Would you move to Cape Town?

381 replies

ZarZarGabor · 15/08/2023 17:56

Sorry posting here for traffic.

A good job opportunity has come up to move to Cape Town with work, likely for 3 years or so. We have one pre-school age child and are aware childcare options there are more affordable.

We have spent some time there before and so are alive to some of the issues the country faces including crime, load shedding and bureaucracy. However we still absolutely love the place and want an adventure.

Would be grateful to hear the views of people who have direct experience living there, especially with a young child.

I know lots of people will have a “friend of a friend” who has had bad experiences in South Africa, but I’d really like to hear from people who actually live or have lived there about day to day life for an expat and the sorts of considerations we might have forgotten to factor into (we have already considered visas, healthcare, security, costly mobile phone data etc).

thanks for any advice.

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Nugg · 15/08/2023 18:52

No. Was a consideration until I had lengthy conversations with my neighbour who's SA born and bred but lasted 3 weeks there without her DH when he moved here for work, with a view to her following. She was terrified and the lifestyle sounds horrendous. Their grown up children have been violently assaulted with weapons, her sister was gang raped. It was like listening to a horror movie plot.

I had no idea it was as bad.

Hopealong · 15/08/2023 18:21

I live in Portugal and there are a lot of people from South Africa/ Cape Town moving here. It seems it is just beset with issues and seems to be getting worse.
Cape Town does look to have loads to offer but ultimately not feeling safe and the continual power outages would make it a no from me

Summerrainagain1 · 15/08/2023 18:14

I LOVE Cape Town and probably would move there for a year or two, just for the experience. But South Africa is really dangerous and plagues with political and social problems, I would not choose to raise my kids there long term.

IHateWasps · 15/08/2023 18:12

Not a chance in hell.

creamcheeseandcream · 15/08/2023 18:12

Also a no here too. My partner has 3 sets of family there ( white) lives there/ born there and except for the elderly parents, everyone has moved back to the uk.

Panicmode1 · 15/08/2023 18:03

I wouldn't, no.

My three cousins (white) were all born and raised in Cape Town - they have all moved back to the UK with their young children, the last one last year - because they don't think there is a future there for them or their children, the lifestyle they grew up with no longer exists - and the security situation is serious. (The final straw was their family home being burnt down in an arson attack - and that was in a very affluent, lovely suburb of the city.)

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