The New Great Trek

The title of this book is partially derived from a formative event which shaped South African history during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Great Trek. In response to conditions that were regarded as unbearable, thousands of disaffected early-Afrikaners in the Eastern Cape moved to territories to the north and in the process overcame considerable obstacles in the form of a hostile colonial government, wild animals, disease, virtually impenetrable mountain ranges and antagonistic indigenous tribes. Today, a century and a half later, emigrants participating in the New Great Trek might want to argue that they too are trying to escape from obstacles very similar to those faced by their forbears, albeit in different guises. The title is also an adaptation of the title of the autobiography of the last white South African president, F W de Klerk: The last trek - A new beginning.· In his book De Klerk suggested that the transition to democracy in 1994 represented the final trek by Afrikaners and whites away from apartheid to an inclusive democracy. Sadly, however, for the tens of thousands of mainly white South Africans it signalled merely the beginning of yet another trek, and for the many who had left South Africa after 1994 the only 'New Beginning' would be on the shores of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Britain the USA and elsewhere. This book is not a guide on how to emigrate but follows a holistic discussion and analysis of the major aspects of South African emigration, particularly in so far as no book on this topic has yet been published. The idea behind the book was to take the concept of migration and the flow of people across borders and continents, which is a fundamental part of human history and society today and apply it to South Africa. The reasons that people move around the world are universal and can be summarised broadly as the search for better material conditions and the avoidance of physical danger. The thousands of South Africans participating in the current emigration wave are no different, and their motivation for leaving is founded on the desire to escape from violent crime and to ensure that their quality of life and living standards are not affected by rapidly changing socioeconomic and political conditions. The author has attempted to discuss these conditions as objectively as possible and to steer away from overly negative or politically subjective views. However, the scourge of violent crime, even when viewed objectively, is South Africa's Achilles' heel - and the author has attempted to expose it in no uncertain terms - not only is crime the principal reason that South Africans are emigrating, but it is damaging the country and destroying lives in a similar fashion to 46 years of apartheid - from this perspective the New Great Trek is a discussion of emigration with reference to its main cause, violent crime.

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