HighlandPenguin

Hi Sunlover

Lets agree to disagree. I apologize if I have been a bit arrogant, I guess at the end of the day it is cause I feel so passionatley about SA, as you do. We just differ on the how and when SA will become a success.

Regards

HighlandPenguin

HighlandPenguin

Hi BSmith

I assume that is Bruce. Have to forgive me, as I am bad with names.

Are you guys still in Airdrie or have you moved on?

The last time I spoke to you guys I thought you were heading back to SA.

I will be heading out to the US on the 16th of April, after I got my K1 Visa on the 16th of February. Jamie and I will be marrying on the 8th of May.

We need to try and organise another Saffie gettogether before I head out. I have tried to get a hold of Oubaas (Mnr Vermaak) and Caz, but to no avail. I did manage to get an e-mail back from Mellow Auntie (Lydia) in Blantyre.

Speak to you again soon.

Cheers

Scott

bsmith1

Yep Thats me!

no we are still in Ayr.
congrats on your marriage plans and your K1 visa!

I'll send you a PM if it works

j awe must have a get together-maybe at my place We have rented out a 3 bedroom with a "bit" of a yard!

brooster

capacity

I was born in SA but have lived in Zim all my life although I travel to SA frequently, both for business and pleasure. I have to agree that standards have definately slid over the past few years for the worse. You now see vendors on the side of the road cooking mealies (corn) and also leaving their rubbish all over the place, commuter taxis stopping wherever they please to pick up and drop off passengers. As for JHB CBD - a lot of buildings have been taken over by squatters and are totally run down, the tellers in the supermarkets arrogant - the list is endless and it compares 100% to the rest of the african countries - they will not succeed as the leaders are greedy and self centred, corrupt, dictators etc. We know that we do not have a future in Africa (are leaving for Perth year end). We would never be able to survive on our pension here - inflation sitting at 650% - HELLO. I do not want to be old and stuck in a country which may likely be going in the same direction as Zimbabwe - all the signs are there - all the African states have gone through the same thing we have - maybe the circumstances have differed slightly. Think wisely and good luck with your decision.

bsmith1

JA me too also originally from zim but moved to SA many years before all the real cr*p hit the fan.Also had a farm there and was taken. We found out by reading which farms were next by reading in a newspaper-unreal hey.

ja we are trying to get to oz but having hassels getting a birth certificate and also an employer statement-still its good in a way that the oz immigration are so strict.Im a mechanic and wife is a pharmacist but I have more points -go figure! Uk is ok but hey we need that wall to wall sun like we had!!!!! ha ha ha

capacity

Are you trying to get into Aussie, my husband is also a mechanic - we got in on his skills - piece of cake (so to speak) - we are leaving at the end of the year - the bolts are getting very tight here and will continue to until they squeeze us to death - do not want to be around when that happens.

Send me an email and maybe I could be of some assistance with regards to Aussie migration.

Yvette

Campbells

Just had a look at the MANY replies on your post.
We are currently in SA (Jo'burg suberbs) & I wouldn't advise this place. I am quite positive that the crime situ & way of life, as we have "slid" into, will be of shock value to you.

My 5 cents worth, come over & see for yourself. Advice, do some driving while your here, that's a whole new ball game. More advise, if a taxi (mini-bus) goes through a red light don't get out to tell him his fortune, they’re all loaded with metal (carry guns) & will use no problemo.

I heard that the SA tourist board have set-up a system where folk visiting that have never been before have a system of check-ins. I think that speaks very loud but hey, you might dig that as an adventure.

The term "racial" seems to be a very sensitive one and quite right too. I am constantly amazed at how us "whites" are getting squeezed out of everything & the white male is sure to become extinct. It seems that the one rule for them applies & we have racial problems more than ever as pre-94 it wasn't a crime to shoot someone standing over your bed in the middle of the night with a gun in their hand. Try that now, not that I've tried or want to live that whole cowboy style life but when you have kids & hear the BRUTAL crime / horror stories (from two street down) there is a certain parental instinct that kicks in, it's called protection.

I think this place is doomed but I have been wrong before. I would suggest getting some sound advice on security precautions even for a visit here as tourists are certainly soft targets as we locals get wise to a lot of the tricks. Dogging bullets is not my fav pastime but so far so good.

If I can be of any help please do not hesitate to ask.

The saddest thing about the whole SA situ is that the people here (black & white) are great & there is a good vibe here but I don't think for the future.

Regards

Campbell.

melaniee

We never had to do that and have never heard of anyone else doing that-sure that is true??!

Campbells

Yebo YES,
I can only offer what I saw on SABC 3, 3Talk this very week, I think the lady was the marketing director or similar. THe TOPIC was why do South Africans have a negative outlook on their own country.

Perhaps you would like to confirm ? You could always TRY to get a response from SABC (SA broadcasting Co), www.sabc.co.za

Maybe that will confirm that SA is a very unsafe location & that is why they have had to set up such a system. Bit ironic actually that in the same breath they were explaining that folk do not have any real reasons to be negative about SA.

Mind you, lets be honest, if you watch TV long enough you will believe that you can veg out, eat as much choc as you like & lose kilos if you buy certain gadgets not to mention 45 minute commercials on hoovers !!

Sorry to burst your bubble, I love this place but I gotta be real

Campbell.

melaniee

my bubble is not burst thank you. I am very aware of the problems in SA but if you look closely at a lot of other countries and scratch below the surafce you will find many problems too.

Campbells

Oops. Sorry if I upset you not my intention.

Yes you are right & there is no utopia (as I replied to English mum) but I guess once one has moved countries, perhaps continents & considers moving again we do tend to look for the best deal.

For example,I'm sure that most of the UK could live without the yob factor but it's there & these are the choices that we are faced with.

Peace and have a great weekend.

Campbell

melaniee

No Probs just I fell in love with SA and would go back there tommorow if we could. I now live in Australia and it is ****- more yobs than England any day-just my opinion guys before you shout me down!!

Cindylou

Recently the SA Police Commissioner accused the media of feeding the nation a ‘psychosis of fear, despair and distrust in the authorities’ and promptly imposed a media blackout. However, even with this media blackout in place, reports are filtering through, some of the sources are the likes of Interpol - here is a sample:
1. every twenty-six seconds a woman, child or infant is raped in South Africa.
2. A large contingent of high-ranking Police Officers are supplementing their income with funds sourced through theft.
3. Fifty percent of all drugs delivered to the country's Government-run hospitals get stolen from their storerooms.
4. Ninety four percent of all persons released after serving a sentence immediately become re-offenders.
5. A recent Interpol survey showed that for every 100,000 crimes committed in South Africa only 430 criminals were arrested. Of these, only seventy-seven were convicted and barely eight of these were sentenced to two or more years of imprisonment;
6. Interpol also estimate that upwards of fifty percent of serious crime goes unreported and state that South Africa has the highest recorded per capita murder rate, second only to Columbia.
7. Interpol claim that the per capita murder rate in the USA was six per 100,000 while in South Africa it was fifty-nine per 100,000.
8. In the first seven years of ANC rule, violence and crime in South Africa officially increased by thirty-three percent.
9. According to the same official statistics, in the forty-four years from 1950 to 1993, there was an average of 7,036 murders per year. This covered the turbulent times of the apartheid years of conflict, terrorism and riots. However, under the ANC rule, Interpol’s statistics state the murder rate has averaged 47,882 per year.
10. Recently a witchdoctor made a claim on television that having intimate relations with a virgin would cure AIDS - now baby rape is one of the biggest crime. The infant is usually left to die in a municipal rubbish dump after the 'intimacy' has occured.

And you want to retire there!!!???

Mercedes

When were you in South Africa last melaniee and how long were you there for.

melaniee

Why do you ask?