No. 20: The Brain Gain: Skilled Migrants and Immigration Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South African immigration policy has become extremely restrictive since 1994. Immigration numbers are at an all-time low, even as emigration accelerates. The number of temporary work permits issued has also declined at a time when South Africa has reconnected to the global economy and many companies and investors wish to import high-level skills. Immigration is not viewed as a public policy tool that could benefit South Africa. Immigrants and migrants (even the most highly skilled) are more often stereotyped as a threat to the economic and social interests of South Africans. Why has South Africa’s first democratic government taken such a dim view of immigration to date? Why is immigration invariably seen as a problem to control rather than an opportunity to exploit? Why has South Africa shifted from being a net immigrant-receiving to an immigrant- exporting nation? These are the first questions addressed in this paper. We address the Draft White Paper’s rationale for a restrictionist policy and review various other explanations that have been advanced to explain post-apartheid policy. International experience suggests that skilled immigrants and migrants make important contributions to any country’s economic growth and development. Immigrants can fill the gaps created by emigrating skills or the inadequacies of a country’s education and training system. Even more important, skilled immigrants bring innovation to the economy through new ideas and skills. In this regard, there needs to be greater awareness of the profile and contribution of South Africa’s current stock of skilled immigrants. Studies of skilled immigrants in other countries have shown that they rarely fit the popular negative stereotypes. There is no reason why this should not be true for South Africa as well. One way to assess the potential value to South Africa of a more open attitude towards skilled migration and immigration, is to examine the existing immigration population. If these immigrants conform to the negative stereotypes, there is reason for caution. If, on the other hand, they are making a valuable contribution then the case is strengthened for further immigration. This paper therefore profiles South Africa’s skilled immigrant population: who are these immigrants? When did they come to South Africa? Are there significant differences between pre-1990 and post-1990 immigrants? And how do they perceive and experience living in South Africa? The paper is based on a detailed survey of 400 skilled foreign nationals in South Africa using face-to-face interviews. The survey provided the following profile of South Africa’s skilled immigrant population: Reflecting South Africa’s pre-1994 immigration policies, the major source region is clearly Europe (47%) and the most important source country, the United Kingdom (31%). But as many as 41% of the sample were from elsewhere in Africa (with 18% from the SADC region and 23% from other countries). This points to a newer, post-1990 trend in South Africa’s immigration experience; the movement of skilled Africans (as immigrants and asylum seekers) to the country following the demise of apartheid. Nearly 73% of South Africa’s skilled immigrants from Europe entered before 1991. In contrast, some 87% of non-SADC African respondents entered after 1991, highlighting the recency of South Africa’s reconnection to the rest of the continent. SADC-country citizens are about evenly split between the two, indicating that the brain drain from neighbouring states began before the formal end of apartheid. Three quarters of skilled non-citizens (mainly whites) who have been in the country since before mid-1991 are permanent residents. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of skilled non-citizens (mainly blacks) who entered after 1991 (91%) are temporary residents on work permits. Nearly 80% of white skilled residents have permanent residence status compared to only 44% of African non-citizens. A restrictionist immigration policy has done little to correct historical inequalities. White non-citizens enjoy rights and privileges that black non-citizens have difficulty accessing. The vast majority of skilled immigrants in South Africa were in full-time employment at home before they left. While we cannot discount improved job opportunities and prospects as a motive for migration, it is clear that unemployment per se is not the reason why skilled immigrants leave their home country and come to South Africa. Most of South Africa’s skilled immigrant population can therefore be put into one of two groups: (a) white immigrants who entered before 1994 with the security and other rights conferred by permanent residence and (b) black immigrants (more exactly migrants) who have temporary residence status only. The question therefore arises as to what linkages skilled migrants and immigrants maintain with home and their degree of commitment to South Africa: Many non-citizens maintain tangible links with home. One half of the respondents still have a bank account in their home country, 35% still own a house and 34% have investments there. Very few appear to have cut all ties, with only 12% saying they “never” return home. On the other hand, only 16% return home often. Most do so on an irregular basis. Africans are far less likely to do so even though their destinations are closer. These patterns are not unusual. In a transnational world many contemporary immigrants maintain strong and active backward linkages. This does not mean that they are uncommitted to their country of new residence. Only 7% of those with temporary residence and work permits have applied for permanent residence. Is this because they are uninterested or because they see no point in applying since the likelihood of being granted permanent residence is slight? Almost half (45%) said that they would want to become permanent residents if they could, indicating that there is a significant interest in a more lasting commitment to South Africa. South Africa’s skilled non-citizens, both black and white, are highly qualified with 93% holding a post-secondary qualification (and 15% a post-graduate degree. There is a very strong trend for post-1991 arrivals to be better educated. Almost 70% of skilled non-citizens with university degrees and 60% with postgraduate training arrived after 1991. This finding clearly contradicts the idea that the “quality” of immigrants to South Africa has been in decline. Under apartheid, a white skin was the usual passport to entry. Under the new dispensation, skills and value have become much more important determinants. Skilled non-citizens are high wage earners with 25% earning more than R20,000 per month, and 59% earning more than R10,000 per month. White immigrants tend to earn more, on average, that black. The survey showed that skilled non-citizens are very satisfied with their personal economic conditions in South Africa, access to health care and quality schooling, and the cost of living. This extends across respondents from differing areas of origin. They are much less satisfied with the standard of services available in South Africa. Finally, there is an overwhelming concern about the lack of personal and family safety. Black non-citizens are far more positive about the future than white, reflecting the same division between white and black South Africans. Several policy-related conclusions and recommendations can be drawn from this research. “Brain drain” pessimism has focused mainly on the exit of skills from South Africa with little focus on what South Africa can do to attract more skilled workers from abroad or to keep those who are already here. Lurking behind much of this one-sided focus is the misguided assumption that national development and skills in-migration are incompatible. In fact, the opposite is the case. There are clearly very important changes afoot in the composition of the skilled foreign workforce in South Africa. Compared to the situation just a decade ago when a similar survey would have been hard pressed to find significant numbers of black skilled workers from the rest of Africa, 41% of this sample were from Africa. This seems to suggest that South Africa is in a position to capitalize on its comparative developmental advantages over the rest of the continent as an attractive destination for skilled workers. At the moment, skilled Africans are widely satisfied with South Africa, and fairly optimistic about its future. What is required to keep them is, first and foremost, a change in their treatment at the hands of ordinary South Africans and their government. In this regard, the problem of keeping skilled Africans appears to be the same problem confronting the formulation of a more rational immigration policy in general: xenophobia, intolerance and discrimination against foreigners, particularly those from the rest of Africa. South Africa has an important opportunity to enter the global market for skilled migrants and immigrants. Further prevarication and suspicion is counter-productive. In the last year, the Minister of Home Affairs has responded to criticism of government policy by proposing a relaxation of rules of entry for skilled immigrants. This has not yet translated into practical policy measures. The new Immigration Bill will produce a new regulatory framework but does not, of itself, guarantee any change unless there is the political will and a changed mindset. We recommend that the ANC government articulate a position on skilled immigration as a matter of priority. Implementation of immigration policy is rightly a line function of the Home Affairs Minister. But it cannot simply be assumed that his views are necessarily those of the ANC. Is the ANC, for example, prepared to endorse and work to implement the Minister’s new stance on skilled migration, as articulated in the Immigration Bill and various public speeches? If so, a major change in South Africa’s restrictionist immigration policy is inevitable

