THIS WAS POSTED IN A LOCAL NEWSPAPER

One
of the quietest wave of immigrants to reach Australia are the South
Africans. In the main well-off, industrious, hard-working and
determined to integrate after having escaped horrific crime rates in
their homeland, the `sethefrican' accent is becoming more and more
evident in all aspects of Gold Coast life.

THEY say everyone has a doppelganger somewhere in the world. If the
same theory applies to countries, chances are that Australia's double
would be South Africa - goodness knows enough of them live Down Under
- with the 2006 Census showing that there are 3872 South Africans who
now call the Gold Coast home.

In fact, South Africans are the third largest immigrant population in
our fair city - and one of the fastest growing.

Most South Africans who live in Australia say they moved here because
it reminds them of home.

"Australia is the best South Africa on Earth." is how one of our
Springbok brothers describes it - a quote that denies the very real
cultural differences between the two countries.

Physically, South Africa is a similar land to our own, sunburnt
country. It has spectacular stretches of coastline and sweeping
plains. The vegetation and climate are similar.

'Sethefricans' generally like what we like - they surf, we surf. We
BBQ, they BBQ, only they call it braai. We both love a beer - lots of
beer. We're both former colonies, both of us have diverse populations
that are a mix of black and white; both have cultures struggling to
merge, both rich in natural resources.

Still, for all our similarities, South Africa is like the older
brother we Aussies love to hate, the country we love to compete
against - in rugby for instance.

The Springboks might have won the World Cup, but the Wallabies can't
help but feel it was by default and the Kiwis believe it with a
passion.

But South Africans are different to our close cousins across the ditch
- coming as they do from a land blighted by horrendous crime rates and
an uncertain political future. While the joke for a long time was that
all the Kiwis had to do was get on a plane and get on the dole, South
Africans who immigrate to Australia have often paid a heavy price.
Many arrive on our shores after family or friends have fallen victim
to crimes such as rape or murder, and once here are required quickly
to become economically productive members of society or face
deportation.

Stiff financial entry requirements mean that South African immigrants
are often wealthy and are called the new boat people - they arrive
here and the first thing they do is buy a boat.

Once would-be immigrants pass a points test on age, health and so on,
they are required to bring in a large amount of capital - up to
$500,000 - in addition either to buying or starting up a business that
employs Australians.

They are often barred from taking paid employment. Finally they are
required to pass an English test that wags say most Australians would
struggle to pass'. "We don't have any problems with all that," says
John du Rand, who has been here for six years. "It means the quality
of immigrants is good and can help Australia and that is good for
everyone


South Africans tend not to form clubs or groups like former immigrants
such as the Greek or Italian communities, so their impact is more
difficult to gauge, but increasing numbers mean the flat vowels of
'sethefrican' are becoming more and more common on the Coast.

Sure, we both speak English, but the Saffies have invented a whole new
way to twist every nuance of language. The Dutch influence has added a
new dimension that Aussies will simply never be able to comprehend -
we'd make fun of it if we understood it.

If there is one single factor that forces South Africans from their
beautiful homeland it is crime. According to a survey for the period
1998-2000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
South Africa was ranked second in the world for assault and murder per
capita, in addition to being ranked first for rapes per capita -
amazing statistics for what is a relatively small country by world
standards.

Every year, more than 22,000 are murdered, with hundreds of thousands
more injured and brutalised So great is the carnage that the South
African government has stopped issuing statistics because they simply
add to the general depression with-out helping to find a solution.

Saffie's come to Australia to escape while they are still alive and
that is the crux of the difference between us. As one South African
who now considered himself to be a proud Aussie supporter says,
Saffies grow up under siege in a country where crime is rampant.

As far as Aussies are concerned, South Africans are also a little
arrogant. Sorry, but it's true. They're aggressive, rude, bossy, and
dismissive - wouldn't you be if you lived life under siege? The
statistics speak for themselves. A serious crime is committed every 17
seconds in South Africa and Johannesburg is the epicentre of the
crisis.

People live behind high brick walls topped with barbed wire or
electrified wire - or both. Houses sport 'panic buttons' at strategic
spots - buttons that are linked to an armed response unit that, once
summoned, comes in guns out and ready to shoot.

It is not unusual for the bedrooms of houses to be sealed at night
behind steel 'rape gates' double padlocked so that if anyone does
break in, those inside are not surprised while asleep, because
unfortunately in South Africa a great many break-ins end in mass rape
and murder.

