Three hundred years ago, my ancestors travelled from Germany to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, to set sail for Africa. With them, they brought their Christian Faith and their dreams for a better life.

The Cape of Good Hope gave them precisely that — Hope. They settled as farmers, cultivating the land, later moving inland towards the Little Karoo, and eventually participating in what became known as the Great Trek.

Wherever they settled, they cultivated the land, built towns and structures, and established roads. By the turn of the 20th century, South Africa was, in many ways, a beacon of development in Africa. That commitment to building has run through the fabric of my family ever since. My paternal grandparents contributed through education and farming; my late father was an engineer who developed friction materials for railway rolling stock; and my retired uncle was a civil engineer who designed bridges. More recently, our family has supplied machinery to mining companies, and I personally designed key sections of computer-wide area networks (WANs) for four provincial departments of education.

In short, for over three centuries, our lineage has been inextricably involved in establishing and advancing the country's physical and human infrastructure. The word “civilisation” means advancement, improvement, and building on the foundations laid before you. This was our calling in Africa. The tragedy today is that the principle of advancement itself is under siege.

Sadly, our beautiful country is now run by a government that appears uninterested in maintaining, let alone advancing, this civilisation. Instead of building up, we see an active breakdown. The infrastructure my family helped establish is collapsing around us. Our country is defined by persistent load shedding, crippled by failing logistics networks such as Transnet, and faces emerging water security crises across various municipalities. This is not mere benign neglect; it is an active reversal of centuries of work, driven by corrupt enrichment and a culture of State Capture.

This systemic reversal affects every single person who strives to build. I take pride in the work my family and I have accomplished for the good of all citizens, and I rejoice when I see others improve upon it and advance beyond me. But when essential infrastructure is deliberately dismantled — or when systems meant to encourage empowerment are poorly implemented and exploited for rent-seeking behaviour — it is an insult to the labour of generations. It compels me to ask profound questions: Why should those committed to advancement be taxed without receiving functional service delivery? Why remain in a country where genuine economic growth is often stifled by policies that create barriers to honest entrepreneurship?

Three hundred years ago, my forefathers were seeking hope, and the Cape of Good Hope was their destination. Today, for many professionals, engineers, and builders, that hope is draining away, contributing to a substantial 'brain drain'. The world is smaller and more accessible, but genuine destinations of advancement are fewer. I am looking toward undeveloped destinations where I can again live out my calling — not just to find hope, but to establish the tangible, functional civilisation that our beautiful South Africa is tragically allowing to decay.