Batten the hatches of escape

2008-02-18 08:56

Jon Qwelane

It galled me no end to learn that last year some 338 South Africans wrote and passed the citizenship test enabling them to become Australian citizens, increasing even more the 5 036 South Africans who took up Australian nationality between 2006 and 2007.

The news evoked deep reactions within me: anger at differing levels and, finally, meek acceptance that the current Constitution allows this type of "twee-gat jakkals" scenario to happen, and that as a country we must do something about it.

Any number of people, particularly skilled people, leaving the country perhaps for good is usually bad news. Those emigrating are usually highly skilled: doctors such as cardiac surgeons, teachers, nurses, engineers, mining artisans and others.

South Africa spends millions of rands training such people to equip them with skills: in the days of apartheid, university education usually cost parents almost next to nothing compared to now; the state subsidised the bulk of the students' learning - the expensive and grandiose lecture buildings and laboratories, the lecturers' and professors' salaries were all borne by the state.

Indeed, for a certain privileged racial group all schooling up to matric was state-subsidised and compulsory.

What all this says, notwithstanding the predictable howls of protests such as "black children burned their schools and their books" and also said "liberation before education", is that the country spent billions of rands to educate and train potentially useful people for the export market.

I remember one visit I made to the United Kingdom in 1987 when I sat down to dinner in a room with at least 50 young doctors, trained at the universities of Cape Town and Wits, and was told there were more being expected!

Angry

This week's news that Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America had now joined the UK as nations harvesting the best of our local talent angered me.

Why can't the government batten the hatches of escape and make such people pay back to the country what they milked from it? Why won't the government tighten the laws to make it harder for people to leave before paying back what the country invested in their education and training?

And why can't the government make it doubly harder for those who had forsaken their citizenship for "greener pastures" to regain their residence rights? All these are quite attainable, with appropriate amendments to the constitution and immigration laws.

But then again, it should be up to people if they want to play the eternal role of scavengers. Vultures, as an example, rarely go out to kill for their own food but will wait until their next meal falls to the ground either from being too old, exhausted or severely wounded.

We must admit that the government, instead of tightening the laws and the constitution to force people to stay against their wishes, ought to create conditions which will make this an attractive proposition for people wishing to stay and build their lives here.

In other words, get seriously tough with eradicating crime and conditions which create fertile fields for crime and criminals to flourish in. That includes eliminating such ill-considered schemes such as BEE for pals, unconditional affirmative action, and telling the truth when claiming to create "a better life for all".

But I am afraid all those cannot happen in the dark like nefarious plans: get Eskom to give us light, which I suspect is the newest reason people are scuttling.

Some internet readers of this column had the usual knee-jerk and totally ignorant reaction to this passage last week: "Will he (Mbeki) or won't he meet the ANC deadline of disbanding the special force of apartheid's former special branch, now styling itself the Scorpions, by the end of June this year?"

They fumed self-importantly that the Scorpions were never an apartheid creation but were formed by the ANC government. Even a Grade One pupil with a modicum of understanding of the English language would have clearly understood the meaning contained in that paragraph.

Check the backgrounds of many members of the Scorpions and you'll find they were members of apartheid's "security" police of murderers, liars, and torturers who resigned rather than serve the "enemy" government.

The formation of the Scorpions enabled them to regroup as a so-called "independent" unit, which made the continuation of their personalised "war" against the former "enemy" easier. They continue to harass and persecute former guerrillas at every given turn.

I never realised that one still met people with barely enough brains enough to fill a teaspoon!

Jon Qwelane's column is published each week on News24, courtesy of Jon Qwelane and the editor of Sunday Sun, which originally carried the article.

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"Why can't the government batten the hatches of escape and make such people pay back to the country what they milked from it? Why won't the government tighten the laws to make it harder for people to leave before paying back what the country invested in their education and training?". How about they pay ME back MY taxes that they squandered over the past 14 years. And they wonder why I am taking my skills to Oz...

