ON COMING HOME

Across the ocean thousands of South Africans are contemplating returning, but having been away for several years they are often unaware of latest developments and have concerns regarding several potential challenges facing the country. Having co-authored “South Africa: Reasons to Believe,” and co-edited “South Africa 2014: The Story of our Future,” I can hopefully help to shed some light on developments and future potential in these areas, which will help contemplative South Africans make the right choice.

I’ll begin with our democratic future. All indications are that South Africa’s democracy is safe, assisted by amongst the freest press on earth, but democracy will only remain stable if we extend social services to those people that have been denied access to them. Luckily, since 1994 clean, running water has already been made available to 10 million people, electricity supplied to 3 million homes, 2.3 million low-cost houses built, and 66 000 classrooms built. But we can’t stop now, so the plan is to provide running water to 14 million people by 2008, continue to supply electricity to 1000 homes per day until 2012, and build another 1.9 million homes by 2014. No wonder, then, that there are plans to spend R320 billion in infrastructure development over the next five years.

The net effect is that the population is slowly but surely becoming middle class. The percentage of the poorest of the poor is decreasing, while the middle class is growing. This has profound effects on economic growth, driving up house prices, increasing car sales, sales of household goods, food and clothes.

Crime is still a concern, but the good news is that the war on crime is being won. The police and the justice system have been improved, and insurance figures show that claims for vehicle thefts, burglaries and hijackings are down as a result. Clearly if things keep improving at the present rate, by 2014 South Africa will be a far safer country than it has been till now.

Many also seem worried about education. Interestingly, though, increasing numbers of foreigners and South Africans abroad are sending their children to boarding schools in South Africa. Our private schools and many public schools are as good, if not better, than private schools elsewhere. Of course, they aren’t the only schools around, but the news is good for the majority of the population too. There has been a significant drop in schools without phones, learners per classroom, schools with no water and schools with no sanitation, while there has been a consistent increase in Matric passes.

HIV and AIDS will certainly have an impact on the future. However, in addition to the government’s ARV rollout, there are countless NGOs doing excellent work throughout the country to improve AIDS education, distribute condoms and look after families. Most large corporates are also actively involved in AIDS programmes. South Africans are certainly not sitting back waiting for the AIDS problem to get worse.
On the topic of healthcare, there is no doubt that our private healthcare system is as good as any in the world, if not better. Public healthcare is a challenge, but thankfully the government has committed to higher levels of funding and there is increasing public awareness of the state of things. They must improve.

Land ownership is another key challenge – at present only 3% of land is owned by black people, and the government wants this to increase to 30% by 2014. That doesn’t mean it will simply be taken away. Many farmers are prepared to willingly sell land to willing buyers, and some, like wine farmers in the Western Cape, are proactively giving land to their workers and helping them to set up businesses. As we have done so often in the past, we are finding creative solutions to a difficult problem.
South African property prices have increased at the fastest rate in the world since 1997, driven mainly by the growing middle class, increasing numbers of foreign buyers (especially as we approach 2010), and increasing confidence in the country. You have to ask yourself how much longer you can wait before buying property here.

So it’s clear that we do have challenges in South Africa, but all of them must be taken in the context of what we have achieved over the past ten years. The work done so far has set us up for the potential of an even more positive future, and those who are prepared to be part of building that future will reap the rewards.
Coming back to South Africa is a lifestyle choice. It isn’t always perfect, but as Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein says, “Our lives are full of significance in South Africa. It may not always be pleasantville, but it’s always meaningful.”

You must make your own choice about when you’re ready to come home, and when you are we’ll be there to welcome you back.