Jim Peron: Crime, not racism, drives South Africans to emigrate

Trevor Richards' view of white South Africans, as presented in his article on this page, is superficial. It is simply false to imply that white South Africans did not support the reforms that did away with apartheid, and that they believed that "in allowing a universal franchise" they had done enough.

He forgets that it was those same white voters who overwhelmingly voted for the reforms.

I moved to South Africa from the United States just as political apartheid was breathing its last. It was already dead economically. I moved to Hillbrow, a "grey" area neighbourhood that was fully integrated.

I was there the day white South Africans were asked to vote on whether to proceed with the reforms. I watched the polling stations as white voters stood under the hot African sun to cast their ballots strongly in favour of reform.

Mr Richards argues that South Africans who do not like the new South Africa are emigrating to Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

He implies they are racists, bringing their racist views with them and that they ask where in Auckland they can live to avoid Polynesians.

Rubbish. Most South Africans do not come to New Zealand out of racist motives. Most come reluctantly. I emigrated here with my South African partner not because of racism. I did not want to leave. I loved my home in Africa. My partner was born there and had to leave family and friends.

We left because of two armed attacks within a year of each other. The second time the armed gang shot at me. A bullet whizzing inches past your head is a strong argument for emigration.

South Africans I have met here have similar stories. One after another has told me of near-death experiences with South African crime.

A young woman I know from South Africa wrote to me. She was at home with her infant daughter when attacked by armed men who broke into her house. She and her husband are now working to emigrate here, but not because of racial animosity.

She started a training company for black South Africans. She was working to increase black representation in all the professions. She, like me, found an armed assault a persuasive argument in favour of New Zealand.

Nor are these isolated experiences. Friend after friend had homes burgled there. People we knew have been shot, some killed. Armed hijackings were routine. The murder rate in South Africa when I left was 65 times higher than New Zealand, even after adjusting for population size.

In the 10 years I lived in South Africa, most of this during African National Congress rule, the murder rate had increased by 66 per cent, rape by 256 per cent, robbery by 200 per cent, car theft about 75 per cent, and burglary by 50 per cent. The rates were even higher in the urban areas.

The South African Institute of Race Relations reported that only two countries had higher murder rates - Colombia and Swaziland. The US has a murder rate eight times lower than that of South Africa. Rape figures are the highest in the world, as are South Africa's reported cases of robbery and violent death.

The fact is that most South Africans would still be in South Africa had it not been for the crime. I know too many people who have agonised over their decision to emigrate.

The young woman I wrote about is in trauma counselling because of the armed attack. She writes telling me she is "no longer willing to expose my child and myself to such risk".

Some things have gone right in South Africa. I thought that was possible when I originally emigrated there. But the crime and the blatant corruption that is partly responsible for it is too much to ignore.

For myself and the South Africans I know, it was crime, not racism, that motivated our departure.

* Jim Peron is the owner of Aristotle's Books in Auckland. He is responding to former Halt All Racist Tours leader Trevor Richards.