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Perth-based law firm Suffolk Law has calculated at least 162,000 South Africans have emigrated Down Under since last February.This marks a major upturn in migration between the two countries, which has been suggested is linked to South Africa’s controversial land reforms.Karen Kotze, a migration expert at the firm, revealed the company receives “up to 10 enquiries a day” from South Africans looking to move away.And in February, the law firm received a record high of 500 migration information enquiries in a 60-day period.

(Image: GETTY)

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY)

This coincides with when Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton voiced his fears for South African white farmers. He said at the time they deserved his “special attention” and could be given refugee status because these landowners faced violence and land seizures. It was previously reported how land grabs could go ahead as soon as March after a change to the country’s constitution was approved. South Africa’s National Assembly approved the change that will make the so-called reforms legal late last year.

It paved the way for mainly white farmer-owned land to be taken without giving any kind of compensation. And President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to push ahead with the reforms despite warnings of foreign economic investment in the country drying up as a result. Ruben Naidoo, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, previously said that if amending the country’s constitution threatened property rights, there would be “an extremely large systematic effect on the banking sector”.