Even garages are turned into fortresses behind automatic steel gates.
Owners drive in and out of their houses fast because most armed
car-jackings take place in people's own driveways as they open their
fortresses just a crack to get in and out.

Only last week, popular South African reggae singer Lucky Dube was
murdered in an attempted car jacking, shot dead by car-jackcrs in
front of his son and daughter. Aged 15 and 16, when he dropped them
off at their uncle's home in Rosettenville, a suburb in southern
Johannesburg.

Gold Coast-based author Jcnni Baxter, who co-wrote The Expat
Confessions, got to the heart of why South Africans leave their
beloved country - an act those who are left behind call doing the
'chicken run' - "Crime is just too bad. I didn't want my kids to grow
up there and that's why I left and moved to the Gold Coast. I returned
for a holiday a few years ago and our house was broken into while we
were there.

"In South Africa the crime is totally out of hand."It is a huge issue.
Some South Africans won't like me saying it. There are always issues
about the figures. The president says it is a 'perceived sense of
crime' but there is no one in South Africa who doesn't know someone
who has been murdered."

For some white South Africans, crime and how in their view the country
has gone to the dogs since a black government took over five years
ago, is a favourite topic of conversation. "There is a feeling of doom
and gloom in South Africa. People are really depressed; they are fed
up with the crime, so they move. Many of them resent being forced to
leave the country because of the crime. I think that is why they find
it so hard to integrate with the Australian society. Their blood boils
that they can't stay in their own country."

There is the elephant in the room no one mentions when it comes to
South African immigration - race. The fact is that many white South
African immigrants see Australia as South Africa without a black
majority and without crime, which is a reason many end up homesick and
return home

Australia did not have Apartheid - an Afrikaans world that literally
means 'apartness' that described the separation of races in all
spheres of life that South Africa adopted in 1948 as a way of'
'solving' the problems created by competition between races for scarce
resources.

The many physical similarities between South Africa and Australia
belie deep cultural differences. Australians have grown up with and
adhere strongly to an egalitarian society, while South African society
is not only stratified by race, but also by class especially within
white society.

In South Africa it is vital to live on the 'right' side of town,
attend the 'right' school and have the 'right' friends, and this
attitude often results in severe cultural misunderstandings here.

Questions of race, identity and reconciliation are still common to
both countries. Australia is in what Australian social researcher Hugh
Mackay has called its 'age of redefinition'.

As a South African cultural commentator put it after a visit to
Australia: "They often have to ask: `What is an Australian'?' They
agonise over whether they should

remain a monarchy under the English queen. They grapple with
immigration issues. They row over what fair treatment to and
'reconciliation' with Aborigines means.

Similarly, South Africans are engaged in a fevered debate about 'What
is a South African?' and whether it is a matter of first Africans or
South Africans first."

The issue of reconciliation and public apology remain the third rail
of Australian politics.

For Gold Coast-based Fred Erickson-Miller, apartheid is the other,
politically incorrect reason South Africans are leaving. "It's not a
question of race. That's not the issue. Apartheid was never the
answer. That was wrong. But the day Nelson Mandela was released and
they handed all the power over to the blacks, we knew we had to get
out while the going was good."

Mr Ericksen-Miller said the balance of power had tipped too far,
swinging wildly in the other direction. Affirmative action policies
ensure a black presence in every tier of business and government -
whether the people chosen are qualified or not.

"What is happening now is just as wrong. It's called affirmative
action but all it's doing it ruining the South African economy. "They
don't know how to run a country. It's not a skill people are born
with, it's something they have to learn. In South Africa, that
learning process never happened. We just handed over the power and
this is the result."

A perfect example is the recent questioning of a minister in the South
African Parliament about the country's ballooning rate of car theft.
He reportedly replied that car theft was good for the South African
economy because the victims had to keep buying new cars.

Mr Ericksen-Millcr said the country appeared to be booming, with
preparations under way for the soccer World Cup to be held in the
country in 2010. "But no one knows where the money is going. It's not
going into the local economy. More gravy for the gravy train, I
expect." Mr Ericksen-Miller, who has been in Australia for almost two
decades, operates Springbok Foods, ensuring Saffies get a little piece
of home in the land of Oz.

He makes and sells all sorts of South African delights. "Some of the
hardliners find it hard to adapt," says Mr Ericksen-Miller. "They see
the change as losing their culture and try to bring South Africa with
them. But the rest of us adapt. My son is an out-and-out Aussie.