# Young english couple moving to umhlanga



## EllieB (Mar 23, 2009)

Hi, 

My boyfriend has been offered a job for a pro sports team in Durban and we should be moving over in July. We are looking at Living in Umhlanga in Izinga complex? 

I am 21 and my BF is 24. Can you tell me how serious crime is in that area as its the one issue holding me back. He may be away a night a weeek and I'd hate to live in fear when alone? We are flying our German Shepherd over!

Also what is there to do for young people there? 
What clothes should I bring?!! 

Also what would our living expenses be after rent, for 2 mobiles, internet, DSTV, food, electricity, water, med aid, etc etc.

We are looking at taking our car over, does anyone know how to do this, how much it costs and if we can fill the boot with our stuff?

Would our tv and dvd player work over there if we take them? 

Any information would be great!

Thanks again.


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## EllieB (Mar 23, 2009)

Hey,

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED - LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE VIEWED BUT NO REPLIES!!!


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

"I am 21 and my BF is 24."
You are young enough to recover if it goes wrong. 

"Can you tell me how serious crime is in that area as its the one issue holding me back. He may be away a night a weeek and I'd hate to live in fear when alone?"
Crime is a serious issue in SA no matter where you live.
It boils down to not making a mistake when someone notices you making a mistake.
Listen to any advice someone gives, lock your doors and windows, dont assume that someone who has rung your doorbell is telling the truth.
Dont go for walks in deserted places, stick to crowds,.
read everything and be totally aware of your surroundings at all times.
when I was your age I took a lot of chances in very dodgy places and was lucky enough t get away with it.

"We are flying our German Shepherd over!"
Fortunately at the right time, flying a dog from a Euro winter to an African summer is cruelty.
Has the dog done defensive training?
if not, its an Alarm that eats.

Also what is there to do for young people there? 
Lots, its a young persons country.

What clothes should I bring?!! 
Bikini, light clothes, when I lived in Durban 5 minutes from Umhlanga even in winter a light jersey was the coldest.

Also what would our living expenses be after rent, for 2 mobiles, internet, DSTV, food, electricity, water, med aid, etc etc.
No Idea,it depends on your living style
Google any question with a .za after it and it will give you SA info.
Do an imaginery shop at pickandpay.co.za, electricity for my tenant is around ZAR 1500 per month,
Rough rule of Thumb,about 30k ZAR a month should give you an ok standard of living.

We are looking at taking our car over, does anyone know how to do this, how much it costs and if we can fill the boot with our stuff?
Why Bother? there are a lot of repossed cars in SA look at Auto Trader SA - New Cars, Used Cars for sale online, Car Finance, Car Insurance & Car Prices , make sure it has service history, Volvo's are the least hi-jacked stolen, VW products the most followed by BMW
Licencing ( Roadtax) is very cheap in comparison and a MOT only gets done when you buy a car, not annually as in the UK.

Would our tv and dvd player work over there if we take them? 
NO. SA works on a different system.

Any information would be great!
If you had kids or were my daughter we would be having a different conversation.
When I was your age I hitchiked through war Zones in Africa and got away with.
In retrospect I was stupid, but I'm glad I did and even grateful that I got away with it.
It will be either the best or worst time of your lives.
It is a beautiful Country with Beautiful people, enjoy it while you can.


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## EllieB (Mar 23, 2009)

Thank you for your response, It made me think!

Are you 100% sure our new flat screen tvs wouldn't work, as we were looking at shipping them there.?! My bf had read elsewhere online they would be ok?


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

No, I'm not sure, 4 years ago, they did'nt,technology moves on. suggest you contact M-Net who are SA's equivalent of Sky via email and give them the spec of what you have and ask them.


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## ady1976 (Nov 18, 2008)

*Moving*

Hiya

I moved over about a year ago and Live in Durban North. Not far from Umhalanga. The complex you mentioned if very safe but SA isn't the Uk and you do have to be wise about not walking alone at night etc.

Apart from that you'll love it. And yes your TV will work. I shipped my LCD over with no issue.


