Rise in White South Africans Returning Home

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. A man straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself. It's time to put my balls on the dashboard. As he starts the engine. In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance on conscious. In 15 years, he's a billionaire. This is Total Wolf, Formula One's most powerful team boss and the breakout star of Drive to Survive. This week on Good Bad Billionaire, how Total Wolf made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Hello there and welcome. I am in Kei Chi, Obunna, in Nairobi with focus on Africa. Why are white South Africans returning from the United States after years away from home? Despite President Trump's claims, of a white genocide in the country. South Africa has been stabilised economically

1:02and I think from any of these South Africans or at least a proportion of them, they see the stability within South Africa as offering perhaps more opportunity than they thought would be the case when they left South Africa. Also, as Ramadan gradually comes to an end, we explore the significance of the Christian moon sighted by Muslims worldwide, which marks the end of the season. When it comes to following these dates, countries that do not have moon sighting infrastructure, they tend to rely on the announcements that come from Saudi as compared to these other countries. Countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, they have invested heavily to have their own moon sighting infrastructure. It's Tuesday, March 17th. Thousands of white South Africans abroad, including those in the United States, are returning home. That's why the US President Trump alleging that African Afarmers are being targeted in the country.

2:04Some of the metrics that we use to decide whether or not this is our permanent place is education, cost of living, how much we're enjoying the place and so far that's ticking all the boxes. You cannot dictate what your heart makes your heart happy. So you leave and then you come back because ultimately this is home. Those are the voices of Danny and Naomi Sophia, a couple that have recently returned from the US. Although they are not part of the white South African refugees who moved to the US and made claims of a white genocide. In early 2025, President Trump claimed that white South Africans were being unfairly targeted by what he called discriminatory laws on land ownership and labor service and allegation the South African government says is on true. President Trump offered a refugee deal for white South Africans second relocation to the US

3:04but some South Africans are heading the opposite direction. According to Reuters news agency, at least 12,000 foreign-based white South Africans have checked the status of their citizenship in preparation of making a permanent return to their home country South Africa. This is in response to the South African government's laser's decision to overturn a law introduced in 1995 stripping some South Africans of their citizenship after leaving the country. A South African relocation and employment agency says that in the last six months it had received a 70% surge in inquiries from white South Africans seeking to return home. So I began by speaking with Anton Van Heden, the CEO of the Employment Agency DNA Employer of Record to find out why that is the case. What we have found over the last year is that South African experts want to return to South Africa

4:04but who want to continue working for their foreign employers contact us to find out if we can be their legal employers so that they can come back to South Africa but continue working for their foreign employers. This has increased significantly this trend over the last year. So we're finding more and more South African experts contact us and say they want to come back to South Africa whilst continue working for their foreign employers. Anton, why are we seeing this increased number in the last year, like you've said? What's responsible for that? Well, I don't know, we've actually asked people and some of the reasons they have given is the cost of living in South Africa is lower than in Europe and in the US. The living standard is actually higher and then also people want to come home for the obvious reasons, you know, family, friends, the weather and South Africa is really good and so forth but definitely the cost of living and then also we believe that the general political circumstances

5:09especially in Europe isn't what it used to be. South Africa is also seen as a relatively safe place ironically with regards to at least the risks of war or things like that. And how many of these inquiries are you seeing on a monthly basis, for instance? How huge are the numbers? I can't give you exact numbers. We actually did stats in December and the amount of inquiries we received for the last six months of 2025 increased by 70% over the first six months. So these were specifically experts returning? Now, talk me through how you place refugees or attorneys back on the employment role, especially those who are now seeking re-employment from their foreign employers or even those locally who still want some form of job but they want it done locally. The biggest part of our business is to employ people who can do remote work for foreign businesses.

6:11So this can be any type of remote job whether it's call centers, it could be accountants, engineers, anything that can be done remotely. So that is a very good story in terms of job creation for us in South Africa because we are effectively giving these people jobs but they're working for foreign businesses. The people that we're referring to in terms of the 70% increase, experts returning. They all want to continue working for their foreign employers. So we actually don't need to find work for them. They already have work. They just want to be employed legally in South Africa and that's where we come in. In that case, we don't need to find work for them. For how are people integrating back? Those who have returned to South Africa? So we find and the feedback that we get is that the integration is very easy because these are all South Africans they lived here for a long time. Their support infrastructure is already in terms of their friends and their family.

