Emigration fuelling tax concerns but Azar Jammine sees a ray of light

The mood in South Africa is particularly gloomy at the moment as the New Dawn that President Cyril Ramaphosa promised, remains a tiny glimmer of light on the horizon. Ramaphosa is distracted by in-fighting in his own party, using the Public Protector to attack him and restricted by policies adopted by the ANC including land expropriation without compensation. This is preventing him from undertaking the structural reforms that would bring foreign investment to South Africa that Ramaphosa so sorely seeks. The gloomy mood is adding to people's perception that they should be packing for Perth or to English-speaking destinations where their future prospects are better. The interesting new element to the emigration of South Africans is that the emigrants are not all White; many well educated Blacks are leaving as well. Alec Hogg interviewed Azar Jammine from Econometrix on BizNews Radio where he said there appears to be an increase in emigration, but remains positive that Ramaphosa could surprise the doomsdayers. – Linda van Tilburg

Azar Jammine said that over the last year or more there had been a very perceptible increase in the rate of emigration. He could however not conclude that the actual rate of emigration had accelerated but figures of the past decade show that it had been a persistent trend. There had been a growing disillusionment with the manner in which the government was tackling structural reforms, which suggested that economic growth was going "to remain pedestrian at best in the foreseeable future leading to still more unemployment and the negative social consequences that it could bring about."

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