auckland se noordelike voorstede woon, is dié van ontwrigte en getraumatiseerde mense wat nie weet waar hulle inpas nie. Terwyl hulle vasklou aan hul Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskapsidentiteit verrig dit hul geen guns in die breër Nieu-Seelandse samelewing nie. Soos met die Chinese en Indiërs hier, wat ook sulke enklawes vorm, word hulle as 'n hardkoppige doring in die vlees beskou wat nie wil integreer nie.

Die beste guns wat jy jouself kan bewys as jy eers 'n werk gekry het, is om onmiddellik in 'n woonbuurt die intrek te neem waar daar geen Suid-Afrikaners is nie. Moenie met Suid-Afrikaners meng nie, want dit hou net jou SA aksent in stand. Begin onmiddellik met "accent reduction"-klasse sodat jy die plaaslike aksent kan aanleer. Die impak wat Afrikaans op jou aksent het, is baie nadelig, dus is dit beter om onmiddellik te verengels. Solank jy 'n aksent het, gaan jy en jou gesin sukkel om te integreer. Julle sal dus beperk wees tot SA vriende (wat jy verkieslik nie moet hê nie) en in jou werk sal jy glad nie vorder nie. Solank jy "anders" voorkom, aanvaar hulle jou nie as gelyke nie en sal jou op elke terrein probeer terug hou. Gelukkig verengels die kinders baie gou, dus sal hulle ná enkele jare hulle bitter min of geen reste van hul Afrikanerskap toon nie.

Terwyl die Kiwi's erg aan kleinlandjiesindroom ly, het die Aussies weer grootheidswaan onder lede. Om hul onderkeie redes is hulle dus baie sensitief vir enige kritiek of selfs net 'n verwysing na SA en sy infrastruktuur. Dus is dit beter om eerder nooit na Suid-Afrika te verwys nie. Maak eerder asof jy soos 'n soort identiteitlose wese uit 'n dimensielose vakuum geval het. Veral in Nieu-Seeland word identiteit sterk afgekeur. Die blote bestaan van 'n Afrikanerkerk, byvoorbeeld, skep groot ongemaklikheid by die Kiwi's wat dit as 'n soort Nazi-breinspoelkamp beskou. Weereens, sal jy nie wil hê die Kiwi's moet weet jy behoort aan so iets nie. Nieu-Seeland is, soos Australië, 'n land van die middelmatige. Gemiddeldheid is die mantra. Moet nooit wys dat jy anders is of dat jy enige ambisie het nie. Dit is baie belangrik dat jy "nie aandag trek" nie. Terwyl Suid-Afrikaners as "arrogant", "direk", "aggressief" en "rassisties" beskou word, sal jy dikwels vind dat as dit nie agter jou rug gesê word nie, dit wel direk aan jou gerig sal word. Dit is ook om hierdie rede dat hulle ons nie graag in diens neem nie. Aller eerste sal hulle 'n Kiwi soek om 'n pos te vul. Met laasgenoemde het ek empatie, dit is immers hulle land en hulle mense. Wat egter pla, is dat Britte en Aussies 'n soort status, sowel op die arbeidsmark as sosiaal, as "ere-Kiwi's" het. Wanneer hulle egter nie 'n goeie Kiwi, Brit of Aussie kan kry nie, sal hulle die lang lys van swakker Kiwi-kandidate begin deurwerk. Teen die tyd dat hulle na immigrante (Suid-Afrikaners inkluis) begin kyk, is hulle rêrig desperaat.

Te veel Afrikaners vind berusting daarin "dat as dinge so aanhou in SA dan sal ek en my gesin emigreer". Emigrasie is vir baie soos 'n soort versekeringspolis, wat hulle uit die SA anargie gaan lig. Feit is egter dat, wat die meeste Afrikaners betref, hierdie 'n illusie is. Die strawwe immigrasievereistes van potensiële gasheerlande maak dit onmoontlik vir by verre die meeste Afrikaners om ooit die land te verlaat. Indien Afrikaners sou ophou om hulself met hierdie illusionêre uitweg te kalmeer, sal hulle dalk iets daaraan probeer doen om hul situasie binne Suid-Afrika te verbeter.

Where's the other blog gone..???

Anonymous said...

Google has done it again. SA Sucks is gone. Is there a new link?

Hi all

It's that time again...*sigh*. Please redirect your bookmarks to www.zasucks.com

Thanks,

(-;

Pretoria to Sao Paulo

Thanks for this opportunity to give our views.

We moved earlier this year to Sao Paulo, Brazil with our 16yr old twin daughters. It was a long time in the pipeline, and finally it was realized.

Why: Same old story, you all know it so well! Crime, crime, and future education and opportunities for our girls.
The last 3 months in Pretoria, they tried to do some "nocturnal shopping" at our house 3 times. Two murders in those last months in our street, for what? A cell phone, the other was for just pleasure.

We were looking towards Australia when the company my husband works for, approached him to open an office here. So very tired of not opening a patio door during the early mornings or evening, having a braai with friends, when husband is travelling, having to cope with intruders while trying to protect 2 teenage girls etc… Being locked up day and night? No, we wanted to have a life. An elderly Greek man told me that in South Africa we have quantity in life, but not quality of life.

Re the education, whow!! Already our girls are miles ahead, already being interviewed by international universities, they already wrote PSATS just to give them a feeling of what is to come in their final year. It is so great to see them smiling non-stop.
We sleep with open doors and windows, something that we all can just recall as children. The dogs (came with from SA), do not know what to do with themselves!

The red tape: We were already planning to move, so all paperwork was done previously, also the unabridged certificates. But was a struggle to get it, never mind the spelling mistakes and the re-issue of it. 7H00 in the mornings at Home Affairs with a coffee to avoid the queues during the day. Did not get my international drivers license, as my local one had to be renewed, and was not done on time. That complicated things here, for very strict law enforcement re traffic offenses, so I will have to do the whole course over again. I do not complain, rather the course than standing in the burning sun in a queue that does not move along for the renewal of a license which is probably worth nothing, as they are going to change it yet again, and make another fat cat even richer! We could not sell our house in time, bad timing with the markets and the new credit law in SA, so hopefully will do so soon in the future.

Home affairs gave my husband (whom is Brazilian) the last month lots of grief. After 15 years in the country, they wanted his permanent visa to be glued-in in his passport! That costs us precious time and money.


Brazil was a colony of Portugal, and the Portuguese perfected red-tape! Although extreme, does function very quickly. Our daughters got their Brazilian ID's in a week. Passports are a matter of a day! Unfortunately, our wedding certificate if not quite worth something unless you have your anti-nuptial contract translated, certified etc. Now we are just going to have a really lovely 2nd wedding to facilitate my paperwork.
You do need a pay slip here to get your life on track. Without it you cannot buy a car or house, do not get credit, and cannot open bank account.

Costs: Very expensive to bring a container ( R80 000 +)- and even more, as it happened to us (port costs R45 000), the port went on strike for 3 months. Tickets: Jhb – Sao Paulo +- R8 000 per person. Expensive to bring the dogs over (R12 000). Could not leave them, they are part of the family. Do not trust the pet travel companies; they do not pay the clearance fees, although stated on their quote! It will be very expensive to replace everything here if you sell everything in SA, therefore, rather pay the container and have your things with you. Sell all electrical appliances, for here it is 110v.
Life is more expensive here, every R$ (Real) spend is R5 spend. Food is less expensive, especially meat, chicken and fish. Cars and rental of houses are very expensive.
Internet is so cheap here, and with Skype, can call the family always.

All I can say to those still there is, get out! Why stay? The world is a global village! Like a visiting friend from overseas said to us after our 3rd robbery, "you guys are playing with luck, and she usually runs out, and it is your lives on line".
That is my message to those staying there. Life is even better when you are safe, you do not need the house, garden, pool and all that nonsense, you just need to be alive with your family to enjoy life!
Do you know how nice it is to walk the streets in Sao Paulo at 12h00 at night, coming from a restaurant to your car, which is parked by valets, to find it intact, to get to your house, which was left open so by the way? NO, so for what are you there then? Get a life!!!

Off course we will help where ever we can. It is a hell of a big city, 20million people, take us 2 hours on the road sometimes, but what is the rush? To get to our gate before the AK47 is in your face? No, no rush! Life is a breeze here, the people are so nice, the country extremely beautiful and the opportunities ample. Strange enough, it is our fellow South Africans in SA that makes life difficult for us this side.

Regrets: we should have done this earlier. Wish I could bring out my elderly mother and my sister.
I do really miss W and W boutique (Woolworths), decent tea, exclusive books, boerewors, but we are planning to make our own. Maybe even selling it here!
I miss the Afrikaans sense of humour, the way they can say things, and oh! How do we miss our ads on the TV! Thanks to Youtube, we can see some of it.
Regret that all the lines are not broken yet with SA, with the house and family still there. You need to finish, to start anew, but it will come.

Brazil is a lovely country if you want to settle here. Be prepared for the language barrier, but they speak so much with their hands, do not laugh at you when you try and are very helpful. The whole of South America is open to you, and what a continent! So rich in culture, food and music, where in SA we are losing it.
It is a complicated country, first months you are a bit out of the water, but that is the same in any country.
If anyone needs to make contact, my email is: phyllis.mundim@gmail.com

Another Boertjie in Kiwiland

Why you decided to leave.

On my first visit to New Zealand in 2006, an elderly gentlemen at a Motor Lodge asked me if I was thinking of moving there permanently. When I applied in the affirmative, he simply said: "Good plan. Leave them to it."

I think that about sums it up.

- How difficult it was getting through the red tape.

The process is very user-friendly and easy to understand, as all the information/forms you need can be found at www.immigration.govt.nz. I didn't make use of an agent, as I didn't need one.

- Costs involved.

The cost of having Residence Visas issued for a family of four totalled approximately ZAR 15,000. Flights to Auckland set me back ZAR 35,000 (could be more now), whilst the cost of moving our furniture was in the region of ZAR 40,000. Expect sundry expenses (new appliances, deposit on a rental property, car rental and temporary accommodation ) of, say, ZAR 40,000.

- Advice to those stuck in arsezania.

Time is running out, so stop thinking about it and get the process started as soon as possible. (I started proceedings in July 2006 and was issued with a Residence Permit in February 2007, but the process can take longer.)

• Although you don't need an immigration agent, you shouldn't nurture the idea of coming here on a holiday visa and hoping you'd be allowed to stay. It doesn't work out for everyone and if you are unable to secure a work/residence permit, you will be faced with the possibility of having to uproot and relocate your kids for a second time. (Believe me, nothing can be worse than having to go back once you've lived in a First World country for a few months...)

• The process involves many hardships such as living without proper clothes and furniture for a month or two. Plan so that you deal with most of those issues while you are still present within a familiar environment. Dispatch your furniture as long as possible before your own departure and make sure you start looking for a permanent address the minute you set foot in New Zealand

• Make sure you understand that there is no easy way of doing this. You are going to suffer and when you hit the "dumps', you need to go for a walk after dark or read News 24. Take posters of Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma to put up in your house.

• Once you have worked through the immigration blues and have an employment record in New Zealand, you will be amazed at how fast your career will get back on track. Stay positive and you'll find that it is probably one of the most stress-free places a white person can live. Just make sure you leave the chip on your shoulder behind.

- Would you assist other with contacts etc.

I would be prepared to help people once they are here and in need of assistance. However, like many other Saffas here, I am tired of being approached by friends and contacts who expect you to do legwork while they are still undecided on the issue. I once went so far as to arrange a job for an ex-colleague and after weeks of me exchanging correspondence and setting up telephone interviews for him, he sent me an e-mail saying: "Hold thumbs – I'm going to start working on the wife tonight..." (No prizes for guessing the outcome of that discussion - his wife wanted to be near her mama and showed him a "toffie".)

- Regrets.

I shouldn't have sold my fly fishing rod, my camping gear or my Weber.

- Any other information regarding your big move.

The global economic crisis is going to put pressure on the job market and diminish the Dollar/Mamparra exchange rate even further. If you are thinking that you should wait until things improve, you, like the majority of white South Africans, are living in Fool's Paradise.