If the country was safe to live in then maybe they wouldn't leave! Maybe if 90% of the population had respect for thier fellow man, they wouldn't leave. Maybe if the government actually developed the country instead of destroying it while lining thier own pockets then they wouldn't leave! Maybe if you stopped blaming apartheid for everything then you would see that the government and you fools are destroying one of the most beautiful countries in the world!

It is you with the peanut brain. If someone wants to leave - ask the question: Why? It should be anybody's right/perogitive to leave if they so desire - without any penalties. Does South Africa pay countries where we get immigrants with the skils we need in this country eg doctors, etc?? No - again - Jon - you are a one-eyed $%^*hole!! of peop Do

I am an engineer actively looking to emigrate as I am not allowed to work in SA due to racial laws. I love SA and would like to stay but neither I nor my kids have a future under this racial labour laws.

In what dreamland were you and are you living? All my training and education came at a cost nothing was for free. If it was subsidized you HAD to work all the costs back to your employer. Training for free dream on!!

Time would be better spent eradicating the reasons for leaving, rather than trying to force people to stay. Unfortunately, however, until we get a decent, reasonably clever president and leader (other than those 2 equally dire options TM and JZ)we will see a constant flow of people looking for greener pastures.

John, according to Charles Nqakula, I would be considered a whinger, but for the first time ever, I am looking into leaving, and it's not because I object to an ANC government. I do object to the crime. This country is built on an illsuion that we achieved the impossible, but we didn't. There may as well been a civil war, because there are more murders here on a daily basis than there are in Afghanistan and Iraq, and alot of it is racially motivated. It is like a genocide.

to think tht I will payback anything...u are correct, students should have been studying them instead of burning books ! U can't blame educated citizens for wanting to leave a crime ridden country...the only way things are going to change is if govt stops twiddling their thumbs and does something abt crime ! And another thing its not only whities that are leaving !

What about my taxes....did that not assist in my studies?? AND YOU KNOW WHAT, i am so sick of everyone complaining, i will pay back twice the amount (studies) to get out of here. By the way im leaving in 5 weeks....

Regardless of their abject failure to educate young blacks with subsidised education like the whites. In fact they have destroyed it. The ANC is the enemy of the BCM that led the 1970's education protest for good education and not Bantu Ed. The ANC gave you burnt schools and uneducated masses. People leave because they see the wood for the trees. But you'll vote the ANC back into power next year to reward them for their fraud and corruption. Enjoy the people's poverty, its the life you chose...

Jon,I lived under apartheid,I lost everything I had to the apartheid government and was exiled for my stand.BUT, I had to pay for my own university studies.I received no assistance from the state.You allude to a "certain racial" segment.Have balls man!!WHITE,go on say it,WHITE.If I choose to take my skills elsewhere,no govt will stop me.Last I looked,this was still a democracy

John could I pose a question. I took out a student loan and put myself through university for 4 years. Working in the holidays to try and limit the damage. I have since qualification been working for 6 years to repay my loans. What do I owe SA? I have been exposed to the most violent incedents imaginable. I am scared to leave my wife in our own house by herself. I for one would love to contribute to SA and stay here but i am not willing to live in fear.

Jon, your comments on making people "pay back the country what they milked from it" etc are idiotic, to say the least! The only realistic way to keep people here - and you say this yourself - is to make a place where highly skilled and competent people want to stay, even if they are offered lucrative salaries overseas. The second part of your article makes perfect sense. The first part is a load of nonsense. It is as if cant help but to play the "race card" whenever you have something to say.

I seem to recall that you were one of "those" that wanted all the whites to leave. I am a UK citizen living in SA(though not for much longer). By your theory , the government should be paying me for bringing my skills into the country.

I share your sentiment of keeping people in SA. Your idea of cheap education before 1994 does seem a bit distorted though. I paid for my own education with working after classes and study loans. It was not cheap. The only way to keep the skills in SA is to better the conditions for all people in SA! Do something about crime. Do something about infra structure and better the education system! We had to work hard to get our education and it was not given to us on a silver platter.

