Johannesburg — SA must attract foreigners to boost growth'

THE fortunes of the rand are often up for discussion at Nando's . The conversation would perhaps seem inconsequential, were the diners in the eatery not thousands of kilometres from home, pondering the future from Putney in London.

Young South Africans in this overseas branch of their home country's fast-food franchise talk about whether making a return to the poolside lifestyle they have left behind is better than slogging it out in cloudy London.

The same accent and the same conversation are to be heard in Calgary in Canada, Perth in Australia and Wellington in New Zealand.

Emigration has emerged as one of the biggest challenges to post-apartheid SA.

Skilled South Africans find it easy to work abroad, where their skills are eagerly snapped up. This flow is seriously undermining the country's efforts to rise above 3% economic growth.

A University of SA (Unisa) study estimates that 39000 South Africans left the country in 1999 to join the 1,6-million already living abroad.

The chance of more joining them is high. About 70% of skilled South Africans consider emigrating; an estimated 20% has already left.

The brain drain costs South Africa R2,5bn a year, with the loss of each skilled professional reckoned to destroy as many as 10 unskilled jobs.

Statistics SA says 10262 people emigrated from the country in the first 10 months of last year. In 2000 it was 9908, though independent researchers say the real figure is three times higher.

The loss particularly among young people is felt most acutely in engineering, medicine, accounting and financial services. A survey by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, now renamed Monday, shows that the banking industry considers a shortage of skills one of the top threats to its future.

A World Bank study of manufacturing industry in Johannesburg also shows anxiety about finding appropriate skills in the local labour market, while about 35% of doctors who graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand's medical school in the 1990s have emigrated.

The reasons for this exodus are many. Some South Africans are propelled abroad by the uncertainties of majority rule, while others cite fear of crime, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, massive unemployment, the government's policy of affirmative action, corruption and declining standards of health care and education. "Violent crime is the reason why 60% of emigrants leave SA. During the 1990s, approximately 250000 South Africans were murdered," says the author of the study, Johann van Rooyen.

Others are tempted by the opportunities thrown up by SA's reintegration into international business after apartheid-era isolation.

The favoured destinations are Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK.

A host of services, advertised in local newspapers and on websites, is on hand to help South Africans to pack up and start afresh.

Many do not need assistance, however, because about 800000 South Africans hold British passports and are able to enter the UK and work.

Another set can extend their stay in the UK by virtue of British ancestry.

"SA is shedding skills at a worrying rate to its global competitors. These countries have no compunction about creaming off skilled people from other countries," says Jonathan Crush of the Southern Africa Migration Project.

The government is uncertain about how to respond.

Former president Nelson Mandela and senior cabinet ministers have made emigration an issue of patriotism.

They show little patience with grumbling faint hearts looking for better lives elsewhere and have used exchange controls to deter people from leaving.

But they have not matched this with efforts to attract skills to the country, which saw only 3053 immigrants in the first 10 months of last year.

The use of immigration under white rule as a tool of racial domination weighs heavily on the ruling African National Congress.

It would rather have local companies train blacks to fill the gap left by emigrating professionals than encourage the immigration of foreigners.

Greg Mills, director of the South African Institute of International Affairs, says:"If SA is to enjoy widespread, longterm economic growth, it has to open its doors to foreign skills."