Alec Hogg: A watershed moment for SA as the tax base penny finally drops
Life's watersheds are often missed at the time but, with hindsight, long remembered. We have reason to believe South Africa is going through such a moment – one aimed at resuscitating the Nation Building spirit of the Mandela era, providing substance to the ANC's long-held claim that SA is home for all who live in it.
For a quarter century those governing the nation have grappled with how to treat its previously advantaged citizens. Unlike the historic European approach of simply expelling elites when locals regain control, post-1994 there was nowhere to send SA's 5m whites. The vast majority of whom are committed citizens who, lest we forget, voted overwhelmingly in a Referendum to end Apartheid – and many with centuries- deep SA roots.
As democracy dawned, other African leaders warned the ANC to protect this inherited taxbase. However, ideology trumped economics. A raft of social engineering experiments and tolerance of racially-charged rhetoric made many skilled people uncomfortable in their transforming homeland. So hundreds of thousands emigrated, taking their income taxes with them.
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