7:12So for them to reintegrate back into the South African community is very easy compared to the opposite going overseas for the first time. There's a lot happening. Unfortunate things happening in Europe with the wars and the Middle East. So I wouldn't be surprised if that further drives this trend of people wanting to come back. Anton Vanheden, CEO of the Employment Agency, DNA Employer of Record. Now to get more context on why we are seeing South Africans returning home, I spoke to Daniel Silke, Director of the Political Futures Consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa. We began the conversation by discussing the current relationship between the US and South Africa. Well, look, I think it's certainly a very strange relationship. It has been strained, of course, since Donald Trump took up his second term in office he has spoken out extensively about South Africa's domestic policies and he certainly does seem to have some prominent

8:13backers in the United States who also have a very similar view on issues relating to Black economic empowerment. In particular, also a South Africa's position of foreign policy stance on the Gaza-Israel conflict. These issues have strained relations. Certainly from a trading perspective, South Africa also faces increased tariffs which has put an economic strain on the relationship as well. So I would certainly say this is a period in which South Africa has to trade relatively carefully with the United States, but within the political context in South Africa, South Africa's government of national unity is also divided on how they see the United States and what they can do ultimately to mitigate some of these tensions. When you say the national government is divided, what does that mean? Well, I think the ANC is the larger part in the government being much more vocal and critical of the Trump administration. A party has issued some very condemnatory statements about Donald Trump's views on South Africa, and I might add about the views of the new US ambassador that has just been appointed

9:15in South Africa as well. But there's been a much softer critique from the second largest party, the Democratic Alliance and even some of the smaller parties in this government of national unity who see the United States as still one of South Africa's major trading partners. And they're notwithstanding the controversies on policy would still prefer to, I think sort of, smooth over the relations with the United States as opposed to the ANC itself who are quite willing to confront the United States. Okay, Daniel. We know that President Trump had granted a asylum to South African farmers following allegations that there was a white genocide happening in the country. Are we still seeing people leaving South Africa to go to the US? I think under that particular concession, if we want to call it that, the numbers are relatively small. They were never big to start out with. And I think for most lights out Africans, they would dispute that particular narrative that there is a genocide. And in fact, there is no empirical evidence to back that up at all.

10:15Certainly, some will have taken the opportunity to gain access into the United States. But of course, they have to go through a refugee program, which is not that easy in itself. And it will only be attractive, I think, for a very, very small minority of the category that that particular concession applies to. The twist is we are hearing about South African refugees who are returning back to South Africa having been in the US for a bit. Do we know how many they are and what's the reason behind this return? Well, first, I don't think these are refugees. I mean, tens of thousands of South Africans have left the country over the last 30 years. And in fact, prior to that as well, there's been a very high rate of middle class South Africans in particular who have been able to leave. They've got skills, they've got financial resources. They've been able to establish themselves outside of South Africa, not just in the United States, but certainly in Europe and Australia as well, Canada as well. South Africa has been stabilized economically. And I think for many of these South Africans,

11:15or at least a proportion of them, they see the stability within South Africa as offering perhaps more opportunity than they thought would be the case when they left South Africa. We've had a reduction in the power outages that were one of the main gripes for most South Africans. Our growth rate has improved a little, but nevertheless, it is showing some green shoots, a broader economy from a logistics sector is looking a little bit more healthy. And again, I think this will tempt some South Africans who are missing the country, who feel as though they're insecure, be they in the United States with partial immigration policies to potentially reconsider their position and return to South Africa. So I think there's an emotional bond on tie between those of left to country and South Africa. And if there's a little bit of good news coming out of South Africa, this will encourage a proportion of them to come, but I don't think once you get carried away that this is some sort of mess re-immigration back to South Africa. What's your take on the level of crime as being a pointer for people's decision to leave home?