- We would like a photo or three.

Attached

Danie

Life in Brisbane is good...!

A great blog and filling a much needed psychological 'unloading' forum for the growing diaspora of Saffers. We arrived in Brisbane from Jo'burg in July 2007. My husband and I have two daughters then aged 18 and 8. We were both over 45 when we left Jo'burg.
*

*
Why did we decide to leave (or 'push factors')?
*
o
We decided to leave because of a combination of factors. The New York trend guru Faith Popcorn once made the now famous statement: "always ignore the fads and recognise the trends". Applying this mantra to South Africa and revisiting all the so-called post 1994 successes - they were unfortunately no more than a collection of "fads", since the general trend of 'the new SA' (a contradiction in terms) has been downhill. In 1994 I do believe that Mandela wished for that fairytale (the rainbow nation) to work in SA. However Mandela himself was co-creator of the unrealistic expectations in the minds of the populous - that "it was their time" "the time of the whitie was gone" "that whatever the whitie had achieved was because of having stolen from the blackie" - and all that similar Afro-political jargon rubbish - yet this is the stuff that the undereducated black masses fed and feed upon and blindly believe (look at their new ANCYL 'leader' Malema who is just another hate ridden racist dimwit).

o I was a senior employee at one of the big parastatals in 2000 and I here I saw how Rome was burning from the inside. I clearly remember phoning my husband and saying to him "I have seen the future and I don't like it one bit". I saw the so-called VP's getting deliveries at home which were meant to be for the corporation - I had a new boss (of course very ANC appointed), who enquired not how the department was doing that I was in charge of but rather how did this thing called a cell phone work that he was given and he wanted me to show him which the best suburbs in Jo'burg were, where he should buy a house "for more than one point five miljion, Sissi". So we left because of the too many Neros 'fiddling' from as far back as 2000 and because of all the Neros who 'fiddling' ever better by the time we left in July 2007.


o I also believe that the cornerstone of everything is law and order and the Magna Carta and Rule of Law - if this 'ain't no more' there is no future for a country. Politicians are bad the world over, but African politicians take the cake. They know only one thing and that is RHETORIC, RHETORIC, RHETORIC; you see they don't/can't see the need to work and deliver anything because they truly believe that the wrongs of apartheid is sufficient justification for any of their stealing and plundering of the coffers of government. (Look at Tokyo who "has apparently not lost feeling for the plight of the poor" and Shilowa who is now going to further his interests in wine farming (sic, sic))Black African politicians throughout the continent never take ownership of anything - they just steal and steal and scapegoat everything to colonialism/apartheid and hold on to some or other crony half-dead puppet whitie still left in an organisation whose face is bandied about as soon as 'the people' require a head (think Bastille and guilotine) (the recent past shows that stupid Alec Erwin was left holding the baby for Mbeki's refusal over the past decade to invest in new Escom infrastructure). Back to my friend Faith Popcorn: the blame-the-whitie game is gathering concerning momentum in South Africa - so again I noticed this trend pushing us to leave SA.

o Also the threat and fear of crime was very real to me and my family. However other than my husband who was 'golf-jacked' about five years ago at gun-point on the Royal Johannesburg Golf course (but not physically harmed) we weren't directly affected by crime. We moved out of our Jo'burg house on 1 May last year - the couple who bought it were a Black American couple who relocated from Washington to Jo'burg and they were really bright eyed and bushy tailed about the new SA (sic) and its future. Within six months of living here they were highjacked at at the gates of the house and have subsequently returned to the States and sold the house.

o I no longer need a private security force, laser beams in my garden, bullet-proof glass in my windows, spanish burglar bars and german shepherds and fearing whether my gardener, my domestic or my ironing lady is connected to a baddie and selling my personal details for ZAR50. (Don't you guys find it amazing that there are not more domestic workers taken into questioning??).

o I no longer have to wonder exactly how much for how long will be enough to pay for the education of the children of the people who worked for us - and the concomitant guilt it caused me.

o I no longer have to hide the colour of my skin from those racist black pigs in South Africa.

o I no longer have to fear the smash-and-grabs at every traffic light or highway turn-off.

o I can sleep with both eyes closed and reverse my car in the dark of night without fearing that the end may be nigh.

o We have two daughters who wish to fulfill their God-given talents. In SA their opportunities were less and less and if you are not Black, male and preferably Zulu nowadays their self-actualisation would be no more than to aspire to working in a Spar or a shoe shop somewhere. No thank you Messrs Zuma/Nzibande/Vavi/Malema and kie - we got a better deal somewhere else. My elder daughter is 19 and a first year B.Sc. student and doing really well here - she runs 10 km every morning around our Brisbane suburbs - in Jo'burg she used to run 121 times around our tennis court because it was too dangerous to let her go into the road on her own. My 10 year old daughter seems to have a possible future as a pianist is academically strong and is attending a very good private school in Brisbane.

o No long-term health system that will support us when we're old - watch them finish off the private hospital system. Already the level of nursing received in private hospitals is diabolical - the nurses do not understand the basics of cross-contamination even in private hospitals -poor undereducated sods with enormous arrogance because of a few "bedges" on their shoulders.

o The falling to pieces of the SA road system and the infrastructure and the polution everywhere (including human effluent in ground water causing typhoid etc) air pollution, unacceptable levels of acid rain (my daughter was also diagnosed as asthmatic in Jo'burg and yet she has now been off all medication since living in Brisbane)..

o The blatantly monthly theft of the rates and taxes bills - which were just thumb sucks.

o The universities are also going down the tubes - more and more professors are taking sabbaticals off-shore, finding another academic posting never to return to arsezania. (There are still private schools trying to deliver good secondary level education - but for how long with all the pressures that Naledi Pandor and her dept can meet out. )

o No more IEB matric examinations allowed as from this year. So everybody has to participate in the Kadar Asmal OBE nonsense matric - where many educators are themselves not educated enough to deliver their so-called deliverables.

o Stats like: only 2% of all murderers are every caught and finally prosecuted in Arsezania.

o Third world socialism and third world communism.(Strangely enough I am in favour of first world socialism - where those in charge of 'the pot' are responsible and provide a fair catchnet for the weaker - I would thus vote Rudd once I am a citizen). In the third world like SA - if you don't look after your own little 'pot' you have nothing else that will look after you.

o Fear of growing old in SA. I am currently 47 and in first world countries the old is getting younger -but this is not so in a third world country. Look up another gorgeous Faith Popcorn neologism called "downaging". Old whities in old age homes are just prey to these barbarians. I have seen how they steal from little old ladies in old age homes telling them that they never had the ring or brooch that they say has disappeared.

o The range of violent deeds that black people (and please note I am generalising because there are many good and decent black people too) can commit goes beyond the comprehension of the average Caucasian. The types of crimes, the deeds of mutulation and torture they have committed right from the mau-maus, through to Mugabe's JOC and down to the pigs in arsezania is so shocking that no words can express it. I read the Beeld and Africancrisis.co.za in shock and horror and a guilty sense of gratefulness for no longer having to be part of it.

* Red tape?
*

* We did our own 136 (new 175 and 176) applications five years ago. I would however advise people to use an agent if they don't know all the ins and outs of the Migration Act. Oz migration very complicated legislation. Make sure you use a MARA registered agent - they are all controlled and appointed by the Oz government and all migration agents practising in Oz must be MARA registered. I think permanent residence visas cost about ZAR 25000 for a family. Don't go with a 457 - if we did we would now have been out of Oz and back in SA. Takes about a year from application to receiving your visa.
*
Advice to those stuck in arsezania?
*

*
GET OUT GET OUT . Rome is burning faster than ever... I truly fear that with Malema's madness he may just mobilise the masses into some form of ethnic cleansing. Also I fear that as Mugabe stopped people from taking money out of Zim, Zuma may just do the same especially if the economy does not perform well enough. So take that ZAR2 million per tax payer out as quickly as possible.
*

Regrets?
*

* That we didn't come earlier . Then again my children would have seen less of their gran (who insists on staying in Arsezania). Hope that Rudd will change the migration policy to family reunion orientated and then my sister-in-law can also come to Oz.
* Miss all our good friends and our business network and I miss Whackhead (thank goodness for Youtube) and SA's sense of humour and I miss SA's Woolworths..
* There are good delis around the Western suburbs of Brisbane -but special woollies type deli products are often unaffordably expensive.
* I miss the Waterberg, Mount Sheba, the Midlands, KNP, the Bush, greater Cape Town including Stellenbosch and Cradock and Darling and Fraschhoek and the Winelands and Dullstroom and Hluluwe and Ndumu and the Cedarberg and of course the sounds and the smells of the African Bush. (My gorgeous hadeda ibis is now the Kookaburra).
Advice?

* You need to factor in the compulsory visa stamping trip once your visas have been granted. Current cost about AUD2000 per economy class ticket from Brisbane to Jo'burg.
* We had some antique furniture which we did not want to leave behind and we felt that if we move home with our "goeders" we would feel at home quicker. It worked for us and I am pleased I did not have to replace all my furniture and goeders because quality furniture costs a fortune here - but there are lots of excellent op-shops and garage sales where you can pick up great bargains.
* Our total relocation cost was AUD60 000. This included our rentals for the first four months and our forty foot high container (ZAR 88000) and the storage costs of our furniture at AUD100 per week and our flight tickets. We rented a two bed furnished for AUD950 per week for the fisrt six week then found a great other 2-bedder for AUD650 per week.
* Remember to tell the airlines that you are relocating - they give you a bigger weight allowance. Can you believe it: Qantas allows 32kg on their domestic economy class flights - but comply with the 20kg limit internationally.. We flew business class with Air Mauritius from Jo'burg to perth and then economy class with Qantas from perth to brisbane. Houses are very expensive.
* A four million rand home in Jo'burg costs about AUD1000 000 in a good suburb in Brisbane (good here is defined in terms of proximity to the CBD, proximity to ferry/train/bus and proximity to the river). You will not get an even horrible home on the river for under AUD2000 000 unless it is more than 25 km outside the city. Houses prices in Sydney are roughly double what they are in Brisbane. We bought a house for just under AUD 800 000. Not a mansion but very comfortable - hear the kookaburras and see the flying foxes(bats) from our decks at night. Rental of this house would be about AUD700 - 750 per week.
* I must say that the Ozzies are not naturally polite or very refined as a whole - but they are good and solid and wholesome once you get to know them. They do not have the compassion for others as we Saffers do. They are very family focussed - the group that I have come to meet are also very well qualified. Unofrtunately they are quite myopic and not the generalists that we Saffers were/are. South Africans believe Ozzies are lazy - BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER - they are very efficient - know their KPA's - know what's their job and that's what they have to do - but no do extra miles for mahala as we always did.
* Sadly there are two sets of rules here - one set for the locals and another for the foreigners. We foreigners do have to put lots extra in before the system works for us. They do also often talk the talk without walking the talk. But see this in perspective: not on big things - this 'unfairness' is clever and subliminal but it is there. (Love to hear what other Saffers say??)

Kind Regards

Allison

A Happy South African in Ireland..

Hello Magnus,

Great site you have here, I hope it gives people inspiration to want to leave a god forsaken country that is being run into the ground...

A bit of a story with some background: I am a South African, born in Germiston in the then Transvaal at the tail end of the sixties. My dad was South African while my mom was born in the Netherlands but stayed most of her life in ZA (her parents left Holland just after the war). In the mean time I did the university thing, got married and had 2 beautiful daughters. I was building my career up in the IT sector, and was looking to move onto our 3rd house. So in 1996 my mother was attacked and almost killed while withdrawing money from an ATM. 2 weeks later she was hijacked and again almost killed, after which she decided to move back to Holland.

In 1999 I went to visit her for the first time (alone), and this being my first trip overseas (outside Africa), I was amazed to see how carefree life was in Holland. She lives in a beautiful and clean village just outside Utrecht, where kids run in the streets, toys and bicycles are left outside over night without being stolen.