'.... in the days of apartheid, university education usually cost parents almost next to nothing compared to now...' John, how dare you make such unfounded, comments. Who do you think you are? My parents bent over backwards to pay for my university fees, which where extremely high. I am eternally grateful to them. Your comments smack of someone who has not researched the subject matter, BEFORE, commenting, and just regurgitates the same-old, stereotyped, hackneyed phrases over and over again.

Jon, I usually enjoy your tongue in cheek jibber-jabber, but this has to be your most idiotic effort yet. Your tit-for-tat logic just smacks of sour grapes and defies, well, logic. All those "ill-considered schemes such as BEE for pals, unconditional affirmative action..." etc, have achieved their purpose of making us whites feel as unwelcome as you wanted us to feel, so now the inevitable has happened, and whites are leaving in droves. So go ahead and wallow in your success. You and Mr Mugabe both. Numerous MP's have insisted that South Africa has no need of whites, so you're better off without us anyway. Methinkest thou protest too much. Perhaps ask your government why they spend *our* taxes buying billions (did you pay attention? - BILLIONS!) in unneeded arms when your people live in squallor and your children go without much needed free education. But I guess it's just easier to 'blame the white guy'.

I suppose one can't be said to meet oneself. The only way to reduce the number of people leaving SA is to make it more attractive than what is offered overseas. Forcing people to stay has been shown not to work. I wouldn't bother with the guilt-trip attempt, either - we pay tax as our parents did.

My Friend almost lost his life in a armed robbery at his house. The bullet missed his son's head by 2 cm He was shot in the stomach and the chest. They woke up at 11 in the night with gunshots fired at their bed and it all for 2 cell phones and R50. He is a extremely skilled Geologist and now he is leaving because his family's life is more important to him than his love for SA. Thank you new SA. Thank you for murdering and raping and robbing our will to love and stay in this country.

Not eneough brains to fill a teaspoon! How insulting. I think if you, and the rest of this so-called government of the people, just consider for a moment why these people are leaving. It has nothing to do with "milking" the system and then leaving, but everything to do with the state which this government has allowed the country to get to. Watching Carte Blanche last night highlights it all. Now, again, like everything else, lets legislate to force people to stay, how pathetic!!

The fact of the matter is that majority of those seeking greener grass elsewhere, were schooled at schools with higher school fees than the average and was paid by parents. Secondly if they are not paying their college/university fees to this day with the easier money made there, they got bursaries from private companies who they now went to pay back for their kindness (most of the time in a contract agreed beforehand). The grass in SA lacks the sweet taste for those in discussion.

They tell the people who is tired of the crime and "complaining" so much to take their stuff and leave... Now you want the government to stop the people from leaving... Talking about wanting your cake and eat it... I personally think there is a lot more free education these days than 20 years ago. (and still we blame history)

So what are you saying? Skilled people must stay just to be denied jobs? Why force someone to stay when everything is as bad as it is? Whites escpecially will leave because we are told to do so! By YOUR government! Why did the ANC then create the scorpions and put those people in those jobs? You really missed that one didn't you! Idiot! Racist!

John,SA is the land of our fathers. It is also the most beautiful place anyone would wish to live, and MOST of the people that I know who have left, do so with very heavy hearts. They have had to make the choice of the lesser of two evils. Leaving this paradise,or becoming a victim of yet another violent crime. Generally the privelaged whites are not runners, they will stay to help rebuild SA, but a murder of a loved one tends to weaken any resolve.The govt must do their bit.

I must admit every time I read something this columnist writes it provokes an urge for a "knee-jerk" reaction. So far I've not yet read anything positive, he always plays the blame game. Even if, rarely, I agree with him I still want to attack his usually belligerent position. Considering that the education subsidies are paid with OUR taxes, I feel we can damn well do with the fruits of that whatever and wherever we like. Changing the constitution to limit freedoms, you should be ashamed.

After watching Carte Blance last night, I realised how sick our country really is! It's not just robbery anymore. It's well planned, brutal attacks aimed at instilling fear in the minds of white south africans! We used to try and be positive, but made up our minds last night that we are going. Two more "highly skilled" people lost to SA...

