SA brain drain a tragic loss

OUR political leaders are oblivious of many things – it’s obvious from what often comes out of their mouths. They say things for immediate gratification, without any fear of consequence.

It’s one of the reasons there has been such a shift to identity politics and the most base populism. It’s one of the reasons our tinderbox of a country was so easy to set alight last July.

But there are consequences. There always are. At one end, South Africans maak ’n plan – the rich simply outsource the government services like education, health and security. When there’s load shedding, they put in generators. The poor outsource justice to township godfathers and vigilantes and illegally connect to the power lines.

But there are others who come up with another plan. These are mostly young South Africans; qualified, ambitious but with no faith in the government They don’t want grants. They don’t even want the government to give them jobs. They want to know that their taxes won’t line a tenderpreneur’s pocket.

They want to know they have a future.

Increasing numbers of them don’t. The attempted insurrection was an inflection point for many. That made up their minds. Now their visas to live and work in other countries where they believe they will have a future, safely raise a family and be properly served by that government, are being approved and posted to them. They’re packing up to leave.

The cynics will jeer and wish them good riddance. The populists will rub their hands in glee.

But anyone who truly is a patriot will be terribly sad because if our human capital is our greatest wealth, we’re busy letting those who could truly contribute to a great future for all of us go and build that somewhere else.

What a tragic indictment of the state of this nation.