On my return to South Africa, I decided to take my family to Holland in early 2000 so that they could see what life was like without the crime, fear and uncertainty we were constantly living with. So we decided there and then to make a move abroad. When we got back, I started sending out my C.V. to whoever would take it. Within a couple of weeks I had 4 job offers on the table (1 in Holland, 1 in the UK, 1 in Northern Ireland and the last one in the Republic of Ireland). I eventually settled on one from Ireland with a huge American IT company (mainly because the pay was higher and I already knew the company – I was a customer of theirs in ZA).

Why I decided to leave?

· To give my daughters a better quality of life like I had growing up.

· Crime and safety.

· Job security.

· To get a better night’s sleep – I tell you people think sleep is overrated until you have your first restful night without the feeling you are going to be a victim of crime.

The red tape?

· This was all handled by the company that hired me. Most companies that go abroad to recruit have already worked out all the kinks of the red tape in their respective countries. All I had to do was show up at the Irish Consulate in Pretoria with the paper work provided by the company and I got my 2 year working visa.

· Sure you need to visit some immigration office or similar and as usual all government departments are the same no matter which country you are in.

Costs?

· I had to pay R300 to get my visa at the time. My new company gave me my airfare as well as a £2500 moving allowance which basically paid for my family’s airfare and to have a few boxes of personal things shipped over a month or two later.

· What I wasn’t prepared for was the cost of rent in Dublin at the time. The Celtic Tiger was in full swing, rented houses were very scarce, you would have a queue to view a house. I grabbed the first house I could at the time which was £850 per month (before the Euro - € kicked in) + £850 deposit.

Advice to those getting out?


· Try to get out when you are still single and without many assets to sell. When it was time for us to leave, I had never seen such a pack of vultures circling to take advantage of us selling our things (and that was family & friends).

· If you do have a family, my advice is to let one person go ahead and setup house before bringing the whole family over. I can’t stress this enough, things often don’t work the same as they did in ZA. I have seen so many people give up because they brought the whole family across before setting up house - people hate seeing their kids living out of suite cases in B&B’s or hostels which is often where you first end up.

· Try and arrange a job while in ZA, it just makes things easier with the red tape. Often it pays to get a professional C.V. writing company to create a C.V. for you.

· Try and have enough money to cover you for the first month (some companies may advance you money or give you an allowance).

· If you are moving to Europe, don’t bring all your furniture from ZA, the houses are smaller and buying new furniture is cheaper than paying for shipping. Also in Ireland & the UK (not sure about other countries in Europe) rented houses are almost always fully furnished. All you need to get is some bedding and towels etc. (cheap enough). Have enough money for the first month’s rent and the deposit.

· Research the area/country you are moving too. For example in Ireland almost all schools are Catholic, so my kids had to basically get baptised/confirmed as Catholics before they were readily accepted (my wife and I are Protestant so you can imagine the hoops we had to jump through – like a bunch of trained seals I tell you).

· Get all your ZA paper work sorted out before you leave. Trying to get it while abroad is a real pain in the hole.

· Get a stamped copy of your non-claims bonus from your car insurer before you leave. It may not help in the country you are going to, but in Ireland it sure did when it came to getting our first car.

· Try and remember you are in a foreign country and as such your should at least learn something of their culture/beliefs etc. this is after all your new adopted country. In Ireland is was fun learning about the pub culture J and St. Patricks day...

· ...the list is endless I suppose.


Would I assist people?

· I have done so in the past and will continue doing so – I will provide you as much info as possible.

Regrets?

· Personally I don’t have any regrets. I have been away from ZA to long to really miss anything. We have enough shops selling ZA produce now that you can get almost anything you want. Even my local Irish butcher is doing boerewors. I even get to see most of the Currie Cup games on Sky Sports.

· The only thing that I do worry about is that my wife’s parents are still in ZA – they are both retired so leaving for them would be difficult (they are British but would not get a British pension).

Other advice?

· Try and move to a country where you already have friends / family. Having a support network at the start can be a real life saver. We did not have anyone so I know what I am talking about.

· Some people make buying their first house a priority, we did not – we made settling in our first priority and if that meant spending a few extra Euros on creature comforts then so be it. It took us 6 years to be able to afford our first house but we did it in the end. I have seen other South African’s living on popcorn & dry bread for the first 1-3 years so that they can buy a house, which is a harder existence when you have kids.

· Every country has problems, once you have lived in your new adopted home for a while you will find out what those are. Just remember why you did the move in the first place and you will would soon know if you were sincere about your reasons for moving in the first place.


I hope this gives you some insight into the things I encountered during my move abroad. That was 8 years ago now and I still don’t regret moving away. Just remember the main thing is to keep your family close and if you have kids remember why you moved.

Don't be straight...DV8..!

Great site,

I moved to SA with my parents when I was 18 months old (no choice I
guess) and have lived in Cape Town, Johannesburg and finaly Port
Edward before getting out at the age of 22. I did my national service
in Pretoria in 1989 and worked closley with the SAP so saw what was
going to become of SA. Still have a brother and sister who live in
Knysna.

Why did I decide to leave:
To go to university in the UK and because I saw no future in SA


Red tape:
None, Im am of Italian origin. Only thing I hade to do was write a
letter stating that I renounced my SA citizernship so I could get my
possesions out of the country. (I was 22 at the time so had few).

Costs:
Plane ticket plus money to set up in the UK. Where we were two couples
together so we shared the cost of a 1 bed room flat. Lived in a few
dives but made it through uni and now have a good (and safe) life here
in Italy.

Advise:
Get the fuck out before its too late for you, sell everything to put
the money together if you have to. Study and make some sacrifices and
never regret your decision. Things like biltong, braai's and wors can
be had and made in other countries. I make my own biltong once a year
and in Northen Italy, Austria and Germany, there is a product which
tastes and looks exactly the same to dry wors.


Would I assist others with contacts:
sure.
On the "other info" part, I meant to say
that if I can do it anybody can, I was voted most likely to fail when
I matriculated.

I worked my backside off to graduate in the UK (had my own club DV8
which paid for my studies) and then studied again (IT) and started
over for a second time when I returned to Italy. I also had to relearn
to read, speak and write Italian as I had forgotten a lot speaking
English and Afrikaans most of my life. I work as the director of
marketing for a winery, travel the world for my work and do a lot of
consulting for companies in the US.

If anybody from SA really wants to get out and start over (regardless
of colour), needs help or advise I am willing to do what I can, you
can give them my email address.

Have you seen the Johannesburg blog (don't know if you know JHB) ? All
the destruction ? Makes me want to cry, I used to DJ in a lot of
alternative clubs in Johannesburg in the late 80's and to see places
were I would walk alone or with friends in the early hours of the
morning and never having any problems, in such conditions as they are
now is terrible.

Regrets:
The way the SA I knew and loved has turned out. Those liberal pricks
who are responsible for giving the country to a bunch of wild baboons.
Other info:
I'm 39 years old, married, lead a good life, have a luxury car, high
end Omega watch ect ect ect ect ..... my point is, leave before its
too late..

ciao

Lorenzo

Ek Baljaar in NZ...!

Hi Magnus

Cool project. Post this if you dare , I call a spade a spade mate.

Reason I left

I left in 2001 - because I was a Captain in the Cops and had seen more kak, snot , blood , brains and tears than any one person needs to.I had seen the true nature of the township beast..coming to a neighbourhood near you shortly.

I left the cops in 1998 when I could no longer rape my conscience daily to go to work and serve that septic corrupt dispensation.
I also grew sick of the whites pathetic soft cock attitude towards the absolute pure ,plain and simple uselessness , (in every aspect of the word) ,of the South African Black majority.
The "Oh well its the new south Africa..!!" excuse. That complete capitulation. It was unacceptable to me.

Or even worse out of every Victims mouth came the inevitable..."I never thought this would happen to us/ me / him / her...!!! ( WTF..???...what made them so special compared to all the other Thousands upon thousands of Crime victims before them.)
I mean as a people how pathetic we whites had become. I could not be part of that Gutlessness of the Whites .

Too scared to start a new life for fear of failure. Yet us with the courage and balls to start again are called "vlugtelinge'' by those wimps to scared to try themselves.
Cow towing to a race that despised us and legislatively discriminated against us on a scale equal or worse than Hitler against the Jews. (lets not get into the symantecs - the same principle is applicable in both Cases,... spin it any way you want). I speak 4 "black languages" and daily overheard the derogatory remarks, threats and taunts not meant for white ears. It was obvious we "mlungu's" ( Which by the way translated means "white scum" usually washed ashore after a stormy sea) were no longer , wanted , needed or barely even tolerated.
Talk about pissing into the wind...!!

Surely at some stage one's reason and intellect has to allow you to recognize when the situation and circumstances surrounding you, hopelessly outclass you. If you cant recognize that , You're just plain Dumb or selectively ignorant.
So I woke up one day and announced ..."Me , I'm outta here...!!!" 6 Months later I was here. I have never looked back.Fishing and diving here just Rocks...!!! see the pics.

Red tape , is all on the South African side.Mainly getting Birth certificates and Police clearances ( Remember I used to be a cop) , takes long when the previously disadvantaged moron looses the forms under his or her KFC chicken bones spread all over the desk or floor - depending where it is sleeping when on duty.

Once I had the Azanian paperwork , it was a breeze and dealt with a Polite , attractive and extremely efficient NZIS case officer all the way through.

Costs Involved

See The NZIS website at http://www.immigration.govt.nz/

Advice to those stuck in arsezania

Get off that arse and Put the wheels in motion. Azania's is not going to get better.If you have kids in Azania and are not currently making plans to evacuate them to a place where they at least have a chance.You should be shot for blatant willful premeditated child abuse.You owe them the best chance possible in life. If you believe that chance is in Azania you're delusional and or a liberal, probably both ...!!!.

In which case please stay and enjoy Azania....!!Go hang out on Friday nights at a shebeen, really get up close and personal to Africa .It'll be fun.Trust me...!!!
May I recommend any of the following - kwa Mashu , Umlazi, Thembisa , Khatlehong , Mdantsane, all offer fine REAL African Experiences.

Having said all this , I have had South Africans who arrive on my doorstep with a "jannie Jammer bal" attitude - You know , like "hey we've had it hard ek se` , you owe me a break."...
( I call it the white South African Martyr syndrome)

They find it hard to get a job , Kiwi's pick up on negativity from about 1000 nautical miles and recoil from it.

So just be upbeat and positive about your new home and how great it is and the Kiwi's will snap you up in no time.

With reference to the Martyr syndrome - Life is about choices - Choices have consequences - if you choose to subject yourself to the bafu's racism and hatred and remain in Azania , that has a consequence of being a prisoner in your own home, living in fear , uncertainty and trepidation, your real financial worth having fallen by 70 % over the last decade ,so on and so forth. It is Your choice and your chosen consequence.So expect no sympathy from me or Kiwi's for that matter. The future lies ahead and not behind you , Forget Africa , Its not what it was , It is also not Discovery channel mate....!!! It is GOD Forsaken in all senses of the word. Africa the epitome of Hopeless.The white mans time in Africa has come and Gone.

For those who bleat ,"But I don't have qualifications...!!!".....Its been 15 years since This lot took over. What have you done in those 15 years to re skill and make yourself employable over here...?? Choices have consequences hey..???

Just Do It. You eat an elephant one teaspoon at a time.

Would you assist other with contacts etc

yes. But please read and take in the section above very carefully.

Regrets

I should have done this 20 years earlier than I did.

Best of luck with your choice.

Catch you Later...if you dare..!!

Gavin

Moving to Essex in UK

Ferry trip for the day to Jersey . Leaving Gurnsey on the way there.

Hello Magnus.

I recently stumbled across your site. The Ex South African situation can truly be called a diaspora. I am not a regular contributor on the other sites but I read the views of SAS with much interest and I have been searching for the right platform to add my little bit, so here goes. I worked in Joeys and saw all the crap going on there. Strikes, marches, the unwashed masses gaining ground. Plainly saw the hypocrisy of big business and vested interests taking hold.

Saw the backbone being removed from the country. I could not swallow the NSA when it came to crunch time. It was Ok to “embrace” it and all that, but about 2 years ago, something inside me clicked. Due to large scale rationalisation in the org I worked at, it was becoming clearer to me that things were going seriously fast down the slippery slope to oblivion (or if not outright oblivion, certainly things were dumbing down to the lowest common denominator pretty quickly.) Added to that, I was 38 and I realised that I had to make a choice: Either make peace with the NSA and swallow it all. But if I stayed any longer, the window of opportunity would close on me soon, so I decided to change EVERYTHING in my life and move to the UK . Not easy, but a pretty good mid-life crisis to get going on.

I think a false society is being created there in SA. Masculinity is being denigrated and is despised. The pendulum has swung too far the other way. There is no free association in SA. Man was I gatvol!

It was not really difficult to sort the red tape once we had made the decision (Trust me, getting to that place in your mind is the real challenge but once you are resolute, the rest falls into place, just like doing a puzzle) I was married to a British girl for 10 years so I was bona fide. Up and down to the consulate in Pretoria . Lots of forms and photo’s to keep us busy (because we all had to get new passports, me, my wife and three kids) (and everything has to be un-abridged) but no hitches and got British passports for wife and kids within 6 weeks and my entry visa (indefinite leave to remain in UK) soon thereafter.

We made enough on the sale of the house to cover everything, and had some spare change. We kept it simple, sold but fricken nearly everything. Had about 20 kilos of personal stuff and mementos, photo albums, CD’s etc in a box that we shipped to UK about two weeks before the plane flight. The rest came with us in our bags, packed to the max.

Some old castle on the shore leaving Weymouth on the Ferry to Jersey

A hundred grand is going to be more than enough for the flight expense and the wack of money (after conversion once you land) to put down six months rent up front plus the deposit and some basics. (I could have made the move with half that if I was wiser with money) Oh ya, also a good second hand car (don’t worry about insurance or licence. Show the cash; buy the car, no questions. Then buy an annual insurance policy from Tesco on the internet with your credit card. Once you got your insurance certificate, you can buy a tax disc and “Voila,” you exist!) Bank account will soon follow once you have proof from the letting agents and the licensing authorities about your identity.

To those who do have dual passports or are married to spouses from another country, which will enable you to leave; why the heck are you still there? No bloody excuse! You’re just lazy! To the men: If you relish a challenge that equals (and exceeds) what you went through doing national service (and those awful camps) then you must do it. To the ladies: Keep nagging your guy! You both got to agree 100% together on this, and once you both are decided, all I can say is. BE POSITIVE ALL THE TIME !
Remember, as bad as it is now, in five years time, those remaining in SA will think back to 1997 as “The good old days” They will be saying “Remember when we won the rugby world cup?” Wow, Mbekkie was still the president! “We had the scorpions man!!!” Remember the scorpions?” Remember when we still had a more or less free media?” Remember the days before load- shedding started?”

I only regret the fact that my whole family is now dispersed all over the world. My older kids (20/21) are in USA , my sis and Mum and Dad in Canada (she sponsored them, so even at age sixty they made the move) My brother is the only one I see regularly as he also is in the UK .

Prices of things in UK have been mentioned often enough on this site and others, so I will just add a few more tips for when the money is tight (and it will be)

Make use of the charity shops you will find in every High Street in every UK town. Cheap, quality used goods are available. Everything you need is there from crockery and cutlery, to good suits and shoes for a fraction of the new price. Nothing tardy or dirty is sold; it gets chucked if it is not in good nick.

Check all the supermarkets for food approaching sell buy date. They mark down drastically as the Brits refuse to eat anything that is near the end of its shelf life even if it is still perfectly good.

Don’t waste spare cash you have left over from the move. Hoard it. Stay away from credit cards and credit in general. Live within your means, it will surprise you what a weight is off your mind not having the debt you had in SA (you will have other worries to contend with)

Booze is pricey. If you enjoy a bit of the old bitter, pub life is not going to be your scene unless you are willing to pay £2,75 for a pint. However, if you can make the change to apple cider, you can move from Black Label to Strongbow (about £3,00 for 2 litres) quite easily. If you smoke, bring along your Rizla (including the girls) I often see the ladies here rolling a smoke.

.Frinton-on-Sea on the East Coast. Yes, we DO swim in the North Sea !!! (But we wait for July and then only when the surf’s up)


Make peace with the weather ASAP. You will get four months of nice summer weather. That’s enough. Trust me, the days from June to August stretch out till after 10 p.m.

For the first year, you will wonder whether you are going insane. The culture shock will hit you after you think it is never coming. You will have no safety net or comfort zone. Be ready for that. Nobody here will give a damn about what your position was in SA or what your opinions are. Fit in quickly and never raise ethnic issues. The society here is very PC, but this is the land of the original Anglo Saxon, and they know it all too well! The Brits have a condescending air of superiority that you cannot pin down and is altogether more subtle than the plonkified, brash style of the average South African Oke.

On the other hand, your views will change. Your thoughts will broaden and you will start seeing things from a slightly different perspective. You will start to understand how the English saw us in the few decades leading up to 1994. And then you will actually begin to realise that they were quite correct: Africa is for the Africans and South Africa is no exception. The great experiment has failed. Africa cannot be westernised. For me it was time to give South Africa back to Africa

All the best
VR

Packing for Perth..!

Hi Magnus

Interesting blog and I’m glad to see it’s not just about bashing SA as I loved living there. I just love living in Oz more!

We moved to (6 hours drive away from) Perth exactly a year ago.

Why you decided to leave.

Got a great offer in a delightful little coastal village with stunning scenery and 4 shops.

Timing was right for us as a family, we’d contemplating experiencing living in another country.

How difficult it was get through the red tape.

Company sorted most of it, so difficult wasn’t an issue. Time consuming was more the issue – particularly as some documentation was not forthcoming from Home Affairs in Pretoria at the time of the strike in May 2007.
Costs involved.

Company covered all of them – for this we are extremely grateful.

Advice to those stuck in South Africa

Fear pervades all levels of living in SA. While we were there I refused to let it rule my life. Since we’ve been here, even the observations made by my 5 year old have made us realise just how much crime and fear was affecting us. Don’t let fear rule your decision of whether to move or not – living without life-threatening incidents is worth everything (and I never thought I’d say that a few years ago!)

This move was much easier than I expected. Settling in, getting back into the swing of just living rather than still in moving mode. In some respects it was a lot more difficult – leaving close family and friends has a deeper pain than anything I’d experienced before.

Decide what is important to you – make a list of what you enjoy out of life and what you don’t. Only you will know if you are moving for the right reasons, and the right reasons for someone else may not be the right reasons for you.

Analyse which part of the things that you dislike are going to follow you wherever you go, and which ones are inherent to the place where you are now. If you have a good relationship with your partner, it will get better. If your relationship is rocky, an international move could break it!

Would you assist other with contacts etc.
Yes.

Regrets.
Having to leave close family behind. Seeing kids grow up without the close relationships they had with grandparents. Fortunately the life they have here is free and easy.
Any other information regarding your big move.

I have realised that for self-preservation we each view our choice as the right one and will seek out opinion that justifies our choice. While living in SA we chose to focus on the good in the country and screen out the negative. We were aware of the comforts of having a full-time maid while the kids were little!

Being in Oz we stick to that choice and can embrace the wonderful opportunities that exist here. And yes, we miss the maid!

The best part about being here? Kids riding bikes to school, having the freedom to leave the house open night and day. Equal opportunity in the workplace and in childrens sports teams.

Use it as an opportunity for self-growth and development and look at all the wonderful new learning experiences. Attitude is everything.

We would like a photo or two. – attached!!

Jill

From South Africa to Alaska..!

Hi Magnus

I just stumbled across the site and wanted to add my voice.

I live in Ketchikan Alaska. It is town of about 15000 people in Southeast Alaska, situated on an island. Although this is pretty remote, it is not nearly as remote as some other places in Alaska! I can be in Seattle within an hour and a half (commercial flight), or take the ferry for 36 hours. Our road system on the island stretch about 40 miles.

I moved with my parents in 2003, I don't know much about the actual process, my mom and dad had a nursing recruiting agency do most of the paperwork. Btw, they totally screwed us after our arrival, but that's a different story. I mailed in my application for naturalization on March 20th. I have an appointment for my final interview on August 20th. Where in Africa can you have bureaucracy work like that for you? Here's just a little tidbit about my life here:

From South Africa to Alaska

How I ended up in Alaska is a story in itself. The purpose of this post is to tell other people about the wonderful life that I have up here. No,it is not a frozen, desolate wasteland. Its magnificent beyond belief.

I am 26 years old, married to a Canadian who has been living here for almost 20 years. He is also a local business owner. We've been married for a year, and I have lived in Ketchikan, Alaska for 5 years. I movedhere in 2003 in the middle of winter. I got of the plane at 3pm and it was dark already. I was too tired to care. I live in Southeast Alaska,in the middle of the Tongass National Forest, the biggest temperate rain forest in North America, if not the world. On average we receive about 200 inches of rainfall a year, but you can't let that distract you.

Lets start with winters. Not as cold as you would assume. I think the coldest daytime high was about -10 Celsius. Don't let that scare you. Unless you work outside, the coldest doesn't affect your body as much. Houses are constructed for warmth, central heating is a foreign concept for South Africa. I can still remember all those long cold nights in the koshuis trying to fall asleep, or the endless winter days where us girls were not allowed to even wear long pants in the winter. None of that here! Winter time in Alaska is the best time. Everything and everybody goes into slow motion. It's extremely relaxing.

Here in Southeast Alaska, snow is not much of a problem. The higher elevations experience extreme snowfalls, but that's why we have snowmobiles. I cannot describe the feeling of feeling the cold airbrushing your face while going about 80km/h in the middle of the night.Even though it is midnight, it's not quite pitch black. The reflection of the snow gives the night sky a faint glow. But what is most breathtaking is the extreme silence, absolutely nothing. My husband had the fortunate experience of racing a wolf across the snow, but more about the wildlife later.

Summers are hectic. We are a big cruise ship port, so the town would be swamped with tourists. This is the time when you work. Good paying jobs are everywhere! The extreme length of the day makes up for the lack of sunshine, but when the sun does shine,there's nothing to describe it. This is the time when you pack your camping gear, get in your boat, and within minutes you are in territory where no human has ever been before. The majority of land is owned by the federal government. AND THERE ARE NO FENCES. This is the true wilderness. No cramped caravan camping in Hartenbos. The only worry you have is the occasional skittish black bear looking for a snack.

Alaska is not like the rest of the USA. It is a world apart. We don't pay income tax, we are allowed to own firearms. All you do is go up to the shop, buy a firearm, wait for a quick background check, and walk away.That simple. And there is no gun crime here. I leave my car running while I go get my morning coffee. Can't remember the last time I locked my house. In addition, since Alaska is an oil rich state, every Alaskan resident receives a share in the oil profits in the form of the Alaska Permanent Fund. Every Alaskan child and adult receives a check every year. If you are married with 3 children, that means five checks will come your mail. Last year it was $1650, the projections for this year is $2000 or more. You do the math.

As most people know, the US wants nurses. My mother is a nurse at the local hospital. Works 6 nights,have six nights off. The most significant event that made me glad that I do not live in South Africa anymore happened last year. My dad had a serious accident and had to be medivaced (put on an ambulance plane and flown to Seattle, our nearest city) where he received extensive surgery and medical care. Total costs came to over $100 000. If this was South Africa, my parents would have been in debt up to their eyeballs for the rest of their lives. Now for those stuck with South African insurance,hold one, 99% of the costs were covered by their insurance. I recently purchased medivac insurance for myself and my family for $75 a year, to cover any medical evacuation. Where in South Africa can you get care like that?

Alaska has its problems, it is more expensive to live here, the weather gets some people, and job opportunities in rural Alaska is limited. At the moment I'm suffering from some homesickness,but I just realized once again how extremely privileged I am to be able to live in Alaska.


Linda

Back soon

Thanks for visiting this site.
I am in the process of gathering new updates and will resume posting them soon. In the meantime please enjoy the blog. Don't forget to tell your friends about it.

http://zahell.blogspot.com/

http://zahell.blogspot.com/

Thats where you can find the new blog site for why south africa sucks.

http://zahell.blogspot.com/

Even HRH reads the blog.

