Asha Hotep, a retired African American police officer from Los Angeles, was sitting in a Johannesburg restaurant a few years ago when she was struck by a sudden realisation that makes her tearful when she recounts it.
“I was feeling so happy looking at all the beautiful black people around me when it dawned on me: this is what it must feel like to be a white person in America. We’re in the minority there, just sprinkles. But here we’re not different.
“I love seeing whole families together and children running around carefree. It makes me quite emotional. It just felt so good, like I was an adopted child who had been reunited with her family and was now home and whole,” Hotep told the Sunday Times as she described her decision to move to Johannesburg.
Hotep, who moved to South Africa in 2021, is among a wave of African Americans who have opted to leave the US in favour of a better, more affordable lifestyle. It’s a social movement widely dubbed “blaxit”, coined in the wake of Brexit.
“In the early 2000s I was part of a group thinking about moving to Ghana when we retired. But then I watched the documentary Blacks Without Borders and decided to check out South Africa,” she said.
When she retired in 2018 she moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While there, she encountered The Real South Africa — a travel business run by African Americans Mark Blanton and his wife Dr LaTasha Blanton, who had relocated to Johannesburg and were offering bespoke tours of the country.
“I reached out to them and came out on their six-day tour. Once I got here, I decided to stay for the full 90 days allowed by my visa as I wanted to see if I could live happily on my own. Then I went back, sorted my retirement visa and came back permanently a little over two years ago,” Hotep said.
She describes her situation — living in a house in the secure Blue Valley Golf and Country Estate in Centurion — as “alone, but not lonely”.
“I was very comfortable in Atlanta, but this is my home and I am very happy. The honeymoon phase is over, the fairy dust has landed and I am still completely in love,” she said, claiming zero regrets.
Mark Blanton, a former member of the US Secret Service, first visited South Africa in 2010 as part of then US vice-president Joe Biden’s security detail during the Soccer World Cup.
“I was working at the time and so basically shown the South Africa you see every day. And it was great,” he said.
That led to many return trips with his medical doctor wife. They later set up a small business here and began exploring the possibility of immigrating. In 2018 they made the move and started The Real South Africa — a travel business marketed to African Americans, offering all kinds of tours ranging from a brief visit, a longer exploration, luxury residential property tours and longer forays allowed for by the 90-day easy-to-get free visitor’s visas.
The couple had previously lived in Washington DC and were entrepreneurs with their own successful businesses. But they said, like most Americans, they were working extremely hard with only two weeks of leave a year.
“We had a very good life in the US, but it took a lot out of me,” LaTasha said. “After 10 years of running my own practice, I could see I was never going to reach the end goal. I was never going to be able to stop working completely.” She said the only time she felt relaxed and able to live the “American dream” was when she was in South Africa.
Another African American who has turned her move to South Africa into a thriving business venture is growth strategist Ashley Cleveland, or “Ashley in Afrika”.
She recently launched the “Afrika Investor’s Academy Virtual Summit” in partnership with WeWork South Africa and the “Our Places of Remembrance Tour” in partnership with Native Rhythms in KwaZulu-Natal. She also offers a consulting service facilitating the travel, relocation and business expansion aspirations of African Americans interested in Africa.
Cleveland first visited South Africa in 2021 while she was on a sabbatical in Tanzania. Before that, she was part of a dual income family in Atlanta. Just before Covid-19 hit in 2020 she was laid off for the third time in five years. And it was during lockdown that she was made more aware of the heavy impact of school shootings in the US when her daughters were required to do active shooter drills remotely.
This was followed by the George Floyd murder and the killing of 26-year-old nurse Breonna Taylor, shot in her bed by seven policemen who forced their way into her home during an alleged drug dealing operation. These sparked the global #BlackLivesMatter movement.
“At the time I was so consumed with working and survival that it was all affecting my mental health. So I took the sabbatical that completely changed my life,” she told the Sunday Times.
Having stayed in Tanzania, she decided to visit South Africa, fell in love with Johannesburg and moved with her daughters — now 12 and five — in January last year. They live in an apartment in “one of those huge old buildings” in Fairways near Melrose and both girls are settled at a private school.
“I love it here. I have picked up some happy weight and my business is growing,” she said, adding that through her various platforms and digital products she deals with an average of 10 new queries every day.
Speaking about her experience in the US, Cleveland said: “While I had a great life in the US, as a black person you are constantly made to feel small. When I was at university my white roommates accused me of running a drug cartel because they didn’t understand that I was on a full scholarship, had saved up a lot before and because they couldn’t see how I was earning money they would call the police on me for any reason possible.
“Then when I eventually purchased a property and renovated it, I couldn’t get a proper value through a reappraisal when they realised I was a black woman. I had bought for $350,000 (R6.5m) and knew it was worth $450,000, but they would only give me about a $360,000 valuation. A white woman then got a $500,000 appraisal on it,” Cleveland said.
The Blantons also believe there is “entrenched racism” in the US. Latasha described how she would be asked to produce proof that she could afford designer items before being allowed to try on potential purchases, while Mark — who has a liking for luxury vehicles and pays cash — said he would be asked to pay a deposit before being allowed a test drive.
Berry Everitt, CEO of the Chas Everitt International property group, says there has been an increase in foreign buyers over the past few months, with the main driver appearing to be increased awareness of the “superb value proposition offered by South African real estate”.
“This includes an increase in buyers from many European countries, the UK, Africa and the Far East, as well as the US — that is, mostly people who are able to purchase with euros, pounds and US dollars, and make the most of the current low rand exchange rates.”
Everitt recently visited the US and noted the growing interest in South Africa as an investment destination.
“For the average home price in the US ($388,000) one can purchase a R7.2m home in South Africa. And on top of that you get our great climate, natural beauty, rich culture, laid-back lifestyle and lovely, friendly people. We definitely offer a winning proposition for foreign buyers.”
High levels of luxury, a good banking system and decent opportunities are among the other big drawcards. According to the Blantons, an average American income of $60,000 a year affords a very modest standard of living in most states. However, this equates to a R120,000 monthly salary in SA, which affords far more lavish living.
Serial entrepreneur and art enthusiast Gabriel Leavell is a relocated African American who in 2020 founded the 10-room boutique hotel Daze House in the Johannesburg suburb Observatory. The former New Yorker’s concept hotel — each room themed on an African country — has become a popular haunt for the African American expat community.
RJ Mahdi is head of the Exodus Club 2.0 and CEO of the Made in Africa Project, described as “a diasporan-owned export, tourism, relocation and investment service” connecting black people in America with opportunities in Africa. While he does not give hard figures, he claims to be a major contributor to the back-to-Africa movement, having helped “thousands of families” relocate abroad.
US embassy spokesperson David Feldmann said he was unable to comment on the issue or give any figures or visa information.
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