By Thabiso Thakali
Large numbers of highly skilled South Africans, including engineers, are considering leaving the country in the wake of Eskom power debacle.
This has been confirmed by a variety of sources, including estate agents, removal companies and emigration consultants.
The people inquiring about quitting South Africa were "split across the race spectrum", and many of them were highly qualified professionals who had a potential to start a new life in another country with ease, according to Eden Joubert, a lawyer with Emigration group.
| 'We expect this period to pass and the numbers will certainly decrease' |
The Engineering Council of South Africa (Ecsa) said an estimated 300 qualified engineers were leaving South Africa every year. This estimate was based on the number of engineers who cancel their registration with Ecsa before they emigrate, said Johan Pienaar, the council's manager for registration.
And Robert Wakeling, a member of 4G consulting, an international technical recruitment agency, said South Africa had a good reputation for having highly skilled and qualified candidates in the engineering sector, who could be recruited at affordable rates. He said 4G had recruited 50 engineers to work overseas last year.
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"They include civil, mechanical, marine, and chemical, construction and mining engineers. There were also an additional 14 project managers and safety officers."
Wakeling said demand for engineers from South Africa in the international market had doubled in the past five years. "The challenge for us now is to find these engineers who are sought all over the world. The skills pool in the country is unfortunately getting smaller with time," he said.
The increased number of people contemplating quitting has resulted in a flood of homes and other properties coming on to the market across the country in the past three months, with requests for property evaluations taking off as owners contemplate leaving South Africa, according to estate agents.
The Seeff Properties Group had experienced a rush of people looking for evaluation of their properties following the December holidays, according to chairman Samuel Seeff.
"There is no doubt that some South Africans are beginning to question their future in this country, although it is difficult to quantify the numbers involved," he said, adding that the company was receiving 50 percent more inquiries compared to the same period last year.
He said many people indicated they were seriously reconsidering their future in SA and wanted to weigh up their options - although the number selling their properties and relocating was lower.
"I believe there is a negative sentiment at this stage brought on by uncertainty of what the future holds. However, we expect this period to pass and the numbers will certainly decrease again."
Ronald Ennik, managing director of Pam Golding Properties, said the company had seen a rise in evaluations in the market this year.
"But we cannot say this is because people want to leave the country," he said.
"Yes, there is more stock in the market now, but most people haven't told us that they were selling their properties because they were moving abroad," Ennik added.
However, Joubert said many of the people who had consulted him said they had lost confidence in the government looking after their needs.
"People are worried about the future of their children, their properties and generally about their lifestyles," he said.
His firm had seen a sharp increase of "almost 300 percent" at the end of last year in the number of inquiries about possible emigration "because of the uncertainty of what the future holds," he said.
Carla Rodrigues-Schoeman, co-ordinator of Master Movers International, said since 2004 the company had issued over 703 quotations to clients intending to move abroad, with the majority of people planning to move to the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A significant number of them showed interest in heading to Europe, either as returning citizens or starting a new life, she said.
"Most of these people are skilled, middle class to upper wealthy, mostly whites."
Almost 90 percent of South Africans claim to leave to find better education and the prospects of better life for their kids because they feel South Africa is unable to provide this at the moment, Rodrigues-Schoeman said.
King International Movers general manager, Rolf Lamers, concurred.
"Things have suddenly picked up in the export shipments. We are doing four times as many jobs as we did in January of the past year," he said.
Lamers said there was an increase in inquiries and quotations sent out to clients who said they wanted to emigrate. He said many of his clients had cited the power crisis as a major contributing factor to their decisions to leave.
"It is a story of doom and gloom if you look at who these people are," he warned.
"Although all my clients are overwhelmingly English-speaking white folks, there are coloureds and Indian professionals moving abroad as well."
The SA Institute of Civil Engineers (Saice) said although a shortage of engineers and technicians was still a national problem, emigration was no longer a major contributing factor to this effect in the civil engineering sector.
David Botha, the executive director of Saice, said: "I personally don't believe emigration is still a major problem.
"In fact the number of civil engineers who emigrated from this country has at this stage dropped considerably."
- This article was originally published on page 9 of Cape Argus on February 09, 2008
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