Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Campbell, to be fair to the woman she did say that figure was what they *started* on. Also, to be fair to the rand, it has held up reasonably steadily against, e.g. the pound or dollar over the past five years or so. What matters is the amount of rand you can earn, rather than the exchange rate. Let's face it, if you earn 3 million rand a year, who cares if the exchange rate with the pound is 14 to 1.

The difficulty in SA is that the actual cost of living seems to have gone up quite a lot over the past 5 years, and, as far as I can tell, salaries in SA have not kept pace. I heard the other day that a young friend of a friend was taking a job in Cape Town on R100,000 per year, and I must say I wondered how on earth he was going to survive on that.

Having said that, if you have a skill that is sorely needed in SA (e.g., knowing how to run an electricity grid, or a nuclear power station) then I expect you can name your price. If you're just a burgerflipper, then I guess you have to take what you can get.

Pablo

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Excellent point Pablo.

Re: Rick B / 6000 etc – GONE ?
 

[QUOTE=Campbells;4719458]Amazing, just looking at the posters in this SA forum and the short bursts of all talk SA rah rah rah stuff has all gone. No staying power.


Maybe they have all been shot ?

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Hi Cambells, found this on wikepedia.



Whites make up about 9.2% (July 2006) of the total population in South Africa and are large minorities in many cities and provinces in South Africa; in Pretoria they are roughly 23.9%, East Rand 19.4%, in Cape Town 18.7%, in Port Elizabeth 16.5%, in Johannesburg 16%, and in Durban 8.9%.

In recent decades there has been a sharp proportional decline in the white population due to emigration. In 1994, upon the abolition of apartheid, whites comprised 13.6% of the population, compared to 9.2% today. According to some previous census data, the highest proportion of whites in South Africa was around 1911, when they made up between 19-21% of the population. It is estimated that at least one million South African-born whites have moved abroad; it has also been argued that this figure could be as high as two million.[citation needed]

This trend is evident in cities such as Durban, where the white population decreased by 38,904, or 12.3% between 1996 and 2001. In Pietermaritzburg the white population shifted from 56,328 to 45,030, losing about 20% or one-fifth of the white community within the same period. In 2004 the School of Economics and Finance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal estimated that this figure had dropped to 38,256, a 15% descrease.[citation needed]

In contrast, the white populations of East Rand, Johannesburg and Pretoria grew between 1996 and 2001. East Rand's white population expanded by 31,567 or 7%, with Pretoria's white population also increasing by 7% with 3,295 more white residents. In Johannesburg the white population increased by 22,982, or 4.7%.[citation needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whites_in_South_Africa

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

We have been told that many people have set-up their own blood supplies as there was a recent scare shortage PLUS the AIDS situation.

That means that folk have their own blood supply taken from pre-approved AIDS free donors so that in the case of an emergency where blood is needed this can be called on.

This too speaks volumes and must be quite an expense and administrative task to set-up and maintain. Ultimately the simple things that you can take for granted in a first world country become serious issues you will be face with in South Africa.

Of course this is just one of them and if you move to South Africa believing you will never need blood you are certainly a very positive person.

Another day in Africa !

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

John Kane-Berman is a director of the Institute of Race Relations who publish some interesting reports.
They use the SAMP which is the SA migration project which again has a huge amount of data mostly from Graduates doing their thesis (Thesi?? )
SAIRR also draws on stats from SA Medical Council , Markinor/AC Nielsen type surveys.
Last year Kane-Berman caused a bit of a furore when he stated in an Business Day Article (30th June methinks) that the Census figures were fudged and there where 841,000 odd SA Bums no longer on Seats in SA.
Those who have taken SARS clearances are easy to find as Emigrants, it's the silent(??!?) ones such as we who are still dual nationality , extended overseas stay,still own property types who are the 841,000 missing in actions.
The fact that I for one have certainly left for good and am maintaining the SARS facade is it's just easier regarding investments, RA's, Pensions and should I need to return for family emergencies.

That there is a major crisis brewing is evidenced by the growth of the Homecoming revolution /Solidarity Forums, the sudden spurt of Embassy activity in the UK, USA and Ireland to re-establish contact with the Sarf Effriken Diaspora and invite them to functions.
I think it's the old Iceberg thats slowly growing on the horizon.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Taxpayers. The golden geese have flown and are flying the coup at unbelievable numbers. Let them get the taxi drivers to pay tax, a multi billion rand a year business with hardly any tax being paid by them - guffaw.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

What yopu say about taxis was already in progress 3 years or more ago.
After Trevor Manual took over the SARS seat it was one of the many initiatives he took.
The process started with checking the vehicle register and then putting that side by side with the property owner and bank account listings.
They went to Soweto with the said list of multiple car owners linked to property.
They showed on TV huge multimillion rand homes with Rolls Royces, Mercs and Porsches. The then asked the millionaires for proof of how they pay for their homes and cars.
Of course there were claims of victimisation and invasion of privacy.
The problem is i think it has made them more aware of hiding assets.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

We did, when we decided to leave SA, that’s my point.

