Brain drain and South Africa's socioeconomic development: The waves and its effects

• Date: 01 November 2019
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1942
• Author: Victor H. Mlambo,Toyin Cotties Adetiba

ACADEMIC PAPER

Brain drain and South Africa's socioeconomic development:

The waves and its effects

Victor H. Mlambo

1

|Toyin Cotties Adetiba

2

1

Department of Public Administration,

University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South

Africa

2

Department of Politics and International

Studies, University of Zululand,

KwaDlangezwa, South Africa

Correspondence

Victor H Mlambo, Department of Public

Administration, University of Zululand, 1 Main

Road Vulindlela, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa.

Email: halavico@yahoo.com

Many African countriesare bedeviled with huge losses of humanskills, and this, in turn,

has affected thier development. From health professionals to teachers, academics and

engineers,the continent has lost numerous skilled personnelwho ought to be contribut-

ing extensivelyto its socio‐economic development.The socio‐economic developmentof

a country hinges on theavailability of skilled human resourcesto drive its growth. Brain

drain has long beinga challenge for South Africa as the countrycontinues to lose skilled

professionals to other countries, hence, the unsteady growth of its economy. Using a

strict textual analysis of the relevant literature relating to brain drain in South Africa,

the study found that the South African government lacks a clear cut policy on how to

reduce brain drain, and this will impact the country's socioeconomic development in

the long term. Using the theoreticalframework of Lee's push and pull theory, the study

argues that brain drain in South Africa is reinforced by certain socio‐economic factors.

The paper concludes thatSouth Africa's vision of becoming Africa's industrial hub may

remain a dream if the countryfails to put losing its skilled professionalsunder control.

1|INTRODUCTION

The sociopolitical and economic development of a country debatably

hinges on the availability of a skilled human resource base to drive its

socio‐economic growth and development. Over the years, the post‐

apartheid SouthAfrica has witnessed an unprecedentedincrease in the

number of skilled individuals migrating to other countries,most notably

countriesin the Weste; this has in no doubt affected SouthAfrica's eco-

nomic growth(Staff Writer, 2016). Althoughthe country has been fortu-

nate in being able to attract skills from other countries predominantly

from Africa, policy makers have acknowledged that this has somewhat

decreasedthe urgency of addressing the problemof brain drain in South

Africa as many skilled Africans have filled the voids left by emigrating

South Africans. However, one might argue that this is nota sustainable

solution to deal withthe brain drain problem for South Africa,as skilled

Africannationals may leave whenever they feelthey have to, hence, fur-

ther affecting the availability of skills in South Africa, Skills which are

needed to drive its developmental goals (Baptiste,2014).

From a continental point of view, Africa has not done enough to

stop the emigration of skilled professionals, hence the battle to con-

tain the spiral effects of brain drain on the continent. Over the years,

crucial sectors of the economy in South Africa such as farming, busi-

ness, engineering, educationand health, apart from the effects of

xenophobic attacks on African foreign nationals not minding their role

to augment for the loss due to emigrating South Africans, have been

battling to stem the outflow of skills. Although the country has been

able to attract skills far beyond the its borders, contrariwise, many sec-

tors are still battling to reduce the outflow of skills, ultimately this has

hindered steady and effective economic growth of South Africa.

Objectively, this paper aims at explaining how the migration of skills

from South African has adversely affected various sectors in South

Africa and its development. As a point of reference, Lee's push/pull the-

ory will be used as a tool of analysis.

2|LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 |Skilled migration and its effects on South Africa

Besidesthe constant increase in theinterconnectedness ofthe global vil-

lage,there are many issues that pushor perhaps motivate SouthAfricans

to migrate to other countries.These issues range from increasing crime

Received: 1 February 2019 Accepted: 23 February 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1942

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1942.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1942

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of9