Leaving Home
This week….Leaving Home?
Kind of an emotive issue I would like to discuss this week, so please bear with me. Like every other white middle-aged male in this country I have wanted to leave South Africa for a long time. In my case it has been since 1975 so I can’t really blame any wanderlust on the new government. Having said that, maybe it’s time to revisit the issue and make some rational, rather than emotional, decisions.
After visiting more than 40 countries in the past 20 years – and having spent time in the most popular overseas destinations for SA emigrants – I really, really want to stay here. Despite 1 primary problem, this country remains an exceptional place to live and work, and a fine base from which to attack the rest of the world commercially. I have realized that I don’t want to go – I simply love to travel, and this is one of the best bases for travel anyone could wish for.
“Change” is just another word for opportunity – and South Africa is all about change. Much of it is uncomfortable; a lot of it is not immediately understandable; and a great deal is pretty farcical – but if you take the time to delve behind the headlines – it represents opportunity. A few weeks ago I muttered about the comatose Rand representing an invitation to export stuff – especially services – but we still complain about it rather than welcoming it. We allow it to get us down instead of firing us up.
Tish came back from Washington a few weeks ago – to my immense relief. Washington is the seat of the US government – and they have worse power failures each day than we have each week in Johannesburg. This is apart from being an awfully expensive place to live – even if you’re earning in US$.
We South Africans tend to be running away from something – rather than running towards something. It’s not necessarily better overseas – but it certainly is different – with a different range of challenges. I am an African, and I have begun to realize that I always will be. Whether I live in Canada or Australia or Ulan Bator I will never feel as though I belong there. As a simple example - I can never be president there – which I can here [although it’s a pretty long shot!].
Here are a few of my reasons for staying:
Quality of life; good roads; ESKOM and a quality power grid; low cost of living; high relative income; entrepreneurial flexibility with few rules; it’s really easy to shine amongst the morass of poor service; it’s easy to sell overseas with such a cheap Rand; hotels [and accommodation] are really inexpensive; excellent health services; magnificent weather; superb beaches; the best looking women in the world [OK that was a little sexist]; a plethora of tastes and textures unmatched anywhere else [biltong, boerewors, droewors, Crosse & Blackwell, Mrs Balls, Marie Biscuits, Tennis Biscuits,…]; the low cost base for international expansion; my friends; my family; low cost, high quality, clothing; superb red wine at very low prices; low cost furniture; lots of unskilled people – who allow us to excel; DSTV gives me access to the world; Internet gives me immediate access to almost anything, almost anywhere.
I have no doubt that I could think of a few more but right now I have to make a decision. Should I have a glass of that superb red wine, or should I head for the gym to ogle some of the best looking women in the world? Difficult choice.
On the negative side – is it dangerous? I guess so. The Cape Flats has long held the record for the most dangerous residential area in the world. But, to be honest, if my kids were starving to death [a daily reality for many of us] I would also be stretching the rules to feed them. So the question isn’t – where can we go? Surely the question is – how can we help? And I reckon that if we’re bright, bold and hardworking enough to run our own firms, then surely we’re bright, bold and hardworking enough to find some solutions instead of constantly highlighting the problems.
Bottom line for me is simple. Keep your entrepreneurial brain here – even if you decide to keep your money offshore! This remains the land of opportunity.