Moved to Essex

Hello Magnus.



I am sending this e-mail in my name but I trust you will respect my anonymity.



I recently stumbled across your site. The Ex South African situation can truly be called a diaspora. I am not a regular contributor on the other sites but I read the views of SAS with much interest and I have been searching for the right platform to add my little bit, so here goes. I worked in Joeys and saw all the crap going on there. Strikes, marches, the unwashed masses gaining ground. Plainly saw the hypocrisy of big business and vested interests taking hold. Saw the backbone being removed from the country. I could not swallow the NSA when it came to crunch time. It was Ok to “embrace” it and all that, but about 2 years ago, something inside me clicked. Due to large scale rationalisation in the org I worked at, it was becoming clearer to me that things were going seriously fast down the slippery slope to oblivion (or if not outright oblivion, certainly things were dumbing down to the lowest common denominator pretty quickly.) Added to that, I was 38 and I realised that I had to make a choice: Either make peace with the NSA and swallow it all. But if I stayed any longer, the window of opportunity would close on me soon, so I decided to change EVERYTHING in my life and move to the UK . Not easy, but a pretty good mid-life crisis to get going on. I think a false society is being created there in SA. Masculinity is being denigrated and is despised. The pendulum has swung too far the other way. There is no free association in SA. Man was I gatvol!



It was not really difficult to sort the red tape once we had made the decision (Trust me, getting to that place in your mind is the real challenge but once you are resolute, the rest falls into place, just like doing a puzzle) I was married to a British girl for 10 years so I was bona fide. Up and down to the consulate in Pretoria . Lots of forms and photo’s to keep us busy (because we all had to get new passports, me, my wife and three kids) (and everything has to be un-abridged) but no hitches and got British passports for wife and kids within 6 weeks and my entry visa (indefinite leave to remain in UK) soon thereafter.


We made enough on the sale of the house to cover everything, and had some spare change. We kept it simple, sold but fricken nearly everything. Had about 20 kilos of personal stuff and mementos, photo albums, CD’s etc in a box that we shipped to UK about two weeks before the plane flight. The rest came with us in our bags, packed to the max.


A hundred grand is going to be more than enough for the flight expense and the wack of money (after conversion once you land) to put down six months rent up front plus the deposit and some basics. (I could have made the move with half that if I was wiser with money) Oh ya, also a good second hand car (don’t worry about insurance or licence. Show the cash; buy the car, no questions. Then buy an annual insurance policy from Tesco on the internet with your credit card. Once you got your insurance certificate, you can buy a tax disc and “Voila,” you exist!) Bank account will soon follow once you have proof from the letting agents and the licensing authorities about your identity.



To those who do have dual passports or are married to spouses from another country, which will enable you to leave; why the heck are you still there? No bloody excuse! You’re just lazy! To the men: If you relish a challenge that equals (and exceeds) what you went through doing national service (and those awful camps) then you must do it. To the ladies: Keep nagging your guy! You both got to agree 100% together on this, and once you both are decided, all I can say is. BE POSITIVE ALL THE TIME J


Remember, as bad as it is now, in five years time, those remaining in SA will think back to 1997 as “The good old days” They will be saying “Remember when we won the rugby world cup?” Wow, Mbekkie was still the president! “We had the scorpions man!!!” Remember the scorpions?” Remember when we still had a more or less free media?” Remember the days before load- shedding started?”



I only regret the fact that my whole family is now dispersed all over the world. My older kids (20/21) are in USA , my sis and Mum and Dad in Canada (she sponsored them, so even at age sixty they made the move) My brother is the only one I see regularly as he also is in the UK .



Prices of things in UK have been mentioned often enough on this site and others, so I will just add a few more tips for when the money is tight (and it will be)



Make use of the charity shops you will find in every High Street in every UK town. Cheap, quality used goods are available. Everything you need is there from crockery and cutlery, to good suits and shoes for a fraction of the new price. Nothing tardy or dirty is sold; it gets chucked if it is not in good nick.



Check all the supermarkets for food approaching sell buy date. They mark down drastically as the Brits refuse to eat anything that is near the end of its shelf life even if it is still perfectly good.



Don’t waste spare cash you have left over from the move. Hoard it. Stay away from credit cards and credit in general. Live within your means, it will surprise you what a weight is off your mind not having the debt you had in SA (you will have other worries to contend with)



Booze is pricey. If you enjoy a bit of the old bitter, pub life is not going to be your scene unless you are willing to pay £2,75 for a pint. However, if you can make the change to apple cider, you can move from Black Label to Strongbow (about £3,00 for 2 litres) quite easily. If you smoke, bring along your Rizla (including the girls) I often see the ladies here rolling a smoke.



Make peace with the weather ASAP. You will get four months of nice summer weather. That’s enough. Trust me, the days from June to August stretch out till after 10 p.m.



For the first year, you will wonder whether you are going insane. The culture shock will hit you after you think it is never coming. You will have no safety net or comfort zone. Be ready for that. Nobody here will give a damn about what your position was in SA or what your opinions are. Fit in quickly and never raise ethnic issues. The society here is very PC, but this is the land of the original Anglo Saxon, and they know it all too well! The Brits have a condescending air of superiority that you cannot pin down and is altogether more subtle than the plonkified, brash style of the average South African Oke.



On the other hand, your views will change. Your thoughts will broaden and you will start seeing things from a slightly different perspective. You will start to understand how the English saw us in the few decades leading up to 1994. And then you will actually begin to realise that they were quite correct: Africa is for the Africans and South Africa is no exception. The great experiment has failed. Africa cannot be westernised. For me it was time to give South Africa back to Africa .

Life in Argentina

Hello Magnus,

I've been following your blog and I think it's a great idea, to provide advice to those still in South Africa and establish contacts between the broad expat community.

My story begins in 2005. After seeing a friend robbed twice, another kidnapped, and having my son held at gunpoint in our own home, we decided we had suffered enough of the crime and chaos in SA, and were determined to leave. My husband decided to start looking for job opportunities overseas, with the prospect of emigration. He managed to secure a job in a pharmaceutical company in Argentina, and by November 2006 we had sold all our assets in South Africa and moved to Buenos Aires, not sure of what to expect.

What we found was a safe, prosperous white country, with little crime and beautiful cities, not to mention a welcoming culture that is remarkably similar to our own. Our savings were enough to get a nice house in the suburbs of BA and a nice car, and by March 2007 we had already decided that our stay here was permanent. Here in Argentina my son can go out at night without me fearing for his life, my daughter can take the bus or play on the streets freely. My son is now attending a local university, and the feeling of knowing that his future is secure is priceless.

Another plus of Argentina is that there's a sizeable SA expat community here, which has considerably helped us to adapt. Four months after the move I was already sharing a braai with fellow expats!

My advice to fellow South Africans is to consider many destinations and not restrict themselves only to English speaking countries. The most important thing is to leave to a safe country where you and your family can have a future, learning a new language is a small price to pay in exchange for safety. Immigrating to Argentina is relatively easy, the country is safe and mostly white, and as a destination it has nothing to envy to its anglo-saxon counterparts.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through Magnus. I would like my surname to remain anonymous, but you can forward me any questions and I will be glad to help you.
Kind regards,

-- Pam

Thanks for that
M

LIFE IN PERTH

LIFE IN PERTH Why you decided to leave.- Crime, violence, and general lawlessness experienced personally - e.g. attempted car hijacking (2x); attempted break-ins while we were sleeping (2x); attempted and actual burglary and car theft; our son being robbed at knife-point of his pocket money, in the primary school toilet; etc.- High taxes, with little in return; and increased inefficiency of all levels of government.- Children's severe asthma due to high levels of air pollution (we obtained data showing air pollution in Gauteng often being higher than international safe limits), and resulting extreme medical expenses not covered by our medical aid.- Decreasing work for our small business, due to our lack of affirmative action partners.- Personal experience of deterioration in schools and universities.- Realization that you can't mix 10 parts coal with one part vanilla ice cream, and then expect the ice cream to remain intact. (It does nothing to or for the coal, though.)- Realization that South Africa was not going to be the exception to the "rule of Africa", where the pattern is clearly to break things down to the most primitive level possible.- Realization that Whites and apartheid would be blamed for everything that goes wrong in South Africa, for many years to come.- We saw no future for ourselves and our children in South Africa.
How difficult it was get through the red tape.When we decided to apply for Australian skilled migration visas (in 1998), the cut-off age was 35; and we were too old by then qualify. Fortunately this changed to 40 at that time (and it is currently 45). However, when we did apply, our application was stolen in the Australian High Commission in Pretoria. A "lady from Mamelodi", working at the embassy, destroyed our application, after fraudulently cashing our application fee cheque, with help from her friend at a local bank. It took us several weeks to find this out, and only because I didn't take no for an answer when I started enquiring about the lack of official acknowledgement of our application. At first she tried to brush me aside with "you don't contact us, we contact you" and "if you keep on bothering me, we will reject your application". However, I insisted on speaking to "the boss", and eventually found someone who said "Maaaaaaaaate, I'm already embarrassed even before you start talking, because we have a small problem here." He then explained that ours was the 22nd known case of this happening in a short while. Fortunately I kept a full duplicate of our application file. At that time, applications took about two years to process. However, ours was then fast-tracked, and we got our visas a few weeks later. There is a "red tape" requirement, though, that you have to make first entry into Oz, within a certain time (I think it's one year) after the visas had been granted. We were only given about four months to do this, since our "fast-tracked visas" came from a different quota, for which first entry had to be made before the end of 1999. We didn't ask too many questions, and we just bought air tickets and went to Perth for two weeks to get the all important "first entry stamps" into our passports. We then went back to SA to sell our house and get everything sorted out. We eventually left SA in June 2000. (We were planning to leave in March, but there was a bungle with the sale of our house, since Mrs. Mphefu was involved!!) When we didn't qualify for Oz initially due to the age limit, we started filling in application forms for Canada; and we found their embassy staff a lot more helpful than the Ozzies. Some migration agents tell people that they can fast-track applications, or that they can bend the rules. Don't believe any of this! Check out the requirements on the specific country's website (e.g. www.immi.gov.au) to see whether you qualify or not, and what the requirements are. If you then want to use a migration agent, fine, but at least do some research beforehand, for yourself.
Costs involved.- Too long ago to remember, or to be accurate anymore.- Don't use an "el-cheapo" removalist. Only use a reputable company. We've heard horror stories of removalists going bankrupt, and people having to wait for months and pay lots of money just to get their own stuff released by a liquidator, etc.
Advice to those stuck in arsezania.- If you want to leave, don't wait for someone to headhunt you, or for a good Samaritan to do things on your behalf. You must be passionate to leave, and then YOU must make it happen.- Try many different options: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, UK, etc. - If you don't qualify for a "skilled migration visa" anymore, try getting a job with employer "sponsorship", or try getting a business visa.- Don't give up too easily. It is often said that some countries deliberately make it hard for applicants, in order to filter out those who have don't have enough guts to push ahead when things become tough.- Don't "wait and see" and leave things too late. You can always decide not to leave SA, once you have the visa. We have friends who are now over 45, who thought we were crazy when we left, and now they want to leave SA for Oz. But it's much more difficult (even impossible in some cases) for them now.- If you don't want to leave, don't judge those who do want to leave (and vice versa). Everyone's circumstances are different. Regrets. We are very happy in Australia. We only wish we have made the big move a lot earlier; and that we could somehow get our parents here too. Advice to those who have emigrated.- Don't wait for someone else to make it work for you.- Stop blaming FW, Mandela, Mbeki, Zuma or whoever for your decision to emigrate. Get over it, and move on!- Don't tell everybody about the BMW and the 4x4 and the 20 bedroom house which you had to give up in Seffrica. Nobody is really interested in that.- Don't expect a brass band and red carpet to await you when you arrive in your new country.- Don't moan about all the housework and gardening which you now have to do all by yourself. Scale down, or get used to it, or pay someone to do it. But don't whinge about it! And stop ironing the bedsheets and the handkerchiefs (and most other stuff, for that matter)!!- Don't tell everybody how things were done (better) in South Africa. If you think it's so much better there, then you should really go back.- Some things will be done differently, but remember that you have been accepted as a guest into the new country, and that it's your responsibility to adapt to their general way of doing things and to become a useful member of the new community.- By all means, keep your religion and your values, but don't try to be arrogant and superior about it.- If you're a business person, don't try to make up what you've lost be emigrating by ripping of your customers (especially other ex South Africans).- Unfortunately my experience had been that if you really want to get ripped off in Perth, you get an ex-SA tradesman to do something for you!- Some migrants suffer from the "roaring lion syndrome": they arrive in the new country, kicking up a lot of dust and roaring like a lion, ready to "show these stupid people how things should be done". Remember, they've been managing without you until now; and that South Africans queue up at foreign embassies in Pretoria to get migration visas. The Ozzies and Kiwis and Canadians don't queue up to migrate to South Africa!- Bottom-line: Don't whinge or become a "when we". Get yourself positive, and "she'll be right mate".