Public opinion research in emerging democracies: are the processes different?

This paper outlines the larger methodological, logistical and political challenges confronting survey researchers in emerging democracies in developing country contexts, particularly in Africa. Overcoming these challenges often means that comparative social scientific surveys of public opinion are designed, executed, and received in very different ways than in the West. But rather than simply seeing these differences as blemishes that need to be gradually ameliorated, we may have much more to learn from the globalization of public opinion research than the simple accumulation of more data from exotic settings

Support for democracy

With the worldwide wave of democratization, scholars interested in the preservation of the new democracies dusted off old theories of regime maintenance. While commonly sharing the assumption that democracy requires democrats, researchers proceeded in different directions, depending on their image of the ideal democrat. Today, we know a great deal about who supports democracy, and why. However, the state of our knowledge is incomplete at the point where it matters the most. As might be expected in any emerging area of research, different sets of scholars based their research instruments on contrasting understandings of what it means to be a democrat, and how democrats are best identified and measured. More importantly, they proceeded from differing understandings and underspecified theories as to why democrats are important, how many are needed, and how they actually affect the level and stability of democracy. Thus, while the intuition that democracy requires democrats is strong, the actual state of the evidence is still mixed, at best

The material and political bases of lived poverty in Africa: Insights from the Afrobarometer

The Afrobarometer has developed an experiential measure of lived poverty (how frequently people go without basic necessities during the course of a year) that measures a portion of the central core of the concept of poverty not captured by existing objective or subjective measures. Empirically, the measure has strong individual level construct validity and reliability within any cross national round of surveys. Yet it also displays inconsistent levels of external validity as a measure of aggregate level poverty when compared to other objective, material measures of poverty or well being. Surprisingly, however, we find that lived poverty is very strongly related to country level measures of political freedom. This finding simultaneously supports Sen's (1999) arguments about development as freedom, corroborates Halperin et al’s (2005) arguments about the “democracy advantage” in development, and increases our confidence that we are indeed measuring the experiential core of poverty

South Africa: Democracy Without the People?

