Unwanted in Their Own Country, Fed-Up South Africans Trekking Elsewhere

With an economy in a downward spiral, unemployment at world-worst rates and facing security threats, South Africans are again packing their bags to emigrate.

A person holds a placard as supporters of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's main opposition party, marches through the city streets to protest against the ruling African National Congress new proposal for employment quotas along racial lines, in Cape Town on July 26, 2023. Rodger Bosch/ AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—David Rosenkowitz (37) is quiet as he packs a box of “family keepsakes” in the lounge of his soon-to-be empty home in northern Johannesburg.

The surgeon’s wife, Salome, looks on, emotionless, her face blank and pale, expressionless, while their two sons tear down a nearby passageway.