Ex Pat in Colombia

Why you decided to leave.

Genocide.
How difficult it was get through the red tape.

We firstly gate crashed by arriving on a tourist visa. Found a job and the rest was a breeze. Not much red tape here.
Costs involved.

Flight is expensive. Jan Smuts - Sao Paulo-Bogotá. Container was 134k. Wasting this amount of our cash flow was a Major mistake. Electric appliances here are far superior to the ones in SA, and the voltage is 110v. This is a jungle, so the furniture is cheap and magnificent. Houses are smaller, and half of our belongings are in storage. Further waste of much needed cash.
Advice to those stuck in arsezania.

Get the hell out while you can. The value of your property will never go up again. Sell now, while there are still some buyers in the market. Make sure all your documents are in order. Preferably a new Passport, this will save you a lot of hassles down the line. Have all your qualifications validated at Manpower. I would not advise leaving a back door open. If you have this option in the back of your mind, chances are you will give up too easily. We come from good stock. You will succeed if you remain positive. Do not bulshit the wife and kids. They must kiss their cosy lifestyles good buy and be prepared to start all over again. They must be prepared to accept this reality before you leave. You will need each others support during hard times. You will succeed if you are prepared to leave the trappings behind. Arrive with the attitude that you will concentrate on the positive things in your new home. But always remember ….there is no perfect place on earth. You will find new things that piss you off. It just boils down to trade offs,


Would you assist other with contacts etc.

You are welcome to contact me for any advice or assistance. I may not have all the answers, but would gladly assist where I can - eric@bosparra.com


Regrets.

One. I should have done this sooner.



Any other information regarding your big move.

This is a great country if you want to be self employed. Many opportunities in an exploding economy with very little red tape. And yes, nannies are commonplace, cheap and trustworthy. They even smell nice.

But the best part …………………. the 4% black population. Yes, I said four percent.


Regards
Eric Stander


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Eric Stander
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:46:45 AM
Subject: Ex Pat in Colombia

Hi Magnus
Thanks for the Great blog. Something about myself. I have recently immigrated to a country were I had no job lined up or were I could not even speak the Language. To say that my first year was the most difficult time of my life would be a major understatement. I have now seemed to have crossed the largest hurdle, found a job and settled in. This is the sacrifice I had to make for my families freedom and survival. It saddens me however to read and hear about my beloved countries further decline into anarchy. I am therefore at a complete loss of words when the loved ones that remained behind have optimism for the future. What is this based on? Surely they are privy to the same information and news that I see and hear.

Is this optimism based on historical events in Africa, Current events in Zimbabwe, The SADC,s response to this crisis, The new upcoming leaders in the ANCYL, The unavoidable complete collapse of the infrastructure, or the demise of the Scorpions and the collapse of law and order? What am I missing?

Well this answer sadly dawned on me after a Skype conversation!

In this one single chat, I was asked these questions.

1- What car are you now driving?

2- Is your house as big as the one you had here?

3- How expensive are holidays?

1- No! I have not yet bought a car, 2- I am renting an apartment and 3 - vacations will have to wait for the foreseeable future. Am I nuts? Don’t think so!

Is this so called optimism in the future not just a smokescreen? Is the Beemer, the house, the Pool, the Maid and the Margate timeshare maybe more important than the welfare of our children?

Or do I simply not understand the Patriotism? This to a, province, town or street whose name I cannot pronounce. An anthem I do not know the words to. A country that discriminates against my language, history and culture? A government whom has implemented laws to protect the majority from myself and my kind?

Where did I go wrong that I can’t understand this- we must stand together and things will improve?



My forefathers knew when it was time to leave the shackles behind, and move on. I do believe so have I. My children are now free from discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and have a future were they can achieve their dreams. The material trappings will come along in good time. I can now sleep at night knowing that we are safe and I have made the right choice for the right reasons. I sure hope my fellow South Africans can say the same.




Regards
Eric Stander

Advice to those stuck in arsezania

Hi Magnus,

Part # 4 Advice to those stuck in arsezania.

If you’re Afrikaans – Vasbyt! Whining wont help, at some point you will need to pull your finger out of your holl and grow some cajones.
If you’re English white – Fucking idiot!
If you’re an older immigrant who thinks Europe and the USA and Canada and Australia and New Zealand suck so badly and nothing compares with South African nature – enjoy it while you’re still alive.
If you’re a younger white person from a well off family and has blacks as pets, I mean friends – Everything boils down to competition for resources and race does matter.
If you’re an overeducated white liberal who schmoozes with sophisticated black people – Your time’s gonna come baby…
If you’re an Indian - make more money and stick your head in the sand and be safe, it’s better than being poor in Mumbai.
If you’re a Cape Colored and have higher than a Std 1 education – work and honesty never killed anyone, hang with whites if you can – at least they won’t necklace you.
If you’re a poor white – you should have stayed in school (and learnt something) or done a trade. Doing a kaffer’s job never killed anyone, now you stand at the traffic light…

Build a higher fence (but don’t tell the municipality), add a few caps to the power supply of the electric fence so the shock is 1 million not 10,000v. Don’t get any more dogs they bark and shit too much and do get poisoned, its not their fault that SA is a fuck-up. Change the bars on the front door and windows to 12x12mm carbon steel from the cheap shit you have now. ADT and Chubb or the local holdout are useless even if they arrive. Have a good medical plan in case you get mugged, raped or are hit head on by an overloaded taxi. If you do catch a burglar shoot them, but don’t tell anyone – you’ll get a reputation and thieves will give you a wide berth (the bush telegraph does work). Fire the meid and the gardenboy if anyone will orchestrate your demise it will be one of the two of them or one of their bruthas or sistas. Holiday overseas if you can afford it on your shrinking Rand, you’ll be able to marvel at the first world and forever regret not completing hoerskool. By the way - Mauritius and Numbibia are not overseas holidays.

Cape Town will not be spared South Africa’s ultimate destiny. Johannesburg will be a 13 million city much like Mexico City or Sao Paolo – go there and see, without money you are fucked. Durban – something tells me that Natal or KZN somehow will be the best place to live, why I don’t know, perhaps it’s the people there….

The Rand is on a downward spiral and after 2010 I don’t think it will manage under 10 bucks to the U$ against the E it’s already screwed. Gold won’t save you and neither will all the minerals even if the ‘West’ needs them, China makes all the shit in the world or soon will. Property is still the best hedge and you will always need a posie.
Try and buy some rural fertile land or on a river so you can grow your own. Hunger seems to have taken over from global warming as the flavor of the day, this time it’s not bullshit like Y2K.

Perhaps all this kak will finally make people put aside their differences and get on – I don’t think I will live that long….
My only regret is that I should have had the confidence and gone earlier. the other is that I should have visited the Vic Falls when I was able to...
Life is what you make it - dream big and you will have a big life...

Pretty much how it is here, no litter, no taxis, no loiterers, no fences.... my telephone works (both), no power shedding, sales tax is 8.3% not 14% VAT, a car costs 15 - 25k dollars, you may want to drive a Chevy pick-up like a lot of folks - fully loaded, leather, XM, OnStar, 20' wheels, $35k, a nice SUV maybe same extras - $35k also, petrol is currently $3.30 for a gallon of 87 octane. Most rock bands visit, we have a ballet company and a philharmonic orchestra, art festivals and Frank Lloyd Wright had his winter residence here. There's no cricket (thank God) and a lot of people know all about rugby (I watched at the local pub). Baseball sucks and so does football although I must say the Super bowl was exciting. NASCAR is boring and F1 is shown in the middle of the night. To watch soccer games you need to speak Spanish. A new MacMansion in a new area is maybe $200k with AC. California is up the road and Texas down the road. People are all from somewhere else so there is a high tolerance for 'outsiders' or emigrants (the legal kind who pay their taxes). I believe there are about 20,000 South Africans here, Johnny Congas lives here, I believe Rory Sabatini has a home here as well. Anyway you need to get off the couch if you want to go West ....

A few things you'll miss are drinking and driving (you get locked up), you can't or don't badmouth anyone (you could get shot), you keep your opinions to yourself, the weather (40-45C for 100 days in summer)

God Bless. rammst+in

" Better Sarkozy than Mbeki "

Magnus ,

First Thanks for your great work. Not only is it great source of info it’s now a must for all White saffers still in arzenia.

My story may be quite different from many SA expats but I think it’s worth telling. I was born in Franschhoek. My dad was South African and my mom was born in France. We had a great life until my dad died in 1971. I was 5. My mom sold the family business and we moved to Bloemfontein. We did OK . In 1991 , I got my C.A. ( Chartered Accounted ) degree and moved to Johannesburgh . I worked in a Big Eight Accounting Firm , slowly but surely climbing the ladder . In 1998, I was named “Manager” , and things looked really good as the next step was “Partner” . The following year, I was informed that we had to make rooms for locals and that my partnership project had been “delayed”. I had to start training “junior locals” and he spirit of our Firm was gone forever. In 1999, I was car-jacked twice in five months .The second time , one of the bums put his gun in my face , fired a shot over my head, and they left with my car laughing... I was
supposed to get married in 2002 . My fiancée would never leave SA but I was decided to go. I’ve had enough. Things were just getting worse but my fiancée was convinced things would start to improve. We split in December 2001 and I was on my way out of SA .

I ended up in France on a visa and quickly applied for PR and a EC passport. Since my mother was born in France , it was only a matter of time before I could settled permanently in the country. The first three years were a real struggle. I realized that the French we spoke at home was a million years away from the language spoken in France.
I worked as a waiter in Paris restaurants for 3 years , living in poor Paris neighbourhoods ( mostly Arab ) waiting for an opportunity to come up.

The restaurant where I was working was located close to the Effeil Tower ( Bir Hakeim subway station). One night , I met some patrons who were involved in stock trading and we got along really well . We kept in touch and later started a “trading business” that now allows me to live from it. Last year, I was able to afford a nice home just outside of Paris. Lucky ?? Maybe , but what the heck !! It happened and I truly enjoy it !! Anything is possible here in Europe !! France has problems, social problems, immigration problems, but I can go out at nights feeling perfectly safe, from cafés to cafés late at night and nothing will ever happen to me !! Life is expensive, really expensive but it’Europe !
One of my partner lives in Germany (Frankfurt) and I travel there at least once a month and life is good there as it is in France,( even better), just to say that life can be good in Europe…. Nothing to do with the stress in SA. I’m just ending a 3 month layoff in Montreal , Canada , traveling to Toronto, Winnipeg,Calgary and Vancouver. Just got back to Montreal going back to France on April 17 th . Life is good for me now , really good !!!

I’m still in contact with my former fiancée. She still thinks things are improving and sees 2010 world Cup as the as the peak of the rainbow nation…. She’s like a lot of South Africans today who dream that things are finally going to get better ….I think she’s daydreaming. Arsenia will go thru 2010 OK because they plan to hire thousands of policemen and show the world that the rainbow nation is working . But after 2010, watch out , it could get really ugly .