It is all very well having a R 5 m net worth in SA but what if you want to leave and move to the UK ?

In essence, if you look at South Africa on an international scale it is not an attractive financial prospect for the individual.

I used the burger-flipper example because even at that level of “starting out” SA does not offer rewards on an international comparison.

Of course, unless you stay in SA, that’s the catch !

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

The thing is, the moment they start pushing in that direction, what do the taxi people do? Blockade all traffic in the major cities, which they did last year again if I recall correctly, and the govt is forced to back down. The NATS were never able to collect tax from them either. They're an extremely powerful renegade lot who do whatever the heck they want to do.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

That is correct. My sister and her daughter had a blood supply banked that they gave when my nephew was shot.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

Of couse people in SA do this for fun as the is no crime. It's just a colonial plot by the likes of the BBC who are racailists.


Hope your nephew is ok.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

We've now lived in Pretoria just over a year and have not personally experienced anything bad, nor do I know anybody who has although everybody seems to know somebody who knows somebody who has. That's not to underplay the problem of crime - there is a lot of it but it mostly affects poor black people. We live in a safe neighbourhood where people walk around and children cycle to school. I quite often walk to the shops and would do it more often if the roads were a bit more pedestrian-friendly. (Pavements would be nice.) We're obviously privileged but many white people here seem to relish talking about crime - the favourite dinner-party conversation - hardly the best way to get a realistic handle on crime.

South Africa is a beautiful country with a lot of potential but also with huge problems; desperate poverty and dismal standards of education being two. Why not do something positive like paying your domestic workers a decent wage so that they can actually afford to feed and clothe themselves and their families and send their kids to school? I suspect lots of people contributing to this forum can afford to pay a few hundred rand extra per month. It's worth remembering that about a quarter of the population can't afford to eat properly and lots of parents can't afford to send their children to school.

Yes, crime is bad but put it in perspective and do something to help reduce crime instead.

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

I suspect you're working for an NGO over there?

Let me ask you something. Why must people outside the country give money to help alleviate the poverty as you suggest, when the country is so wealthy? Why for instance, do taxi drivers not pay tax to the government, when they are am multi-billion rand business?

Why must foreigners send money to a country whose government is utterly corrupt and who are stealing the country's coffers blind? Shouldn't South Africans living there be the ones demanding that the DEMOCRATICALLY elected GOVERNMENT do something to alleviate the poverty?

Do you know that during the apartheid years that MILLIONS of black Africans from DEMOCRATICALLY elected countries actually MOVED to South Africa because they could find work there - this in a country that sat under world sanctions? I wonder why the world's media conveniently forgets that bit.

Now, why is there around 40 percent unemployment in the country, when the country is doing so well economically, or so we are constantly told? Surely there is enough tax money to get rid of poverty in S.A.?

Why send money to South Africa when South Africans are doing absolutely nothing to help themselves? Why do they allow city mayors for instance, to have 500 cars in their motorcade and MULTIMILLION Rand parties?

Or a president who buys a Boeing Business Jet because he can't be seen to go around in the national airline, like all his predecessors did, because a fellow South African businessman bought himself a snazzy new one? Or a country who spends BILLIONS on buying a useless French submarine to defend itself, when there is no money for education and healthcare.

How can an apartheid government under heavy economic sanctions provide healthcare to all its citizens, Baragwanath (now Chris Hani hospital I think it is called) was a first class teaching hospital, bang in the middle of Soweto, and a democratically elected government not be able to do the same and have its health facilities deteriorate into rest of African standards?

That's number one.

Number two. Don't you dare come on here and spout ANC propaganda regarding perceptions of crime. Every single South African has experienced MURDER, RAPE, HIJACKINGS, etc..either directly or indirectly through friends or family, so don't come and tell us that it is our persception that is wrong. Those are the EXACT words from your president's mouth - a joke if there was ever any. WHY exactly is HE building a 90 MILLION RAND WALL around his property when even in the days of APARTHEID there wasn't a need for it? What does THAT tell us about HIS perception of crime?

Re: So, we are thinking of moving......
 

The Homecoming bunch are threatened. :thumbsup: