As South Africa draws closer to the general elections on May 29th, an interesting development that has been noted by real estate and tax professionals in this country and was noted by The Times of London on 18 February, is the returning of expats to South Africa from Britain and mainland Europe.
This is, as the article notes, despite the multiple challenges of loadshedding, high crime and a severely underperforming economy. I should note that those are the reasons why many South Africans are choosing to emigrate. It is worth asking why people who have already escaped these debilitating challenges, and some who have been away since the 90s would come back.
While the article does offer its own reasons, I believe there are some quite rational reasons to come back and bet on South Africa, especially if an ANC/EFF coalition does not win in May.
Cost of Living
The most obvious reason is the cost-of-living crisis that is engulfing the developed world, especially around housing. It is one of the main reasons why Europe and the developed parts of Asia are having demographic crises. People have fewer children because of the cost of housing and childcare. Unlike in South Africa, very few people there can afford domestic and childcare help. The only exception to this, where there is a large population of South Africans, is the UAE.
South Africa offers exceptional value when it comes to housing costs (especially outside of Cape Town), childcare costs, schooling costs and domestic help costs. For comparison, even in the UAE, where tax-free incomes are surely a draw, sending your children to a school with a British or International Baccalaureate curriculum will set you back similar amounts (sometimes even more) to boarding at Michaelhouse and Hilton. Who can really say with absolute confidence that the education in the UAE or even Britain, Australia and New Zealand is better than South Africa’s much cheaper private and former Model C schools?
Are Dubai College or Auckland Grammar honestly better than Grey College Bloemfontein, KES or Rondebosch Boys? If anyone says yes definitively, what evidence could they possibly offer that is not denigrating those fine schools because they are in South Africa?
How about the fact that the foodie and fine dining scene in Johannesburg and Cape Town can rival any others, and I’d argue for Cape Town even outdoing many globally-fancied cities for a fraction of the cost of those cities. As an example, take FYN restaurant in Cape Town which is ranked as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. Their dinner menu experience, while relatively expensive for locals, costs R3525 with a wine pairing. At the restaurant after it in the rankings, Danish restaurant Jordnaer’s, the dinner experience costs 3300 Danish Krone (R9200). The restaurant in front of it, Odette in

Singapore, costs 733 Singaporean Dollars (R10450) with a wine pairing. Even adjusting for purchasing power parity, South Africa again offers immense value.
Weather and Fun:
South Africa also has much better weather and a lot more sunshine than places where many of our expats are, with the exception being Australia. South Africa has every possible amenity and adventure you could want, either within the country or a relatively short flight away: from wildlife in the Kruger, to the world-class wine farms of the Western Cape (five in the top 100 in the world as ranked by World’s Best Vineyard Awards in 2023), beautiful beach towns (getaways) in both the Eastern and Western Cape. Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zanzibar are a relatively short flight away and if you want a Dubai-esque desert adventure, Walvis Bay in Namibia is a two- hour flight away. There are luxury train experiences with the Blue Train and Rovos Rail. All this is just to say we have lots of pleasant weather and lots of really cool and awesome things to do at relatively cheaper prices than anywhere else.
Friends and Family:
As infuriating and frustrating as it is living in South Africa, for many expats it is still home and nothing compares to it. They miss friends and family and all the accompanying warmth and familiarity.
So what’s my point?
It is worth pondering on the fact that, relatively speaking, so many expats come back to South Africa despite all the potential frustrations and the multiple challenges. It is worth asking how many more would come back if South Africa were to fall under new management, if infrastructure and service delivery were to improve and management took on more pro-growth policies instead of redistributionist ones.
It is also worth asking what the cumulative effect would be on South Africa in terms of tax collection and revenue, if high-earning expats did come back, paying down sovereign debt. What would that mean for job creation?
It is worth asking what it would do for tourism and our international reputation if a new government prioritised public order and safety, and reduced crime and lawlessness.
Admittedly these are all big if’s, especially if an ANC/EFF coalition were to win. That is part of the real risk-and-reward nature of South Africa. We are one of the few food-exporting countries in the world, we are sufficiently developed. We have the potential to become a rather wealthy nation with all our minerals and with some really good management.
However, we could also collapse into a dreary and failed Zimbabwe-like state.
I guess we have choices to make in May. V.5214

Australia’s plan to cap the number of new international students to 270,000 starting in 2025 has sparked widespread concern within the education sector. However, the proposal, which still needs parliamentary approval, is unlikely to have a significant impact on students from African countries planning to study in Australia. The National Planning Level (NPL) for 2025, which includes the limit on the number of international student enrolments, aims to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. V.5595
Click here for full article

Bethuel Ngobeni, Dumisa Moyo, Nhlanhla Magwaca, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Khudzai Mashaya appear in court to face illicit gold mining charges. Image: Thapelo Morebudi An investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in SA. V.5594
Click here for full article

• Lesotho has rekindled moves to implement localisation rules for certain types of businesses dominated by foreigners. • Indians, Chinese and South Africans dominate the 47 reserved businesses. • SA firms will be under pressure to use local distributors, and not contract Basotho labour via SA-based agents. V.5587
Click here for full article

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that long queues, off-line systems, and paper-based applications at department offices would soon be a thing of the past. Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. V.5588
Click here for full article

‘There are various pathways and provisions in the law that recognise that people should not be stateless, and we are failing to ensure that these people have papers,’ says Global Movement Against Statelessness’ Christy Chitengu. Christy Chitengu was born in South Africa and regards herself as a South African, despite her parents being Zimbabwean. V.5589
Click here for full article

Inspection at workplaces set to increase Newly appointed home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will increase inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines to heighten the crackdown on undocumented workers in these industries. Schreiber said while SA welcomes those who contribute to the country legally through skills, investments and as tourists, it needed to do more to combat illegal immigration. V.5592
Click here for full article

CAPE TOWN - Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says since March, his department already reported 109 cases of document fraud to its counter corruption unit. Three officials have been convicted and sentenced during this same period. V.5593
Click here for full article

Key Takeaways • As of August 28, Canada has banned temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country. • The policy`s early termination is part of IRCC`s efforts to manage the influx of temporary residents and combat immigration fraud. • Starting September 26, 2024, Canada will cut the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65,000. Canada has recently launched a new policy that prohibits temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country, a decision that significantly impacts their ability to work and stay in Canada. V.5583
Click here for full article

The United Kingdom has long been a favoured destination for South Africans seeking work or residency, thanks to shared language, time zones, and historical ties. However, according to JP Breytenbach from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, the profile of South African migrants is changing. “There is a significant increase in business migration, with companies aiming to expand into the UK as a gateway to Europe or the US,” he shared in an interview with Biznews. Many of these South Africans businesses feel they have reached a ceiling in their local markets or are tech entrepreneurs who believe their products are not yet viable in South Africa. This year, new UK immigration rules are set to take effect as the country seeks to limit net migration. V.5584
Click here for full article

Applicants who prefer hard copies of ZEP waiver letters will still be able to collect them at branches. Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new national executive members at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July, 2024 in Cape Town. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the first batch of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) waiver applications has been processed. ZEP holders will no longer need to go to Home Affairs branches to find out the outcome of their applications. The department will be sending them out digitally. V.5585
Click here for full article