John, were you not wanting us to leave a few columns back? Now you complain about us leaving. Yes, Twee-gat-jakkals inderdaad. I used to be passionate about SA, but the last few months, ag nee wat. Maybe overseas is not such a bad option after all. At least there people don't get murdered in your neigbourhood all the time (we had about 10 murders in a few months very close by...). There is no longer future for me here.

...but I am constantly afraid and jump with fear if the phone rings after 8pm at night. Out of the 12 people in mine and my husband's families, NINE of us have been held up, attacked in our home or hijacked. The fear, nightmares and paranoia have taken their toll and we decided yesterday that we need to leave. CRIME is the ONLY reason we're leaving. If the government manages to reduce it, we'll stay. I was educated post apartheid, paid for my studies myself and have paid taxes ever since.

You are an idiot.... Everyone know there are 2 main reasons for people leaving South Africa! Crime and AA. Crime is a massive problem here and it affect everyone, black and white! Those who are leaving because of crime are in a fortunate position... they don't have to (or want to) hang around, hoping that the government will finally do something about it! The other group (AA) are probably white males in their 40's and 50's who have been retrenched by companies like Eskom!

"And why can't the government make it doubly harder for those who had forsaken their citizenship for "greener pastures" to regain their residence rights? All these are quite attainable, with appropriate amendments to the constitution and immigration laws." Great idea.....but why beat around the bush? Lets scrap the Constitution totally, make JZ party leader for life and adopt Stalinism as our national philosophy.

there are many many non-white people leaving as well. many of the HDSA's are disillusioned after 14 years and see that SA is on a downward uncontrolled spiral in crime, healthcare, infrastructure and corruption. All educated south african's remain untited in their dismal view of what's happening in SA. I think you should look for a job at the daily sun in UK, or Iowa times in USA, just in case things get worse.

In the company I work for there are 10 persons currently working their notice month and then emigrating. It is the highest number at any point in time. They are young, energetic, qualified. Why now? Because crime has become even worse (sic!)! Because they have lost their last hope for SA. Those facts are not of their making. It is the product of ANC destructive policies. Where and when will all of this end?

Why is it that the 'under-privileged' continually EXPECT hand outs?That's why this country is failing is because the mass population wants everything for nothing! What country in the world just hands it's citizens wealth? You got to work for it, and as long as the 'under-privileged' have this unfortunate attitude crime, racism and poverty will continue!

I've spent many years putting money, effort and training into the SA workforce. I've received precious little in return, except to be robbed twice at gunpoint, and have my AA employees steal from me. Why should I put any more effort in and get nothing back? In about 8 months, 17 people (15 of them black) will be losing their jobs when I take myself and my business overseas. You basically want to take me hostage and prevent me from leaving? What do you hope to gain from that?

I am trying to exhort people, good people (who paid for their educations) to stay and not leave. To look for the positive, and not the nagative. To see the opportunity that exists. Shame on you Jon, that you heap scorn on people leaving and try to force them to stay - and talk about addressing the real reason as an after-thought. Shame on you for perpetuating the negative and bigger SHAME on you for nurturing racism in your columns.

Does every single column you write HAVE to refer to apartheid? Do you get off on it? Does it help to give you the feeling that you are 'sticking it to the white man'? Complain about the corrupt government rather. The main reason the Scorpions were disbanded was ONLY because they started catching out more and more corrupt ANC officials! But as long as they are black, and in power, I guess you're OK with it?

JQ you hit the nail on the head. Actually, we should make it even more easier for them to leave in droves & if they think our economy and country would collapse they have something coming for them. The whingers can leave tomorrow if they want we don't need their kind. There's more skilled people coming to our shores than leaving. They'll be even more in the future. White people need to get used to the fact that they are in an country where they're a minority & Africans are a majority.

John, instead of sinking to the level of this sad article, why do you not take up the challenge directed to you last week? Why do you not write a logically accurate article on what your esteemed Jacob Zuma will bring for SA: =>will he be able reduce crime? =>will he be able to unite this country after the years of Mbeki's racism? =>will he continue to grow the economy? If you can respond logically to these questions you may prevent some emigration.

I don't intend to leave but I do not hold it against people who do. How about giving me back the year I had to waste doing national service? How about giving the engineers who are leaving jobs at Eskom instead? The idea of descriminating in the name of equality indicates either that guvmunt's cannot meet the education challenge or other racial group cannot compete on a equal playing field. P.S Fire away.

The past is gone Jon stop waisting your energy blaming the past, just have good hope for change.You must read the book called the SECRET & you will stop being so negative.This is a great country things will change 4 the better soon.You are attracting all the bad commands to yourself coz you write with a tone of arrongance,unforgiveness & hatred.I respect you coz you r educated & a very good writer but please write something that can change our ways of thinking.Be smart okay!

Jon Qwelane, Bring back the slave trade, only with whites this time, why do you complain about white doctors, trained by the so called Appartheid government with money paid for by white tax payers, leaving. But you dont moan when your criminal government with presidential thief in waiting disband the ONLY competent crime fighting force ALSO staffed by the hated white people? I think you have much less than a teaspons fill of brains.

What are they trying to hide by doing away with scorpions? They want to form a friendly body that will hide their wrong doings and their involvement in organised crime. Don't make the background of individuals an excuse, it is the experiance they earned in combating high calibre crime. Maybe you are corrupt like them because you are of the same mind like them (birds of the same mind flock together).

Jon, the current government is STILL subsidising and training people from ALL walks of life, only to have them ALL leave for better situations. Make the current situation better, and they wont leave. Acknowledge everyones right to some simple things. We cant eat ideology. It doesnt protect us from bullets. And the current situation actually DOESNT give everyone a voice to be frank.

Jon, sorry to say, but you lost a plot. Or is it influence of Zumanyite? Do you want to regulate even issuing the passports??? How about making this country attractive to skilled immigrants. WAKE UP, time of unbridled populism and "dictatorship of proleteriat" is GONE. Trust me, I come from an ex-communist country... Articles like this are embarresment to this country that you claim you love. Shame on you.

Is for government to give more black people bursaries to further their education in tertiary institutions,generally improve the skills levels of blacks.It is a known fact that black people are not likely to emmigrate from SA like other racial groupings.Even if they do it is not in large numbers & they are more likely to come back,i think the idea of stoping people from emmigrating won't work,let them go so that govt can accelerate skills development in the country,it's not that bad actually.

Looking at this article I believe JQ must be an AA appointment as this article cannot be wriiten by somebody with any intelligence. I'm a computer professional and have to work as a contractor - I cannot get a permanent job because I'm white. I completed a "private" programming course and then did my degree after hours. Apparently Jon's become so comfortable in his cushy AA job that's he's lost touch with reality, much like the current goverment.

The only reason you are not going also is because you got your job in SA as an AA candidate and you won't make it as a journalist in the real world. Me, my skills and my R400000,00 tax I pay every year will be gone soon. Good riddance to bad rubbish like you and this one-eyed government.

It makes sense now John, you dont care how good the Scorpions are or how much corruption they have stopped, you just worried that they might investigate your fellow Comrades hey? Funny how you and your ANC buddies have blamed this on Apartheid, an effective crime fighting unit. Funny!

...well if the skilled people don't have enough brains to fill a teaspoon, and they are smart enough to see the writing on the wall and get out while they still can, what does it say about the quantity of brains held by those who want them to leave?

It's not easy to leave. You take a financial hit, you have to give up everything you've worked towards, and go into an unfamiliar country. It's a huge risk. There are many wonderful people here but the crime and corruption are getting worse (even getting elected into leadership positions.) I've tried to stay as long as possible. But when the government tells "whiners" of crime to leave, it's time to go.

Our government is useless....as simple as that. Consumer prices are skyrocketing while salaries stay the same and people with little or NO experience draw fat salaries because of racial quotas. John, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out these things. I am also on the first plane out of this country if the opportunity comes around.

