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South Africans
Dubai is host to an amazing mix of nationalities and in the fourth of a series on the communities of Dubai Al Shindagah profiles the South Africans. By Zac Sharpe
Four years later and the realities behind the dream have shown South Africans - black, white and all shades in between - that social integration involves more than words in a constitution.
Like the southern American states of the late sixties, South Africans have discovered that the transformation to a colour- blind society is both laudable and gradual.
But there comparisons with the United States end.
Unlike the US where the African American was a minority figure, South African blacks outnumber whites by a ratio of about eight to one. While a black governor of Alabama or Missouri is still a forlorn hope, newly enfranchised South Africans immediately wielded their new-found power by electing the respected statesman Nelson Mandela as the head of the country in the first general election in which all South Africans were permitted to vote.
When American voters finally accepted that all people deserved equality under the eyes of the law and their Lord, the world's wealthiest country had the infrastructure at hand to offer education, employment and social welfare to its new first class citizens.
South Africa's wealth however resided almost exclusively in the hands of a small minority. Sharing this 'old money' among an overwhelmingly greater number of dispossessed South Africans has plunged the country into economic turmoil.
The South Africans steadily trickling into the United Arab Emirates are here for more than just the sunshine.
In a few year short but hectic years South Africans have fluctuated between national euphoria and deep despair. No longer a pariah of the so-called New World Order, South African's have basked in the vicarious joy bestowed by sporting idols who won the Rugby World Cup, welcomed the first black test cricketer, Makhaya Ntini, to their Test line-up and joined the world's elite footballers at France 98.
Politically, Nelson Mandela has quietly asserted the authority befitting the African continent's richest nation.
He has assumed a position of authority among the Non Aligned nations, those often third world countries not under the umbrella of NATO or the Warsaw Pact. And he has not been afraid to stand up to the might of the US when that country's leaders have tried to impose their own version of South African foreign affairs policy on Mandela's government.
But at home the country has lurched from crisis to crisis. While a Royal Commission has tried to exorcise the demons of the past, more corporeal concerns have emerged to haunt those living in the present.
Crime, unemployment and a plunging Rand have hindered the transition to an egalitarian society. The rampant optimism which pervaded the country has subsided to such an extent that many are now seeking fortune and favour elsewhere.
Traditionally, London has been the receptacle of Afrikaaners looking for international experience and adventure. Bankers and backpackers alike have converged on the guest houses of Earl's Court and terraces of Queensway over the past two decades.
But more and more, qualified and unskilled South Africans are looking for alternatives to the expensive and competitive English capital.
It seems no-one quite knows how many South Africans have found their way to the UAE. The South African Embassy in Abu Dhabi quoted a figure in the hundreds. But anecdotal evidence unearthed in Dubai bars televising South African sporting matches suggest a figure hovering in the low thousands at the least.
The South Africans in a UAE arrivals lounge are as demographically diverse as the constituents of their homeland. Where most expatriates of western countries fill the professional ranks of the business community, many South Africans are being lured by a stronger currency to service industry jobs such as waitressing and au pair work.
The transition from South Africa to the UAE has been a blessing for some, a challenge others and a regret to a few.
Close friends Denise Botes and Susan Truter, both in their low twenties, typify the young emigres looking for work experience, money and an escape from the almost tangible and omnipresent fear of crime gripping the big cities of South Africa.
After touching down at Dubai International airport three months ago when the midnight mercury was tipping 38 degrees Celsius, the waitresses' culture shock has only now subdued to mere astonishment.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Botes, a Pretorian whose expectations were mirrored by her Capetown compatriot.
"I guess I expected a fairly dry community and was certainly surprised by the social scene here. It's not Saudi Arabia, that's for sure," continued Truter.
Both declare a mix of reservation and satisfaction as they survey their past three months in a new job with a major city hotel. The working hours were a disappointment and the shopping too expensive. But the streets are safer and their social lives rich.
"We get followed and stared at all the time - just driving around or walking along the street. It is pretty creepy but at the same time it isn't as bad as at home where a girl with a purse is a walking advertisement to be robbed," said Truter.
Botes picks up this line of discussion adding, "There is no way I could catch a taxi in Pretoria at night time. Here, we wouldn't even need to lock our doors and I can walk home at 3 am without any fear at all".
Both said they loved their homeland but wouldn't return unless social and economic conditions stabilised, despite a belief that returning expatriates were sometimes viewed as 'traitors'.
"Interest rates have gone up ten per cent in three months. Here there is no unemployment because everyone has come with a job. I love South Africa but at the moment I'd rather work elsewhere and go back home for my holidays," said Botes.
As employees of a major hotel, the young women had their air fares to Dubai paid for, accommodation provided and working conditions guaranteed.
They have been luckier than scores of South African au pairs who arrived on a promise and ran into problems.
Because of the extent of the problems with disgruntled au pairs, the South African Embassy has investigated ways to reduce the number of young women arriving in the UAE to work as au pairs only to leave disgruntled after contractual and social difficulties.
Typically, it is college educated girls from middle class backgrounds who have come to the UAE as an alternative to the popular pilgrimage to the UK.
But according to a spokeswoman from the South African Embassy, many of the women have left after just a few weeks or months following disputes over working conditions and social expectations.
"The problem is, most arrive here with promises but no contract and once they start work things do not come up to their expectations," she said.
The embassy spokeswoman said age was also a crucial factor in the exploitation of the several hundred workers in the industry.
"Most of these girls are very young and have had no previous travel experience. They can find themselves taken advantage of because of their lack of knowledge about contracts and work agreements," she said
"We do not want South African girls here in distress. We will compile as much information on the subject as possible and hope to raise awareness amongst those planning to work as au pairs in the future while helping those with difficulties," the spokeswoman said.
But disenchantment to this degree remains the exception rather than the rule. The great majority of South Africans settle into the relatively relaxed lifestyle on offer here with aplomb.
Product manager with Al Boom Marine, Chris Bartlett, snatched at an opportunity to work outside of South Africa and has no regrets about his 15 months in Dubai.
Echoing a recurrent theme among South African expatriates, an escape from a burgeoning crime scene was one of the principal reasons for his enthusiasm.
"Aside from the money, personal safety is a prime reason for enjoying the lifestyle out here," said the 33 year old Transvaal native.
"At home car hijacking is not unheard of. Johannesburg is riddled with violent crime and even Capetown, where I've always felt safe, is a bit grim after dark," said Bartlett.
Among the multifarious reasons he cites for the soaring crime rate, racial division is not among them.
"It is not black versus white," Bartlett explained. "It's just criminals targeting anyone with money or belongings."
"High unemployment is one of the reasons and the legal system also lets people literally get away with murder," he said.
Displaying the indomitable sense of optimism of his compatriots, Bartlett believes improvement is inevitable albeit gradual.
"I honestly believe things will improve in the long run but it will take a while. It's gone from a police state to a place where the police are now adapting to a new role whereby they conduct normal activities that have no political motives," he said.
Having recently fathered a young girl, his thoughts have also turned to education and other external influences which will affect the way his daughter will view the world.
"Bringing up kids in the UAE is easy although child day care is not cheap. Hopefully by the time her schooling comes around I'll have a job where her education will be paid for," he laughed.
Both the UAE and South African schools offer children a cosmopolitan worldliness beyond that taught in geography texts. But the standard of government school education has slipped since Mandela's ANC party swept to power as fewer dollars are made to stretch between many more pupils.
"English is a third language for many of the children which affects the way all the other children are taught. Going from a squatter camp to a modern school, their frames of reference are so different. They don't know what a toaster is, or even a plug. These children need specialist education or they get left behind and hold back the progress of others," Bartlett stated.
Someone who knows the intimacies of South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy better than most is former journalist and Dubai- based public relations executive Herbert Edward.
The 32-year-old was lured to Dubai by the promise of a stronger currency, tax free status and a change of scenery. Despite his relatively senior position with a national news service, he was tired of struggling with payments on a six year old car and exorbitant rent in an inner city hovel.
"There is no escaping that Dubai has been good to me. I have saved money that grows in value every time the Rand takes a knock. I love the security of a crime-free zone, have picked up new job skills and made excellent friends and I love the cuisine here," he said.
"In fact I challenge anyone to find a better meal than that served in an Al Satwa curry den for six dirhams. The top hotels are bland in comparison."
But there are reservations in his praise of the expatriate lifestyle in a city Edward brands among the most prosaic on the planet.
"Having left South Africa when I did, I can see some disturbing parallels. There is a pervasive racism here and a hierarchy of acceptance," he said, citing the latest proposal to deny menial workers a driver's licence as an example.
Media censorship is another area which Edward argues against and says a cursory glance at South African history would highlight the "cultural and intellectual anaesthesia" it could induce.
But his forthright opinions stop well short of comparing the new South Africa with a young UAE.
"Mandela put it succinctly when he declined to support a resolution condemning the human rights record of the Gulf States. He said that no African state could condemn any country that had provided for its citizens as handsomely as the UAE or any of its neighbours."
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In 1994 South Africans revelled in the aftermath of 30 years of international opprobrium and optimistically embraced a future in which apartheid was relegated to the annals of the past.