The so-called “brain drain” of professional expertise from South Africa has been a source of concern for several years now. Discussions of the trend have tended to focus on white professionals ‒- but, it appears that black South Africans are also joining the exodus.
Brian Khumalo, senior partner at Leaders Unlimited, South Africa’s largest recruitment firm, described the brain drain as “a very serious situation”.
“It’s not so much the departure of black people which is the concern. It’s their return which is the concern. We have no problem with black people going overseas and acquiring skills and global experience. The problem is, once they get there will they come back?”
Asked about the number of black professionals leaving South Africa, Khumalo said: “We don’t have specific statistics. But, according to various reports, 2 000 black people leave the country every year.”
He said black professionals were moving overseas to acquire better qualifications and skills to match what South Africans who lived in exile during apartheid had attained.
These exiles, now back in the country, have landed good jobs because of their superior qualifications and international exposure.
Amongst South Africans who do seek their fortunes overseas ‒- nurses, medical doctors, teachers and information technology experts are sought after because of their proficiency in English.
Some 11 671 South Africans emigrated last year, compared with 8 080 in 2002, according to official statistics. Most of them have gone to the United States, Britain, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Australia. Their reasons for leaving South Africa range from low salaries to the country’s crime rate.
A new study, entitled the Flight of the Flamingos, released in the port city of Cape Town recently, added its voice to the chorus of concern about the brain drain. “The flow is up to four times higher than the official figure,” said the report.
Michael Kahn, Executive Director of the Human Sciences Research Council, which conducted the study, said that “At one point, people didn’t say when they were emigrating. They would just tell the immigration officials at the border that they were going to work overseas for a year or two so that they could take most of their property with them.”
“But now the laws relating to things like foreign currency controls have eased a little bit,” he added.
The issue of the brain drain is also worrying the 1,7-million-strong Confederation of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU). “The shortage of skills is a problem. It adds to employment,” said William Madisa, President of COSATU.
In addition, the matter was raised when South African President Thabo Mbeki met his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja recently.
Nigeria ‒- and indeed most of Africa ‒- finds itself in a similar predicament to South Africa: about 250 000 Nigerians are living in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau.
The Ethiopia-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) estimates that since the 1980s, Africa has lost more than a third of its professionals to developed countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa, said the ECA, spends over $4-billion yearly on technical assistance, including the cost of hiring 100 000 foreign experts.
“(The) brain drain is a major impediment to African development as it depletes many countries of the human resources necessary to build the institutions and infrastructure that support strong economies,” it observed.
Edward Ofori-Sarpong, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, told a gathering in the capital of Accra last year that 70 000 highly qualified Africans leave Africa every year.
He lamented that Sub-Saharan Africa has only 20 000 scientists and engineers, about 3,6% of the world’s scientific population, servicing the continent’s estimated 600 million people.
“Africa needs at least one million scientists and engineers to sustain its development prospects,” he said in a paper entitled “Effects of the Brain Drain on National Development”.
The challenge that Africa faces now is how to reverse this trend.
“The onus lies on a company like ours to make it their business to track down people overseas. It should find out what these people are doing and when they are coming back, so that they can be recycled into the job market,” Khumalo said.
Critics say low wages often prevent Africans from returning home. “An African professional will not resign from his $50 000-a-year job to accept a $500-a-year job in Africa,” said Dale Emeagwali, a Nigerian scientist based in the United States.
Emeagwali is lobbying African governments through his internet site and speaking at conferences to increase the salaries of professionals so that they can return to Africa. — IPS