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South Africa: Crime 'Biggest Cause of SA Brain Drain'
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
20 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Sanchia Temkin
Johannesburg
CRIME emerged as the most frequently cited reason for professionals leaving the country in a study released by Grant Thornton yesterday.
More than 80% of those surveyed cited the high crime rate as a consideration for leaving SA permanently. No other factor received as many mentions.
Leonard Brehm, national chairman of Grant Thornton, said: "SA remains a country of magnificent opportunity. If we are to realise these opportunities, all those working in South African businesses must operate in an environment that supports the attraction and retention of the skilled people of whom our country is so short."
The study, part of Grant Thornton's international business report, was conducted recently among 300 privately held businesses with 100 to 400 employees.
Factors prompting emigration included uncertainty about the future of the leadership of SA (15%), better business opportunities elsewhere (14%), race discrimination (13%), the poor quality of education (10%) and the poor quality of healthcare (10%).
Seventy-two percent of the businesses reported that employees or their relatives had been affected by violent crime over the past year, including road rage, hijackings and housebreaking. This was a drop from the 84% recorded in last year's study.
Violent crime is on the rise, despite assurances by the government that it is bringing it under control.
National crime statistics for 2006-07 show that aggravated robbery crimes such as residential robberies increased 24,4%, car hijacking 6%, business robberies 52,2%, bank robberies 118,6% and cash in transit heists 21,9%.
A study released recently by the Institute for Security Studies found that South Africans felt less secure than they did five years ago.
The majority of businesses (80%) surveyed reported increased costs for security.
Among other factors cited were decreased motivation (58%) and productivity (50%) and the loss of staff (37%) and customers (23%).
It has been estimated that South Africans spend about R60bn a year on security.
Gauteng recorded the highest percentage (82%) of businesses whose staff and their families had been victims of crime.
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KwaZulu-Natal recorded 75%, Eastern Cape 66% and Western Cape 62%.
Probably the main reason but not the only one,educational and medical standards relative to the rest of the world etc.
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