Get out mates , get out while you can !! There are many countries willing to welcome you :
Australia, NZ, UK, Canada ….May be tough at first but it’s really worth it … Do it for your kids !! Don’t ever think it’s going to get better in SA … It’s Africa remember !!
No way I would ever go back !! I still think SA was the best place to live some years ago !But not anymore … It’s time to leave ! Now !

Bonne chance , Francois

KIWI LAND WHERE THERE ARE MORE SHEEP THEN PEOPLE

Thanks for this. Anon is always fine, I understand.
M

Why did you leave? Had to leave the division my husband worked for in the bank was being closed down. He was going to be retrenched being male pale and over 40 (48 in fact) he could not get another job in the banking industry. We went to NZ on LSD trip (look see decide) and one of his former colleagues from the SA bank managed to get him an interview with a kiwi bank. 1 month later they offered him a position and the rest as they say is history.



How difficult it was getting through the red tape? Getting a work visa wasn’t that hard you need to be employed by an accredited employer. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/ check link as there are different categories for a work visa. For permanent residence (PR) NZ work on a point system check your points here http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/caniapply/quickcheck.htm

Make sure your passport is valid for longer than 2 years for a work visa. Have originals of full unabridged birth certificate, original letters of previous jobs with employ confirming previous length of service and title on a co letterhead. Police clearance valid 6 months try to do your medicals in SA it is cheaper there are a list of doctors available from immigration call the New Zealand High Commission of Pretoria Block C, Hatfield Gardens
1110 Arcadia Street Hatfield, 0083 Postal Address : Private Bag X17 Hatfield, 0028 Tel: 012 342 8656 Fax: 012 342 8640 Cape Town "Birthday Hill"4 Kirstenbosch Drive Bishopscourt Cape Town, 7700Tel: 021 619 978Fax: 021 488 2425

I wouldn’t pay some one to do the immigration this is a waste of money as you end up doing most of the work yourself it can be done on line.



Costs involved. This is what I paid in October 2006 -medicals R350 X-rays R 255. Work visa x1 + 2 student visas R2400.00

Work Visas in NZ paid August 2007 Medicals $155 per person Blood $87.50 per person, X-rays $80 per person Work visa x2 + 2 student visas $1200

Permanent residence for 5 people paid April 2007 $800 to apply and February 2008 $1200 when accepted.

Shipping container R+- 40000 we used Magna international www.magna.co.za/



Advice to those stuck in arsezania. We need to get over the obsession for more money; bigger and better gadgets and trying to out do the neighbours. The foot plasma TV is not as important as the lives and safety of our family. I know I was one of those bragging about the Audi the Mercedes the 2 properties private schooling but when you are walking round the house at 2am poeping yourself at every strange noise wondering is this the night they break in. I got to the point where no amount of “stuff” was worth this way of life. You don’t know how bad crime affects your subconscious and stress levels until you leave, I have been here 16 months and I still look in my mirror when pulling into the driveway although I do sleep through the night now.



Would you assist other with contacts etc? Definitely I would be glad to help if I could kiwinow1@gmail.com



Regrets. No regrets although I miss my parents, my friends, some in laws and being able to drive fast on the highways.

Any other information regarding your big move. Info about Auckland House are very expensive made of wood and spaced very close together generally sizes are 600 m2 and smaller. Some houses in Auckland and especially on the North Shore are leaky homes so if you buy a builders report is a necessity. Websites for houses www.barfoot.co.nz www.harcourts.co.nz www.raywhite.co.nz

Eating out is very expensive; food prices in the stores are relative to SA. Schools are zoned and fees are cheaper than SA but if you do not have PR you can pay international fees which are very expensive. School sizes are very big 2000-4000 students in high school. University is expensive with out PR +-$1500 per subject for international students vs. $500 for residence.

Furniture is expensive some websites to compare prices. http://www.freedomfurniture.co.nz/ www.targetfurniture.co.nz/ www.bigsave.co.nz/ www.furniturecity.co.nz/

Animals are very expensive to buy. All dogs must be chipped and licensed

You can hire people to clean your house wash the windows and a garden service to do the garden this works out very expensive minimum wage +-$12 per hour.

The best website to check for employment is www.seek.co.nz



You will be homesick and may get depressed you will miss the maid/gardener but after all life is what you make it. You choose.

The contents of this email are not to be considered as a legal opinion nor relied upon as such; this is my views based upon my experiences.

ex New Pier Durban Surf Rat

Hello Magnus,
I like the idea of your new blog...i will certainly be watching and reading all the stories..

We left Hillcrest Durban on the 8th June 2005 and arrived in Perth on Thursday 9th June. We were greeted by a rainy day..but man, it did not matter, we were on cloud nine.
Why you decided to leave.Why we left is easy for us, we were not attacked or victims of direct crime, we just had enough of: all the bloody kak that we saw, read and heard about on the tv press etc. Oh and dont get me started on the bloody taxis and the incompetent ( should be incontinent) police.In essence, we wanted to live in a country where we can enjoy world class medical service at a rate which is affordable ( ya Discovery/Netcare ur expensive and Kak), a place where the Law is upheld, and respected and crime is solved, and perps arrested fast...(SAPS gaan KaK), a currency which is stable and accepted by the world over....Ok, so you get the idea...I could go on..
How difficult it was get through the red tape.hahahahaaaa....LOL....ya when you start trying to get the documents from the various government departments, it seemed that their was a deliberate intention by the government departments to derail the supply of the documents that you need. It took a lot of perseverance in order to get the documents that were needed. Especially our marriage certificates and the kids Birth certificates....The process with the Oz side, was a real breeze...my migration agent was fantastic...an ex Zimbabwean guy living in Perth, he visits SA every three months ...if anyone needs to find out then let me know...I can really recommend him and his team.


Costs involved.well, we decided long before we left that we were not taking a container and any of our furniture. So we sold and put our money into a credit card. Bought tickets and left...I can give you a tip, we arranged for unaccompanied luggage prior to leaving...this allowed us to take ( our choice) of 200kg at a rate well below what moving companies were charging. The luggage was charged in weight, whereas the other freight forwarders/companies charge per cubic metre rate...they are very expensive.
There is also aspects such as emotional costs, family and friends cost...but that is another long story.

Advice to those stuck in arsezania.my advice is get out, , take the kids out of school, packup your house, drop the keys of your house at the local bank, leave your Stannic Financed car keys in the car at the airport, buy a ticket with the Nedbank/Standard bank credit card and get out....I will say it again, lean in real close as I say this....GET OUT.Believe this, there is a better life than what you know now....It is very simple " just pack and leave'
Would you assist other with contacts etc.Yeah, I would be happy to assist and i can be contacted on email bunburygent@hotmail.com
Regrets.Yes, there is a few...I miss my good mates, the scenery of the countryside, the smell of impending rain on the Highveld, the Rugby at ABSA stadium and the great surf at Durbans New Pier...But, as time passes, and you make new friends and you 'see' your new country...and all that it has to offer, you realise that you are blessed and lucky to be in a place where you can truly live a life.

Any other information regarding your big move.At the moment no, I may think of something and post it later.

Thanks....cheers for now...
ex New Pier Durban Surf Rat.

Thanks for contributing.
Sorry I cannot reply via email.
M.

SAS Returns

Relax everyone.

We are back at the following address.

http://southafricanhell.blogspot.com/

Or you can use the link on the left of this page.

Please everyone - let this be a lesson. In future save a few links that are common to the sas web site like this blog and Eli's site etc. That way you can track us down the next time the plug get pulled!



Try and spread the word.

What happened to SAS?

Hi Magnus, What happenned to the blog Why south africa sucks,to my disgust when i logged on this after noon i found that is has been removed.Thanks Allen

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Hello everyone

I am almost without an answer myself.

I guess one too many liberals complained.

Keep visiting here. As soon as we have it up again I will post an answer.

Dallas Texas

Dear Magnus In 1997 I finally took the plunge. After having worked with members of the new system in the South African Government and Military, I realized that the country would continue the inevitable slide into chaos. I left the country which I had loved and fought for and headed for the US of A. My advice for anyone who is considering a move to a new country is to do the due dilligence. Visit and get familiar...find friends from your own background and rely on them for direction. Most of them will have done what you are about to do, and will have done it the hard way. Take their advice and do not be afraid to work for what you want. You will appreciate it more. Once you move out of the oppressively restrictive atmosphere of RSA and get to travel overseas, you will find expat South Africans in all walks of life, the vast majority of whom are very successful contributers to their adopted society. Realize that you will be accepted by people on the strength of your work ethic and not the whenwe type stories which you think are a guarentee to success. My family and I are permanent residents after an epic 8 year struggle. Would I do it again? You bet!! I own my own business, my own home and try to be the most productive member of my community. All of this with very little money after settling all my debts in South africa. We live in Texas just North of Dallas. Southfork ranch is a scant 5 miles away. My children attend the most incredible public schools and we sleep with doors and or windows open at night. Our high school has an on campus office from the local university, and top grade students can take 1st year courses in their matric year. Imagine that...promoting higher education! South Africans grew up telling foreigners not to believe the the skewwed propaganda that was spread about our country in the 70's and 80's. Well I am telling South Africans not to believe the skewed propaganda spread about other countries in an attempt to keep productive citizens from leaving in droves. Get you and yours out now while you still can. Look to your future ...what do you see besides the darkness? My new family motto.....FREEDOM! (ps. Canada is consistently rated as one of the top 7 countries in the world to live in. They welcome South Africans. The process is easily navigated and the support community is LARGE.) Gary Landman Dallas Texas

move to the USA

Hi Magnus,



Everyone has different priorities. When senseless murders began many years ago, I decided that our family's security was my top priority.



Born & raised in SA, I was a director of a major property company, & was happy to give that up to move to the USA with an unknown future. To add to the complications, we did not have green cards, although I had a work visa.



We chose a city that had a large expat. SA community. This proved to be invaluable during the first couple of years.



It was tough to leave family & friends behind, especially for our 2 older children who were in their teens at the time.



I secured a job in my field within a couple of months, and stayed with it for about 5 years before buying a business which we are still running.



Selecting a reliable lawyer is very important, too many will take a retainer and actually do very little to get your application moving. Our lawyers told us what to expect, and we obtained our Green Cards before my work visa expired. There were a few sleepless nights worrying about our Green Card approval. Current costs are for this service depends on many factors.



If leaving SA for a more secure future is your priority, you will find a way to do it. Too many people are unwilling to give up the lifestyle they enjoy in SA. Is it fear of the unknown that stops so many people from leaving? Perhaps it is, but there is one certainty, things are not going to get better.



All you have to do is look at the history of the rest of Africa to see that there is little room for Whites. The younger you are the easier it is.



Regrets, absolutely none. When I go out to pick up the newspaper each morning, I thank the Lord for giving us the foresight to make the move.



In the 20 years we have lived in the USA, I have visited SA 3 times, and see construction taking place like there is no tomorrow. But I also see the infrastructure falling apart. How come so many of you still living there have difficulty seeing it? RS

All that Englishness

Magnus, groete.

This is for your new diaspora website.

The first time I tried to leave South Africa was hard for me. I am only a first-generation South African: my parents are English. My mother is a Londoner, my father a northern Brit from Nottingham. All that Englishness means nothing if you have been born into this impossibly beautiful country as I was (at the Lady Dudley maternity hospital on Johannesburg's hospital hill). South Africa is a potent place that is impossible to forget, especially if you have grown to love it with the fierce pride that I have. It ravishes the soul; its mysteries, some of which are uncanny and terrifying, have left their stamp on me and I know, as an exile, that I will never be complete as long as I am separated from it.
Many have said that Africa, once it get into your bones, will never leave you. Carl Jung thought Africa's sense of place was ineradicable, that the continent cast a peculiar spell that you could never get away from, and that those who chose to leave it would grieve forever for an unrequited love. VS Naipaul spoke tellingly about the awfulness of permanent exile, and how those fated to endure it "trampled the garden of memory" (meaning said bad things about where they had come from) in order to feel better about all they had left behind.
I grieve for the sun-filled days, the red soil, the winding ribbon of road in the lonely Karoo, the promise of spring in the parched Eastern Cape, the discomfiting dusk wind in Cape Town, the Natal Midland mist, the cold of Cradock, the forests of Magoebaskloof. And yes, I miss black people too. They are a part of me.
On the other hand, hey, who needs a country? Who gives a shit? You buy a ticket, you get on a plane, and BOOM. Lovely New Zealand, yours to explore. I have friends on both the north and south islands who regale me with tales about how big this supposedly small country is. Australia, so vast they once detonated a nuclear bomb in the Outback and nobody noticed. The United States. I have friends who have been swallowed whole in Ohio, Michigan and California. They left, and I never heard from them again. Believe me, you won't lack for something to occupy your mind in the US, and I'm not talking about cable television. Canada. I have great affection for Canada. When you step into that place, you'll know you're in a real country (that works) and South Africa will feel like a bad dream.
Just don't make the same mistakes that I did. Get the paperwork sorted, and always get a second opinion about your emigration prospects, even if you have to pay for it. It's money well spent. Just remember: each of these places are real. Once you step into them it's like stepping into a fast-flowing river. Nobody cares where you're from, just as long as you've got money, can speak English, and are willing to work and obey the rules.