12:16Yes, you're quite right that crime was probably uppermost in the minds of many of those who left South Africa. And I don't think that there's been any substantial improvement on that within South Africa. So those who consider coming back would have to balance the fact that we still have an unacceptably high crime rate in the country, but that there is perhaps an improved overall economic atmosphere within the country that affords them some more opportunities than they would have had before. I think there are those South Africans perhaps living in the United States who feel as though there are insecurities on the ground in the United States. There are the shootings, other insecurities relating to the immigration policies that have been implemented by the Trump administration. These cause their own insecurities on the ground in the United States. So I think that South Africans really have to balance their own feeling of insecurity now coming back to South Africa with what could be a new forms of insecurity. Terrorism certainly is rear to its head. We've seen in the United States just in the last week or so.

13:17We see it also in Western Europe as well. For the people who are returning back to South Africa, do they feel they would still have a place in the country? I know you say there is no mass migration back home, but for the very few who have come back, do you think they may feel a bit misplaced? I think there is perhaps a more welcoming feeling in terms of how we deal now with the returning nationals into South Africa. So there's an element of perhaps citizenship security within South Africa that they didn't have before. And we've had certainly a review within our department of homophares about that. I think for many South Africans returning though, they will still be concerned about issues like black economic empowerment. That does make job creation a little bit more difficult, particularly for white South Africans who are returning. But again, I think these issues are going to be under a view in South Africa over the next few years or so. So I don't think that they will have any sort of issue of fitting back in to South Africa. South Africans have a very close cultural connection

14:18with the country, even those that have lived with the outside of the country for decades, despite the fact that there will be suspicions about safety and about the longevity of what we've had the political stability in South Africa for the last 18 months or so. Many thanks to Daniel Silke. This is focus on Africa from the BBC World Service. It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. A man straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself. It's time to put my balls on the dashboard. As he starts the engine. In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance on conscious. In 15 years, he's a billionaire. This is Total Wolf, Formula One's most powerful team boss and a breakout star of Drive to Survive. This week on Good Bad Billionaire, how Total Wolf made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now, onto our next story. Why does a crescent moon bring more than two billion people

15:18to a standstill? Every year, the same question echoes from Johannesburg to Casablanca and across every social media feed in between is it tomorrow or the day after. To find the answer, we have to look up. Id El Fitir is a major Islamic holiday that can be translated to the festival of breaking the fast. Celebrated by Muslims worldwide, to mark the end of the month long, done to sunset Ramadan fast. While most of the world operates on a solar calendar, tracking the earth 365 day journey around the sun, the Islamic Hydra calendar is strictly lunar. This isn't just a matter of tradition. It's a matter of time itself. Because the lunar cycle is shorter, the Islamic year is roughly 11 days shorter than the solar year.

16:21This is why Ramadan and Eid migrate through the seasons, falling in the heat of summer one decade and the chill of winter in the next. But in today's world, the hunt for the crescent has sparked a modern tension. We leave in an age of supercomputers and precision astrophysics. We can calculate the moon's position to the millisecond for the next thousand years. We know exactly when the birth of the new moon occurs, even if it's invisible to the human eye. So how do astronomy and tradition come together? Francis or Monday, an African astronomer, helped me to understand what it takes to spot the delicate crescent with the naked eye. For the moon to be visible to the naked eye, then there is a threshold it must reach. And these are always two. The first one is the elongation. The other one is altitude. So elongation is the distance. The moon is from the sun,

17:21when it is between the sun and the earth. So it should be at an elongation of at least 10 degrees. The same case also applies to the altitude. The altitude is how high is the moon from the earth's horizon. So also 10 degrees will do. However, it can also be visible slightly below 10, around seven degrees, eight degrees on the two parameters. That one is on elongation and the altitude. But to be able to see these, you need visual aids like telescopes. It will not be visible to the naked eye. So the naked eye, the moon must be at least 10 degrees away from the earth and at an altitude of at least 10 degrees, so that it's able to reflect enough light from the sun, which will then be reflected to the human eye, making it visible to the naked eye. Now across Africa, how do governments use astronomical calculations when deciding the start of a new lunar month?

