Would you move to Cape Town?

Yes but to leave you need to be able to, not everyone can get an ancestral visa. And yes they may choose to stay anyway, but do so behind bars and gated communities. If that’s ok with the op then fine, but it’s not tolerable for everyone I guess and that’s why so many who can leave do.

I don’t know what the point of this thread is anyway since the op seems to have no intention of listening to people’s experiences.

Went on holiday with DH. Yes beautiful. But constantly being followed and hounded for money was extremely intimidating and tiring. Demanding money to “look after your car” for you at supermarket parking lot. You mention Camps Bay - trying to walk on the beach was one of the most awful experiences, followed en masse by beggars. You may live in a gated community but if you want to get out and explore you have to be very careful. People who say otherwise I think are naive and lucky not to have come harm. There are many South Africans living in my local area, there’s a good reason they’re here and not there.

My colleague moved here last year from Cape Town she said she won’t ever go back because it’s too dangerous- she was born and raised there so I would assume she has the measure of the situation.

Is South Africa experiencing a monkey pox surge?

It sounds to me as though you've already decided to go and, from the many, many responses you've had on here, are trawling through them trying to pick out the positive ones that will back up your decision, when it's quite clear that the vast majority are highlighting the very real dangers & problems of living there. I've never been & don't want to but like many on here have worked with SA's and know some as neighbours and they ALL say the same thing - it's dangerous & lawless. I won't list all the things they've told me as it'll just be a re-hash of what's already been said but if I were you, I would seriously reconsider thinking of going to live there for 3 years. What might sound like an adventure to you on paper could very well be a nightmare in reality. I wouldn't dream of exposing my children to such incredibly high risks. Are there not other 'working/living abroad' options that would still offer an adventurous experience but be a he'll of a lot safer? I Hooe you decide against going to SA.

Even in Africa, these people bring their evils. Don’t even belong there.

Moving to a country currently experiencing a surge in a new form of Mpox - sufficiently worrying to have been declared a global public health emergency - would be a strange choice, for me.

No way

Didn't feel safe when I visited

Have you checked out load shedding and the impact in the area ou would be based ? I have several friends still based in SA ( looking to move away) and they are fed up with load shedding. As a result they have to have noisy generators - which don’t always work and they are prone to the fuel being stolen . Particularly the impact this would have on your air con, fridge / freezer / electronic gates , constantly remembering to keep your phone / laptop etc. charged.

I've never been but I hear it is very dangerous.

@ZarZarGabor so did you end uo moving? Just about to leave Cape Town and loved it (on holiday)

@KellyMarieTunstall2 Will PM you shortly. But in summary- it's going to be amazing!

@KellyMarieTunstall2

Addo is wonderful so I hope you are able to do that. Once you're in the game reserve I think it's very safe. Drive carefully on the road from PE (and try to build in a stop at the Nanaga farm stall en route).

@Triffid1 @JudgeAnderson
Thanks for replying to my reply.
We are going for 12 days, booked flights and hire car and an apartment in Seapoint. It has secure parking and concierge.
We plan to see all the tourist sites, table mountain, kirstenbosch, Boulders beach, cape point.
I was considering booking flights to port Elizabeth and going to Addo for a quick safari if that's not too optimistic.

Any advice and reassurance you could give would be much appreciated. Feel free to pm me, I don't want to detract from the thread. Thank you both.

@elm26 I think the thing is that notwithstanding jujulabs and your friend's experience, the reality is that white people don't routinely take busses in South Africa - certainly, I'd never taken a public bus in my life until I moved here. Trains, yes, busses - hell no. And to bring it back to the original OP - based on what she's said, the sort of lifestyle she's going to live in Cape Town if she goes is not one that will involve, for example, using public transport or routinely travelling in particularly dangerous areas.

Just like I said that a group plotting in Afrikaans to kill tourists in a cafe in Cape Town just isn't that believable based on the reality of Cape Town. The sad truth is that I can see a situation where a bunch of tourists were being all nervous Nelly and a bit irritating and so someone in the cafe decided to take the piss out of them and terrify them. Which obviously wouldn't be okay either but is, frankly, more likely. Or that this story has somehow evolved in some way since it originally happened.

@JayAlfredPrufrock I used to get the bus or even minibus taxi and I am a white South African woman, moved to the UK at 31, only managed to get my driving license in the UK.

@JudgeAnderson I don't know really! His name is Michael. I didn't consciously leave his name out.

@JayAlfredPrufrock @LemonDrizzleDessert why are you interested to read of it? I'm just saying what he told me. (All of us colleagues have seen the scar from his stab wound).

Seconded

Interested to read of a white South African on a bus 🤔

I think too it's very different situation having a 2 week holiday staying in a hotel situation or organised trips to wildlife/vineyards to actually living there . Although it's different again I have a Brazilian friend who also says she doesn't feel safe and doesn't go back to visit.

Why do you mention the woman by name and not the man, out of interest?