From my own limited experience, I offer you the following advice:

• Consular officials are not your first port of call. Rather consult an emigration lawyer.
• The number one rule of travel applies equally with emigration: take fewer clothes and more money.
• Network with South Africans in the foreign country of your choice if you can. You won't believe how ignorant people are about South Africa. No matter how good you are at your job in South Africa (and if you're good in South Africa it means you're really good), they will understand only bureaucratese from the 1970s: diplomas, degrees, references. Get it all in writing.
• If you have good furniture, take it with you. South Africa is the last place left on earth where you can buy quality for cheap.
• Prepare yourself psychologically for culture shock. Try to understand that culture shock is only the experience of cumulative difference. Especially in North America, everything will be different. At first the differences will be exhilarating, then they will be horrifying. You will find that nothing works like it should. The windows and doors and light switches and toilets are all wrong. There are crows and other hideous creatures waiting outside. People wear sunglasses indoors and seem to be on drugs. The money is funny. Don't worry. If you're an upright, regte Suid-Afrikaner, people will soon try to offer you a job.
Which reminds me. One last piece of advice. Don't take the rules too seriously. Wear your best clothes, put on your poshest accent, and doors will open for you, never mind the rules.

There is life after South Africa. Or, as I overheard someone from my northern English town say the other day, "If you get lost, the world's your oyster."

I won't wish you good luck. Unless you're a congenital idiot, you won't need it. The world is still a good place, and waiting for you.

Best regards,
Ragnar Redbeard

rammst+in - part one, two , three

Hi Magnus,

I comment on WSAS as rammst+in. I now live in the South West (no, not Soweto) in the US, nearly 5 years. If I can help just a little, that would be great. I just ask for total anonymity (Always guaranteed) as I still have family in SA and some of my scribblings may hurt them or worse have consequences at some time in the future – you never know.

Please tell us the following.
Why you decided to leave.

My family chose SA purely because the visa came from there first, we could have landed up in Australia had they processed it quicker or not thrown it in the trash can. We won the Lotto!

Austria at the time, 1960 was not exactly a booming economy, many talented people left mainly for Canada, Mr Stronach is one of it’s richest citizens today.

My parents divorced and my dad who was never particularly fond of the indigenous people of South Africa left in 1972. My mom left after the Soweto riots having lost all we came with. This was substantial; the money we brought to SA could buy two houses in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg at the time. Oh well, so much for affirmative action.

I was also due to return, but, never having taken any vacations (my mom ran a business) I wanted to buy myself a Yamaha XT500 and tour around and see Cape Town, The Garden Route and Natal before I left. Well I never did see South Africa on a Yamaha but started working and racing motorcycles, this was much more fun than studying.

Eventually I relented and sold up and left in 1983 to live and work in Austria. I lasted 3 or 4 months. Cold weather, narrow-minded people, no space or ‘Lebensraum’, burocrazy, strict class structure - both political and monetary - I could go on a bit.

So in my infinite wisdom I chose the easy button and went back – braaivleis, sunny skies and Chevrolet. I started a business – an ambition I had always had and something not at all easy in Europe.

The writing had always been there…. I remember the Congolese whites and the Kenyans coming to Jo’burg although there weren’t many of them, many left to go back to Europe and England (at the time Great Britain looked down on the Continent and did not consider themselves European but British – my how times have changed old chap! The next wave were the Mozambicans who had a couple of weeks to pack their belongings, next came the Angolans who said they packed their cars and left, they had to. Some of the ‘Porras’ (I use the term endearingly) showed us snapshots of mutilated corpses with the genitalia having been removed and decoratively stuck on a stick in the ground nearby the head. The last were of course the Rhodesians or the Whenwes. Now the kak was just north of the Limpopo – 1980.

I think when you are young you don’t consider the future and when you are old you only think of it.

As you accumulate more and more crap the inertia really slows your reactions. If you have nothing it is easy to leave if you have a lot of stuff it is hard because you can’t let go.

Anyway, after living in Nirvana for so long it finally caught up with us. It was a lovely sunny midday in Durban, Umbilo Road – I had just commissioned some equipment, it all went well for a change. Being delighted at the prospect of an early return home I phoned my wife – answering service, strange. A couple of minutes later her best friend phoned me, I could sense the agitation in her voice. “What’s wrong?” I asked – “she’s ok, nothing happened to her, your three year old daughter is also fine.” What the fuck happened?” She was held up at gun-point at the house by two guys and tied up, they didn’t do anything to her” “how is she? she’s fucking 7 months pregnant!!!” – I was about to lose my mind… FUCK!!! That’s how it all ended, decision made in an instant.


I hope this story clears your mind as to what lies ahead and what needs to be done.

I’m lucky as so many South Africans never fail to point out, I can go somewhere, they can’t, this is their home. It was mine as well, so it was for thousands of other immigrants, Porras, Greeks, German, Swiss, Austrians, Italians, Yugoslavs, Pommies, Scots….

One doesn’t like to waste ones life – although this was inferred many times “you guys just come here to make bucks then you fuck off again!”

Stay tuned for part 2 (it’s 00:00 o the clock and I’ll be knackered in the morning if I don’t go to bed).

Gute Nacht,


Part 2

Magnus,

You can give out this e-mail address rammsteinaz@yahoo.com if you have any requests for more detailed answers, private correspondence etc. or some disgruntled gentleman from Pofadder who wants to farm in Paraguay and is not happy with my take on things. I only know about USA and Austria - other German speaking countries or Europe and UK are not my forte' - I don't want anyone running into any problems due to me spouting BS. I know people living in those countries but it is doubtful that they will know how to get in as they are all people who have re-emigrated ...

My disclaimer is: Everyone approaches things differently so the results also have to differ, my experience is unique.

Part 2.

Regards,Leo

Part 3.

Rand, I mean Dollars and sense…… Part 3. Costs involved.

I thought about this quite a bit today and how to format it – there are just so many factors involved. I will ignore high net worth individuals for now as I believe this type of person already has an exit strategy.

First of all you cannot replicate your life in South Africa anywhere else. Undoubtedly most people do try to emulate what they are accustomed to until they either give up and go back or adapt to their new environment. You may be someone in SA but wherever you go you are a nobody – that is very tough.

The time formula is:

The first six months are hell, it’s a fucking nightmare, nothing has prepared you for this, nothing. The only exception are those who have family (not friends) at their destination of choice and who have been on a couple of LSD trips (Look, See and Decide) and have some money there (enough to sustain you for at least six months) even then it is no picnic.

If you have a shaky marriage, rebellious teenagers these six months will determine your future….You should consider ‘what if?’ well before you sell up and get on a plane. I don’t believe it will strengthen your relationship, but more on that later.

After about two years you begin to find your feet, you actually understand the nuances or vernacular of the English dialect you thought you understood so well or you’re reasonably proficient in speaking Dutch, German or whatever you chose. You have come to grasp how expensive everything is (not that South Africa is cheap) and have stopped converting every purchase into Rand and driving yourself mad in the process. I believe you can get by on less in South Africa. For example heating and air conditioning are not themes for discussion in South Africa. A bar heater just won’t cut it in England or Canada or anywhere in Europe for that matter, unless you want to be cold and miserable or you hang out at a pub every night, but then the costs would be about the same. Driving a car in Europe - it doesn’t make any sense, catch the tube or U-Bahn it’s better and cheaper and you can check the people out, no parking problems. It’s tough for South Africans – they love their cars.

Five years – you’re at ease and you’ve settled in quite nicely, you remember things with fondness as opposed to despising the blacks, BEE, crime, rape, inflation – the unfairness of it all. You’re accustomed to driving on the other side, you know who to call or where to go for the best value and can hold your own in a conversation without sounding like a bigot. You also come to realize we’re all after the same thing – security and happiness…

The problem is getting from A to 5 years is hard!

Money, Costs…

The easiest is to get a job, even a shitty job that no one else wants to do (that’s why there are so many foreigners in 1st world countries). Leave your ideas about what a kaffir’s job is back in South Africa, you’ll be better off. The quicker you get going the easier. If you think because you were an important manager at Siemens with company car and a nice office – try and get the same deal elsewhere, you won’t, unless you are able to transfer. The world’s economies are all struggling and it seems things will get worse rather than better. The nice thing is that if you have integrity and a good work ethic (the South Africans who have the balls to leave usually do) you are welcome anywhere, even Kazakhstan. Arm yourself with knowledge - it always helps, especially your kids – I don’t have a particularly high regard for the SA edu K shun sis tum - it’s getting worse.

THE SINGLE BIGGEST THING TO PREPARE YOURSELF IS TO FIRE THE MAID AND THE GARDENBOY - START DOING THESE CHORES YOURSELF AND THE HUSBAND MUST HELP.

Do this for some time and only then think about leaving. There is no cheap labour to wipe your arse wherever you want to go.

We were told to bring as much with as possible (remember don’t take anyone’s advice without informing yourself first) so we shipped a 40 foot container with our worldly possessions in it. Depending where you go you can’t take some things with you like appliances to the US. You could, and buy a transformer but you soon realize what you had in SA was crap anyway – those Mickey Mouse washing machines designed for European requirements (one bath a week and wear the same clothes to work everyday).
Take the good stuff leave the crap. You can get smoking deals in the US and if you’re prepared to buy used you’re laughing..

I think we wasted a lot of money on transferring our stuff. It depends on what you have that has special meaning to you and what you can make do with for the first five years. A packed container (the shipping company packs it) costs over R65k. You can pack yourself but then you may have to fly to wherever your container has been stopped and talk with customs especially if they find items you should not be shipping like your collection of Meerlust Rubicon. The storage for a couple of weeks can break the bank if you mess around with customs.

You arrive without a credit history which means you can’t buy anything on credit which I believe isn’t a bad thing, the exception is a house. This has to be your absolutely first priority. It grounds you and the family and it also builds your net worth and helps with establishing a credit history. In the USA you can write off the interest on your mortgage. This is a no brainer for anyone coming to the USA. I don’t know about other countries but let someone else write that story. In Europe you’re wasting your time if you think you can convert 11 Rand to a Euro and buy a house. Perhaps an apartment if you can find one but usually you have a long line of people waiting for them. It’s depressing, no wonder they hate the Americans.

Schooling is free the only thing is you need to investigate are school districts (carefully) – you can’t live in a cheap neighborhood and send your kids to the best school across town like they did when I went to school (KES, Parktown Boys, Jeppe Boys are case in point)

I’m delighted at the postings that are so positive – isn’t it nice when you can focus on good things rather that the bad.

Perhaps it isn’t such a bad thing that WSAS went down….

Later…



Peace

Part # 4 Advice to those stuck in arsezania.
Part # 5 Would you assist other with contacts etc.
Part # 6 Regrets.
Part # 7 Any other information regarding your big move.
Part # 8 We would like a photo or two.

Tell us your personal story

This new blog hopes to get all your stories about why you left arsezania. Where you went and what life is like in your new country. Need I ask this - would you return to arsezania? Why, Why not.
Tell us as much as you can.

Thanks for being a part of this new project.