18:22Why do some countries insist on physically seeing the moon while others rely on more scientific data? When it comes to following these dates, countries that do not have moon sighting infrastructure, they tend to rely on the announcements that come from Saudi as compared to these other countries. Countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, they have invested heavily to have their own moon sighting infrastructure like a country like Morocco. Each and every year during this particular period, they have over 270 observation points and a team of over 2,000 people, including astronomers, religious leaders, military personnel, volunteers, academia, all of them doing the calculations and also on the ground to be able to do the sighting. So then they have an advantage. This one, the scientific point of why they are doing this, is not to discredit whatever announcements may come from any other part of the world, of the East, like Saudi Arabia, for example,

19:22but it's always more of a validation to all of the announcements that come from Saudi Arabia. You realize also there is now growing interest. Countries now want to invest on their own to have that scientific sovereignty to be able to do their own sightings. Example is Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. They are coming together to set up an infrastructure, which they are calling the East African moon sighting committee that will be able to help them to be able to validate. Countries that do not have this more, they tend to rely on the announcements that come from Saudi so also this one brings in a political aspect of it. So whereby Saudi Arabia now stands to be the Islamic authority when it comes to moon sighting, particularly on holy months, like Ramadan. And how accurate are modern predictions about when and where it should be visible across different parts of Africa? As a scientist, definitely, I'll go with the scientific point

20:22of view because of the accuracy levels. Remember, being able to sight the moon takes a lot of measurements to understand the orbits of the moon, where the sun, also in its own orbit, same case with the Earth, it's more of measurements. However, this one should not negate the religious point of view because mostly in our African context, the moon is spiritual. So yes, a scientific point of view comes into play, gives very correct predictions. However, there are also those on Suwar Pro Islamic point of view. The variance is only between hours, maximum 24 hours. Before I let you go, Francis, beyond marking the start and the end of Ramadan, what does the moon represent in different African societies? Does it have any cultural or social meanings that go beyond the calendar? The moon in an African perspective, the cultural perspective, the moon is very, very spiritual. There are very, as examples of scenarios where the moon is to be spiritual.

21:24I'll give you a few examples. Number one, let's start from Kenya. So in northern Kenya, around Lekturkan, there is an ancient 11-pila stones at an area called Namoratunga, which was used way, way earlier for astronomical observation. Each pila was directly pointed to a constellation of stars in the sky, and the ancient people then living in the area, they created a lunna calendar. A lunna calendar has around 356 days in a year. Of course, the same calendar that also the Islamic religion also has, they follow the lunna calendar. So you realize it has a very minor difference. So for around 10 to 12 days, with the Gregorian calendar, that is conventionally being used, which has 365 days and sometimes 366 on Alipia. Another thing also, you realize in most African cultures, regardless of its location in our continent,

22:25the moon was actually used as a reference point for a case of fertility and femininity amongst our ladies. So if one just sits back and tries to understand the name actually given to a woman's biological clock, it's always a reference to the moon in their local language. A good case is with a country in Ghana, actually most of the tribes in West Africa, well, in Sapsahar and Africa. So the moon, when it appears, the full moon, so it will dictate the planting seasons. It will dictate the inputs, the planting season, the harvesting periods. Same case also applies to the issue of special ceremonies. Many thanks to African astronomer, Francis or Monty. And that's it on Focus on Africa today. If you enjoyed listening to the stories we brought you, put a love to hear your feedback. Our WhatsApp number is plus 44, 78, 42, 60,

23:3077, 66, or get in touch via social media at BBC Africa. Or my handle at I am in Kitchener and that's with double-L. You can also email us on Focus on Africa at BBC.co.uk. This episode was produced by Key Ghanse Shumbha and Basma Elati in Nairobi. Bellatwini and blessing at Derroba, whether senior journalist in charge, with Umbarak Abdullah, the technical producer. Our editors are Samu Muronga and Mariam Abdullah. I am in Kitchener, Ubonna, and I will speak to you again soon. It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. Amanda straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself. It's time to put my balls on the dashboard. As he starts the engine. In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance on conscious in 15 years. He's a billionaire. This is Total Wolf, Formula One's most powerful team in the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself.

24:31It's time to put my balls on the dashboard. One's most powerful team boss and the breakout star of Drive to Survive. This week on Good Bad Billionaire, how Total Wolf made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts.