Expats: stop moaning about South Africa and lend your support, says Peter Hain

“It annoys me when young South Africans come over to the UK having had all the social capital of South Africa invested in them, a privileged education, all the skills and opportunities, and then have a moan about what’s going on back home. They of course should have a choice to work abroad but they have a responsibility to support the country that gave them these opportunities,” ex-cabinet minister Peter Hain told the South African Chamber of Commerce at his recent First Wednesday talk at Deloitte in London.

Hain, who first came to prominence as a campaigner against apartheid-era cricket recorded a BBC documentary earlier this year called South Africa: The Massacre That Changed a Nation.

“As somebody who represents a mining constituency I found the whole situation of the mining massacre very dramatic,” he said.

Hain has been the Member of Parliament for Neath since 1991 and served  as Welsh Secretary from 2009 to 2010, before becoming Shadow Welsh Secretary in Ed Miliband’s Shadow Cabinet from 2010 until 2012.

Hain said there has been an increase in strike action in South Africa but that there was scope to improve skill utilisation in South Africa, with strengthening labour force participation a key step.

The outspoken and engaging Labour Party politician, who was raised in Pretoria and served in the Cabinet of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, said despite the massive challenges South Africa faces, he remains optimistic about the country’s future.

The anti-apartheid activist said uncertainty surrounding next year’s election in South Africa is impacting heavily on business confidence and has seen two thirds of the country’s business leaders putting investment decisions on hold.

The MP voiced his concerns that economic slowdown is always burden on the South African economy and additional local pressures are not helping at all. The BRICS nations, especially China are directly impacting on local business expansion, while service delivery concerns and political uncertainty are persistently affecting growth.

He stressed that more needs to be done to encourage locals to gain skills and at the same time regard involvement from other nations as encouraging rather than taking over.

Hain noted South Africa’s huge investment potential and bright future as an emerging market. He highlighted the fact that South Africa had moved up from 41st to 35th in the 2013 World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Rankings, ahead of highly developed old European powers like Spain and Italy. This ranking is based on obvious indicators such as economic policy and external debt but also more descriptive factors such as labour supply and industrial diversification.

However, one of his concerns is that he feels many young professional South Africans living and working outside the country (especially in Europe) have no interest in returning and investing in their own country. He stated that nowadays, a significant number are happy to continue working overseas and are not really interested in pursuing opportunities at home.

In response to this comment a few in the audience expressed their feelings that the country’s high crime rate is one of the main reasons so many are interested in emigrating.

Another South African audience member added that diverse opportunities overseas were some of the reasons they didn’t want to settle in their homeland.

Hain said the issue of crime was a separate and complicated matter. He stressed that more needs to be done to encourage locals to gain skills and at the same time regard involvement from other nations as encouraging rather than taking over.

Besides South Africa, the former cabinet minister mentioned the contentious issue of Syria and ruled out supporting the government, saying David Cameron’s motives were particularly suspect because he had wanted to intervene in Syria long before the recent chemical weapons attack.

After an hour or two it was clear that Hain has had an extraordinary life. His new book titled Outside In would definitely be a good read to see how his personal experience has shaped his ability to make such an impact in politics in the past and today.

By Claire Heffron