John, one also does not require much more than a teaspoon of brains to know that if people have not committed any crimes, they cannot be charged with anything - either by the Scorpions, the SAPS or anyone else!!! If the ''former guerillas'' were honest, they would not be afraid of any police or security apparatus!!!!!!!

You never cease amuse me. I will do everything in my power to get out of this country. Other countries want our workers cause they can offer them a proper salary in a currency that actually matters, that has less crime and and less murder. Why would you want to live in a crime-ridden country? I would tell everyone to get out of this hell-hole. We didn`t chose to be born here and we didn`t chose to be citizens of the country. If we want to leave, let us. There will be more left for you to destoy

I had to pay for my own tertiary education. It cost me a hell of a lot of money and hard work! I owe the state nothing. The state has failed in its constitional responsibility to protect its citizens from crime. That gives me every right to leave! I will not leave yet, but I live in fear every day. I have a wife and daughter, I fear for my daughter. There are just too many monsters in this sick, demented, murderous, violent country. Get rid of them and we will stay!

Is it so difficult to see why people are leaving this country.CRIME,AFIRMATIVE ACTION,how does this government expect us to stay in a country where nothing is done to protect the very people who keep this economy going?Now i have to put my children through an education system with no standards,send them to a university ,just to get a degree in something that you can't use,because of the colour of your skin!Is this so difficult to understand?

JQ's articles are always full of complaints and emotion driven.I always listen to his 7.30am slots on ukhozi fm breakfast show.The man has no positive contribution to bring.if he is not attacking so and so he is attacking this and that.JQ you are a fellow black brother and i advise you to change the approach on your articles

Take a left.. into the bursary office and ask where the money for many students who studying in the direction of engineering or any other highly skilled area, comes from. This now for people actually working in SA today... you'll find that they are mostly if not 99% funded by privately owned companies. Funny enough most of those companies have there roots in other countries... A low grade article with too much emotion (as Keith mentioned) and lacks a properly funded education.

"The formation of the Scorpions enabled them to regroup as a so-called "independent" unit, which made the continuation of their personalised "war" against the former "enemy" easier. They continue to harass and persecute former guerrillas at every given turn." That is just plain funny, are you serious JQ? If you are, you have to get that head checked. Some serious paranoia going on there. These guys are saving our country from the crippling corruption the ANC have installed everywhere.

Jon Qwelane, you are so blind to reality that you would not see it even with the help of Eskom. As long as we don't take ownership of our problems and keep blaming it on days gone we will not be able to move on. Why don?t we dig up and discard the infrastructure that got built pre ?94? We have learned our lesson and will not let it happen again, but that part of our history is exactly that: History! And your complaint that other countries are benefitting from our investment in education might just as well have been made by an Ozzy if conditions in our country were bettered by the beleaguered Scorpions. They have been led by senior ANC members for years so how can they be ?out? for ANC comrades. Your complaint should have been that people in the camp you support were caught out by the Scorpions.

I am one of those who has past my English test and living happily in Australia without all the sing song in Africa.U can keep the country and mess it up.Just don't come to Oz when there is nothing left A....hole

John, you are becoming the mouthpiece of a moronic society. I have two sons, now living in London. Both would prefer to live in SA. They are matriculants but can only get jobs paying less than R2000pm. Both doing well in the UK. They would like an equal chance with everyone else. They were born in 1985 so did not contribute to apartheid. Why does the SA government discriminate against them? It is a bias against WHITES in general!

People...I think our black SA brother here is making a futile attempt to get a reaction out of us...surely, as an educated man (did HE pay by the way?) he doesn't believe in the haphazard spew coming out of his own mouth...if so, we have something to serously worry about as the education for the masses isn't having the desired effect of educating them!I suppose it's evident to this very hour,as our future 'skilled' workers are ripping their own lecture halls and residences to shreds! Go on!

There have always been glimpses of stupidity in the writing of Jon but now the floodgates have opened. The simple fact is you cannot perpetuate your own poverty by living by african cultures and then measuring you wealth by western standards. Procreation does not create wealth. When someone stands up and tells the people of this country they need to change, then they will know they have found a leader. Until then it is a cycle of HIV, poverty and Jon blaming apartheid.