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## Thatch22 (Aug 12, 2009)

*Tv/ cd player*



EllieB said:


> Hi,
> 
> My boyfriend has been offered a job for a pro sports team in Durban and we should be moving over in July. We are looking at Living in Umhlanga in Izinga complex?
> 
> ...




Yes every appainlance will work here in SA. Not a problem, we moved overhere with everything.

good luck

Annemieke


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## DaveC Umhlanga (Aug 31, 2010)

Hi EllieB

We live at******************* I work for most of the month in Johannesburg & my wife and youngest son (21) stay in Umhlanga.
To allay your fears over safety I can tell you that the security is absolutely excellent, the Body Corporate of the complex does not allow burglar bars nor trellidors (expanding metal security gates) over the windows and doors and should you arrive at **************try the front door its only locked if theres a chance the wind might blow it open and let our Yorkies out.
My daughter is 27 and she and her boyfriend have a great social life.
Winter temps at their coldest are around a low of 8-9 degs to a high of around 17-18 degs and these is quite uncommon.
Your costs can vary obviously, mobiles you can contract for at R135pm, Internet approx R500, DSTV approx R500 the other costs are to your lifestyle.
Your TV and DVD will work here.

Wish you well

Dave C





EllieB said:


> Hi,
> 
> My boyfriend has been offered a job for a pro sports team in Durban and we should be moving over in July. We are looking at Living in Umhlanga in Izinga complex?
> 
> ...


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## Johanna (Apr 13, 2009)

All your electrical stuff will work here, all you may need to buy is an adapter plug as the plugs here are different!

We brought a brand new 50 inch TV back with us, plus all the other stuff that we used in the UK, and everything, from a microwave oven to a clothes iron works here.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Therooster said:


> If you want an objective perspective of South Africa , certainly don't listen to a person like Dakx. He's got a history of scaremongering and alarming people mon this site. Try remember a lot of white south Africans are full of hang ups about a black government ruling the country.
> 
> Rather listen to an English expat who lives in South Africa or a young south African and get their perspective. They don't have the paranoia and brainwashing many older white South Africans have about the country.
> 
> ...


wondered when you would pitch up again.
dont know, bud, was there three weeks ago, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and places inbetween
You are lying again, not much has changed.
but!! I agree, more people should go to SA, only one way to find out.
either the best thing they ever did, or if unlucky enough, something they will rue for the rest of their lives.
lets see, rooster usually spends about three day before it moves on.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

Daxk said:


> wondered when you would pitch up again.
> dont know, bud, was there three weeks ago, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and places inbetween
> You are lying again, not much has changed.
> but!! I agree, more people should go to SA, only one way to find out.
> ...


Lol. How many years have you been away again ? 

3 ? 5 ? 7 ?

Maybe time for you to move on my friend.


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Rooster and the race card again. In his last mumbling he says not to listen to those who have experience of the country but to listen to people who are new and very little real experience... great advice, what next, ask a Russian about life in New york. You are con artist with a huge chip on your shoould. You also keep mentioning the white people with hangups... seems we know nothing about your racial background or political affiliations / leanings... but we know.

Keep drinking the cool aid if it helps.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> Rooster and the race card again. In his last mumbling he says not to listen to those who have experience of the country but to listen to people who are new and very little real experience... great advice, what next, ask a Russian about life in New york. You are con artist with a huge chip on your shoould. You also keep mentioning the white people with hangups... seems we know nothing about your racial background or political affiliations / leanings... but we know.
> 
> Keep drinking the cool aid if it helps.


So what do you think ? This guy doesn't have a hang up ? Just read his posts here. He is posting on a forum for people who want to move here and he doesn't even live here !

As I said..ask fellow expats who have moved here (they never have anything bad to say, no matter how long they stay) or young South Africans who didn't get brainwashed like these guys. Then make up your own mind.


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Actually I do still live here.