Perhaps more than any other democratizing country, South Africa generates widely differing assessments of the present state and likely future prospects of its democracy. If one takes the long view—comparing South Africa today to where it was just 12 years ago—it is difficult not to be enthusiastic about its accomplishments and its future. South Africa successfully emerged from the shadow of apparently irreconcilable conflict and unavoidable racial civil war to create a common nation. It has negotiated two democratic constitutions and has held four successful nationwide elections for national and local government. On the economic front, it has avoided the triple-digit inflation that many feared would accompany a populist economic strategy of redistribution and government intervention. It has stabilized the expanding debt and reversed the double-digit inflation inherited from the apartheidera government. There have been impressive gains in employment opportunities and income for the growing black middle class, and poor blacks have seen unprecedented improvements in access to basic necessitie

Good news and bad: Public perceptions of crime, corruption and government

Idasa and Afrobarometer public opinion surveys conducted since 1994 reveal that levels of reported experiences with crime are unchanged over the past four years, but that public perceptions of overall safety and the performance of the police are actually improving. Of greatest concern is that the January-February 2006 survey found that almost half of all South Africans think that "all" or "most" police officials are involved in corruption. These are the highest rates recorded across ten different types of public servants. In contrast to the improving trends in public perceptions of crime, citizen views of corruption in the police (and other government institutions) are becoming worse

The born frees: The prospects for generational change in post-apartheid South Africa

Political culture theory explains political instability and change as the result of incongruity between mass attitudes and values on one hand, and political institutions on the other (Almond and Verba 1963). Thus, the “third wave of democracy” that swept across the globe from 1975 to 2005 is seen, variously, as the result of the failure of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes to supply sufficient economic and political goods to satisfy their citizens, or more broadly the mismatch between the operating norms of the regime and its constituent institutions and those of the mass public. The key question that occupies public opinion researchers working in new democracies, however, is whether the value structures that questioned and de-legitimated the former authoritarian and totalitarian regimes are sufficient to legitimate and consolidate new liberal or even electoral democracies. Perhaps nowhere is this issue better illustrated than in southern Africa where the presence of colonial and settler regimes well into the latter half of the 20th century diverged sharply with even the most minimal human aspirations for dignity, freedom and self-determination. The most extreme manifestation of this was, of course, apartheid South Africa. Whereas most repressive regimes at least made claims that they were delivering some goods valued by their populations (rightist regimes claimed to deliver national self-determination, order, or development; leftist regime claimed to deliver equality and a form of democracy that was more advanced than their liberal, bourgeois competitors), South Africa?s ruling National Party could claim, at best, that it was protecting traditional indigenous cultures from the polluting impact of modernity and preparing Africans for self-government in their own countries. But Verwoerdian appeals to cultural relativism and paternalist tutelage were constantly exposed by the harshness of everyday life, whether in the urban townships, the farms of “white” South Africa, or in the Bantustan homelands, and by the near totalitarian reach of the apartheid regime and its intrusion into the most intimate aspects the lives of coloured, Indian and black South Africans

Uncritical Citizenship in a Low-Information Society: Mozambicans in Comparative Pespective

Mozambique is one of the poorest and most underdeveloped societies in the world. While poverty and the lack of infrastructure have many social and political consequences, perhaps the most important from the standpoint of the country’s democratic development are the limitations these obstacles place on the ability of its people to act as full citizens. Yet even compared to other poor societies, Mozambicans suffer from extremely low levels of formal education (the adult literacy rate is 46 percent, compared to an average of 61 percent across all low income countries),1 and extremely low levels of access to public information: the country has just three newspapers per 1,000 people (compared to 44 for low income countries), 14 television sets per 1,000 (compared to 84), and 44 radios per 1,000 (compared to 198).2 Extremely low rates of formal education, high levels of illiteracy and limited access to news media strike at the very core of the cognitive skills and political information that enable citizens to assess social, economic and political developments, learn the rules of how societies and governments function, form opinions about political performance, and care about the survival of democracy

Africans' surprising universalism

Africa is a latecomer to democratization. In terms of timing, Africa has followed rather than led other continents in giving birth to the reform movements that have installed elected governments, multiparty systems, and more open societies around the world. Since many African countries are dependent on foreign aid, they have also experienced weighty external pressures to liberalize. One should not automatically conclude, however, that the impetus for reform comes from outside the continent rather than from within. If political liberalization were a Northern idea being foisted on an unwilling South, then certain empirical facts should follow. One would expect Africans to 1) be unaware of the concept of democracy; 2) have distinct cultural understandings of its content; 3) be unsupportive of regimes based on competitive principles; 4) prefer alternative political regimes; and 5) be unsatisfied with the performance of democratic regimes in practice

Democracy as a Lesser Evil: Testing the Churchill Notion of Democracy in South Africa and South Korea

Winston Churchill asserted in 1947 that “democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” To date, this lesser-evil notion of democracy has been tested only in the post-communist societies of Eastern and Central Europe. As a result, little is known about how useful, or valid, this notion of democracy as a lesser evil is for analysing the popular perceptions of democracy among the mass publics of new democracies in other regions. To fill this gap in existing literature, this study analyses public opinion data from South Africa and South Korea. Our analysis of these data reveals that the Churchillian notion of democracy as a lesser evil is of limited use as an alternative paradigm for the study of democratisation, especially from the perspective of ordinary citizens in the midst of that political experience