Crime, economy, no job (that pays a living wage) Eskom, all sorts of racial prejudice (like yours) are only some af the reasons to leave. I can't believe your confused statements, I always thought you were good at your job, but you just seem to be trying to provoke with this utter rubbish. It is said that you should never argue with a fool, so I won't argue with you - you just go ahead and believe what you want - foolish bit of writing!

Why does news 24 allow this bigot airtime on its website. This posting is a disgrace and constitutes hate speech not free speech. Jon, perhaps its blatently racist comments like yours that make people think there is no future for their families in SA.

You've kinda missed the bus there buddy. So you'd like laws introduced that would enable the government to "own" people, persay? I'd rather not argue with you. It seems you've gone a bit mad already...

Jon, reading most of the comments shows the knee-jerk reactions coming out before having read the last three paragraphs. I think your last three paragraphs say it all. As usual, a good thought provoking piece. We need more people publicly challenging the status quo.

I am a member of "a certain racial group" and could not attend tertiary education of any kind because my family could not afford. But ... "Liberation before education" has got to be the most stupid concept ever. "Liberation through education" would have been better but I guess that's not the African way. Of all the courses of action to take, burning your school and books rates up there with a premium Darwin award. Well done.

Shame! You are angry because it grinds you to admit that you need us. Everything you do tells us you do not want us here, but you need us. What do want us to do, say Ja Baas, I'll stay and work for you Baas, I'll be happy for you to keep insulting and threatening me and I won't talk back. I'll just accept the killing and raping and robberies, because shame, the perpetrators suffered under apartheid. Two sons already left, and by the way they paid for their own education, not a cent from you.

Everyday I try and see the positive about living in this country, but EVERY day I am reminded why I (and so many of my colleagues) are packing up and leaving. I dont want to leave, but i am forced by afirmative action and the fact that i dont want do be just another crime statistic AGAIN!!! You "Africans" want this country so bad, then let us leave and you can have it!! See how well you do with out us.

The law of economics will always prevail. If something better can be attained abroad then people will leave. The thing its not about money its about safety. Corruption I can live with. It can't hurt me physically. Affirmative Action is also justifiable but safety is not something I can compromise on especially when I am told by government that I am whiner for insisting upon better security. I don't want to die at the hands of a hijacker or see my girl-friend raped or mother raped.

Get rid of BEE and AA. Really do something about crime and maybe then people like us will stay. Personally I don't see why I should stay in a country where I hope in vain to be considered for a job, for which I have more than enough skill, but get passed over because I'm not black. Ps.I worked both days and nights,two jobs,to put myself through university and pay the excessive fees because this ANC government has cut almost all the funding to tertiary institutions.I don't owe the ANC anything!

I love South Africa but as a young white female i am not safe in my own home and i would not ever consider having children in this country, unless things changed drastically. In 2 month my husband and i leave for Auckland to check out the pastures. We are both in our 20s. I would hate to leave SA but my opportunities are limited here and you constantly need to look over your shoulder, i have friends who have been raped, we have been robbed while asleep in bed. What other options do we have?

Jon on reading the headline for your column, I though maybe just maybe you had finally turned over a new leaf, but your racist, bigoted affronting come to the fore once again. There is absolutely no compelling reason what so ever for any body with an education and or the financial ware with all to stay in this country. Here is something I would like for you to think about; we had the incident in Freere hospital last year were the deaths of 400 hundred babies die every month. Now I have two children and to hear them gurgle with delight and watch them take there first step, or hear them struggle to say that first dada or mama or see them do the countless things that children do that bring absolute joy to your loves and how humbled you are as a parent to have these little in size but great in stature teachers that are given to us as a gift. Yet our government has decided that it is ok for four hundred babies, four hundred black babies to die of treatable aliments every month in freer hospital. How does our government respond this gross atrocity, it fires Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, continues to employ monto who is guilty of gross human rights violations against her very own people she claims she is helping. Were is the situation in freere stand to day, has it just been swept under the carpet like so many other issues in SA , and how many other freer type hospitals are out there still today. Were babies, black South African babies are dying because our government just doesn?t give a dam. So Jon this is just one of the many incompetence?s that the average South African has to suffer, and I am absolutely positive that given the opportunity the average South African would leave as we South Africa are experiencing with the influx of Zimbabweans and as you cant through a stone in London with out hitting a Zimbabwean there either. Jon I don?t care if a puce yellow blob of non descript ethniticity, genus and religious affiliation rules this country, just so long as they get up and do the Job they were hired to do. Unlike the bunch of morons that are either incumbent or heir apparent, that have defiled the great legacy of the ANC, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, We truly need great leaders that will lead this great country of ours and then we can do away with the drivel that you write every week.

