On last night’s episode of Carte Blanche, presenter Derek Watts discovered that the ‘Great Migration’ from South Africa is increasing sharply and is no longer confined to the ‘White Flight’. Young black professionals leaving South Africa are now outnumbering their white counterparts… although Home Affairs says this is to be expected since the black population is a lot larger. (Watch below.)

Since 2015, removal companies have noticed that there are now more people leaving than returning. However there are still many South African expats who do still plan to return one day.

Derek says “they say living in South Africa is like having a luxury suite… on the Titanic.” And it’s this sentiment that has medical doctors, engineers and finance specialists – skilled and educated South Africans – packing it all up and heading abroad.

With the high crime rate, loss of job security and economic uncertainty thousands are looking for greener pastures and the United Kingdom and Australia seem to be the destinations of choice, followed by New Zealand and the USA.





According to the 2016 census in Australia, a whopping 162,448 South Africans were living there… of which 67% had tertiary educations.

In 2017 Pew Research Centre in the US reported 900,000 South Africans living abroad, but Homecoming Revolution says the true figure is 2.7 million.

Derek speaks to some of those who’ve left or who are leaving… as well as one expat in New York who points out that many South Africans living abroad, like her, will one day return with their new skills and experience to help create a better SA for all.

WATCH The Great Migration – Carte Blanche

If you’re in SA, Kenya or Nigeria – you can watch Carte Blanche on DStv Now. If you’re overseas: you can watch the full episode of Carte Blanche and thousands of other popular local South African shows & movies by subscribing to Showmax International now. You can try it FREE for 14 days.



