The new wave

Since the late '90s, around $5 billion of 'human capital' - skilled workers and graduates - have left South Africa for new lives in other countries, says an estimate. The UAE, too, has become home to many South Africans. What draws them to this region? How do they cope with the new environs? Piers Grimley Evans attempts to find out

It is an airless summer evening and I'm discovering how to braai. The host drapes another coil of boerewors across the griddle and, as a cloud of burnt meat and wood-smoke settles over the tranquil suburbs, the chat drifts from the consequences of losing a snake in your mother's car to the practicalities of cooking a giraffe. A classic Dubai moment.

And an increasingly typical one. Courtesy of its fastest growing expat community, the city is now waking up to a new way to enjoy the Gulf. For many, quite literally - those who choose to jog, paddle or surf with sport-fixated saffers at 6.30 on a Friday morning.

Others follow South Africans to the table, joining the line of salivating carnivores outside The Meat Company, Dubai's first taste of authentic Safrican "graze".

If this continues, soon we will all be taking our vowels short and our sausages long. Yet South Africans, though natural pioneers, are unexpected expats. The wave of Safrican culture in Dubai could certainly be the start of a new phase for the city. Or it could be its peak.

Dubai's South African community dates from the collapse of apartheid. In April 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections and the passport previously known as "the green mamba" was finally welcome in the Gulf.

TJ Van Rooyen, one of the first arrivals, remembers the incomprehension of the doctor who performed his immigration medical test. Confronted by the retail manager's Western appearance, he swiftly diagnosed a dermatological condition.

By the late nineties, South Africans were still few enough to all gather on Jumeirah Beach for a braai on Thursday evenings. Then, over the last few years, exponential growth kicked in.

The handful of families became a major slice of the expat population. There are no up-to-date official figures, but from their appetite for delicacies such as Mrs Balls Chutney, Jannie Hotzhausen, CEO of Spinneys says, "I'd guess that Dubai is now home to between 20,000 and 30,000; the number has increased considerably over the last two years."

They are now making their presence felt. Last year, South Africa House, a business development centre in Dubai, endorsed by the SA Department of Trade and Industry, was launched to help South African companies enter the Middle East.

Recently, the South African Business Council opened to provide a forum for networking and boost the list of over 60 South African companies already active in the UAE.

But a question mark hangs over the bumper stickers now to be seen at every angle of the city's road system. Are they simply a sensible precaution against being mistaken for Brits? Or, do they express the patriotism of reluctant expats who, give half a chance, would be back home in the land they invariably describe as the most beautiful in the world?

The question now occupies a 26-year-old market researcher from Johannesburg called Anco Fourie. She is trying to place Dubai in a wider pattern of emigration. According to one estimate, since 1997 the country has lost $5 billion of "human capital".

These are skilled workers and graduates, each of whose absence costs as many as 10 less-skilled jobs, who have set off for new lives mainly in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK.

"We are used to people going everywhere else but here," says Anco. Until she came, in fact, her own image of Dubai was "camels, desert... that's it". So to find out how this community has developed, she is circulating questionnaires among her fellow saffers. She hopes to discover both why they left, and why they came here.

Dubai's South Africans, says Anco, have several unusual characteristics. Unlike the city's Brits you will find saffers at any age from 18 to 50. They can be anything from a lifeguard to a CEO. They are also distinct culturally. They are overwhelmingly white and, of South Africa's 11 official languages, like Anco herself, they are likely to speak Afrikaans.

Also, they can be found in any sector. "I expect to find plenty of nurses, doctors, waiters, engineers and IT professionals," says Anco.

Prominent South African companies include Standard Bank, petroleum giant Sasol, retailers Woolworths and Truworths, and construction companies Grinaker LTA and Murray and Roberts - which has been plugging gaps in the city skyline since constructing the Burj Al Arab back in 1997.

As for why they are here, she expects to find two push factors - affirmative action and, above all, crime. You don't have to ask many local South Africans to hear both. For Cassim Adam, an Etisalat engineer, it is hard to say which counted most.

"Being of Indian descent, I experienced discrimination during apartheid. When democracy came, though, I was not black enough. Subordinates kept being promoted over me," he says. "Then, shortly before we left, my son was shot twice in an armed robbery."

So far, Anco is finding affirmative action most significant for younger expats (and, naturally, mainly among white males). Crime's impact, despite a national murder rate of 59 per 100,000 (ten times that of the USA), depends on where you are from. It counts most for families, but all South Africans love Dubai's security.

"When I go home, I don't fill up my car," says property professional Beverley Rossouw. "That way if it gets stolen it won't get taken far."

The pull factors are topped by employment. "Dubai is seen as offering unique job opportunities," says the consul Willem Botes. Higher pay and no taxation, says Anco, are "a huge attraction". For their part, local employers, says Leon Geldenhuys, MD of Outsourcing Consultants, are just as enthusiastic about South Africans.

"What employers are looking for are executives who will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty," he says. "South Africans are also expert in dealing with different cultural groups."

Faith is also growing in the South African Government's ability to tackle crime. Ashley Dlamini, a designer engineer, has seen great changes in visits home during his six years here as a design engineer. "The first two years were terrible," he says.

"Now, I see a lot of improvement. There is a high police presence in areas where you never saw a policeman before. Even at night in Soweto people are no longer afraid to stop at a red light." He expects the South Africa World Cup in 2010 to stimulate further action.

We could, therefore, expect the South African influx to have reached its peak. Many come here primarily driven by considerations of money and even if that doesn't quite add up to their expectations, they often stay on regardless, feels Anco.

Why? "That's what I'm trying to find out," she says. "I honestly don't know. It's definitely not the climate." She speculates that one factor may be that Dubai is a lot less alien than other expat destinations.

"In Europe, the architecture is different. There are different birds and trees," she says. "Here, the sky is blue rather than grey."

All that, and a solid social network. Unlike earlier arrivals, recent expats can expect only the slightest tingle of culture shock. Nigel Harvey, President of the South African Business Council, says that transferring here six months ago as general manager