South Africa as dystopia: diaspora views from Canada

The high-profile case of the 'white refugee' in Canada, Brandon Huntley, temporarily soured relations between Canada and South Africa and raised serious questions about the Canadian refugee protection determination system. In constructing a plausible narrative to convince the judge that Huntley qualified for refugee protection, his lawyers painted a picture of a country in which all whites were being persecuted because of their race. Although the decision was overturned on appeal, the case raises the question of how South Africans in the diaspora more generally view the country. This paper shows that despite a strong personal South African identity, South Africans in Canada are a deeply disengaged diaspora. In order to rationalise their departure, disengagement and decision never to return, this post-apartheid diaspora paints itself as victims of post-apartheid South Africa and draws on the same narrative reservoir of images as Huntley's lawyers. The Huntley case therefore represents something much more than an egregious but exceptional miscarriage of justice.