First you tell the white whingers to leave the country, now you want to force them to stay. Who is the "twee-gat jakkals" here. You are a racist - oops I forgot - blacks aren't racists only whites are! I worked for everything I have achieved in my life - you feel entitled to everything without lifting a finger. The saddest thing about this country is that the blacks would rather live like Zimbabweans do than vote for a white party that can make a difference.

There was a part that I agreed with you, however that was destroyed by your insult (teaspoon brains). I fail to understand why we keep on insulting each other when our views differ. What happened to diplomacy, what happened to tolerance of difference? Please people, you claim to be educated, yet you don't think twice when insulting each other. Shame on you all, and grow-up whilst at it.

Reminds me of the pot and the kettle. Way to rant just like like everyone else, John. Like you, most people in SA are angry and confused. As someone with a platform and who supposedly has something interesting to say, you are just blending in with the background noise this time. Editorials are supposed clarify and elucidate a particular point of view. Calm down and try again.

I turned down an offer in Melbourne last year to stay and do the right thing. You just conviced me to actualy start packing. Charles Nqakula did say if I want to go I should, You were also one of the ones that said if they want to go let them go, so why try and keep us then? However, yo finaly conviced me it is the right thing to do. Teaspoon.....lol !!!

John, I have had the privilege be sent to attend a training course in Seattle. I spent my afternoon today walking through the suburbs with a Garmin to guide me. You know, it was so nice to be able to whip out a piece of electrical equipment in public and not have to look over my shoulder, wondering when someone will try to steal it. *Sigh* I would love to have the same feeling at home. Now I am starting to truly understand why people are leaving our beautiful country.

University education was never cheap in this country but in many western countries it is virtually free - for their own citizens. Take Australia, France, New Zealand. They are able to do this because they do not have the burden of unproductive citizens draining their coffers.

My father came here as a qualified doctor in 1984 to work in "black hospitals?. You did not subsidise his skills, he brought them with him. He paid taxes and paid for my education. For a government salary, he saved lives with devotion for 20 years, and when he died, the police kicked his body to check if he was dead. Now we want to go home to the 1st world where we belong and you say ?leave with the shirt you arrived in? get a life! We will take what we worked for with us.

After Germany split up in East and West, many East Germans preferred to live in the West, taking their skills with them. East Germany then build a wall to prevent people from leaving. However, the drive to leave the oppressive regime was so strong that many people lost their lives in crossing the border which was protected with machine guns, bright lights and land mines. Jon, is that what you for South Africa. I was told that the ANC was a liberation movement!!

Godfrey you are a star, I agree let the masses get the education system to help them, seeing that they doing so well currently. Let them study in darkness, seeing that white's represent darkness... You and John should run this country. Viva to the IDOITS, seeing that you so many...!!

My scholastic education and degree took 16 years and approximately R95000 to complete. If I work in SA for the same amount of time at my current salary I will have paid R576 000 in taxes. So what exactly do I owe the state for my education?

I returned to SA in 2003 but now I'm emigrating to Canada again with what remains of my family. We're taking our skills and our money somewhere where we will be safe. I cannot stand this crime and violence anymore and I feel like we are being exterminated. I really would like to stay but I can't risk losing another loved one to this hatred and greed.