People are on this forum to get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

What Daxx posts is the truth, but not the truth you like. He has said that people should come here first and then make up their own minds. You need to start having a balanced viewpoint that is based in reality, not cherry picked from happytown.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> Actually I do still live here.
> 
> People are on this forum to get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
> 
> What Daxx posts is the truth, but not the truth you like. He has said that people should come here first and then make up their own minds. You need to start having a balanced viewpoint that is based in reality, not cherry picked from happytown.


No. Dakx is incredibly biased and alarmist and scaremongering and hyperbolic. He's nothing close to the truth. 

The average expat living in South Africa has nothing close to the experience DAKX describes. So I just ask people whop haven't been here to ask them rather than that obviously biast fool. 

This forum has one thing consistantly. There is not one example of an expat who has come here who says "Wow, thanks for warning me! It's so bad !"

Everyone says " Don't worry..it's not nearly as bad as you think. It's a great lifestyle and quite safe !"

How do you explain that ?


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

How long have they been here? And obviously if they are forwarned and don't come they don't become a statistic.

As for his experiences they are more common than you will ever admit. All he is saying is that it happened to him and it is statistically 10(?) times more likely to happen here than other countries. 

Yes it is a great lifestyle, no-one, including Daxx is saying otherwise all we are pointing out is that you must realise it is not Hollywood. If you take exception to the tone or wording get over it and understand the essence of the message!


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> How long have they been here? And obviously if they are forwarned and don't come they don't become a statistic.
> 
> As for his experiences they are more common than you will ever admit. All he is saying is that it happened to him and it is statistically 10(?) times more likely to happen here than other countries.
> 
> Yes it is a great lifestyle, no-one, including Daxx is saying otherwise all we are pointing out is that you must realise it is not Hollywood. If you take exception to the tone or wording get over it and understand the essence of the message!


10 times ? What rubbish. You never hear of anything happening to a tourist or expat here. Certainly not more compared to anywhere else. If you have proof to the contrary please provide it. I'd say expats here enjoy a highly safe environment with extremely few negative incidents.


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Therooster said:


> 10 times ? What rubbish. You never hear of anything happening to a tourist or expat here. Certainly not more compared to anywhere else. If you have proof to the contrary please provide it. I'd say expats here enjoy a highly safe environment with extremely few negative incidents.


Are you insane.

UK = about 60 million people and about 1800 murder p.a.
SA = about 50 million people and about 17 000 murders p.a.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> Are you insane.
> 
> UK = about 60 million people and about 1800 murder p.a.
> SA = about 50 million people and about 17 000 murders p.a.



16 800. And what % of what happens to middle classed people ? 

The group expats will find themselves in. 1% ? Or are you suggesting expats are going to live in townships ?


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

If they are middle class what is the chance of it happening to them in their own country... same percentage I would say.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> If they are middle class what is the chance of it happening to them in their own country... same percentage I would say.


Yup. I would say that a middle classes person in South Africa has a very comparible chance of anything violent happening to them here than the U.K or the states. 

A poor black male ? A way higher chance ! But only if they're going to go to shebeens and get drunk and stab each other for no good reason. Which makes up the gross proportion of our violent crime.


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

No matter how many times that old example is used does not make it the whole truth. The vast majority of people in Europe etc never have violent crime touch them or their family... can't be said for the middle class here!


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Therooster said:


> Yup. I would say that a middle classes person in South Africa has a very comparible chance of anything violent happening to them here than the U.K or the states.
> 
> A.


I cant stop laughing, anyone who believes that is an idiot.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

daxk said:


> i cant stop laughing, anyone who believes that is an idiot.


out of touch.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Therooster said:


> out of touch.


whats changed in three weeks?


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## vegasboy (Apr 28, 2010)

Utter rubbish Rooster.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

vegasboy said:


> Utter rubbish Rooster.


What is ? 

They're on to you guys. You spend all your time here talking nothing but utter rubbish. What is my message ? 

If you want to know what it's like to live in South Africa just ask people who have mvoed to live here. If they say it's anything close to as bad as these guys say it is then I am wrong.


We all know what they will say, so guys between us south africans...the gig is up. We all know it's nothing close to as scary as you make it out to be.


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## zambezi.king (Oct 8, 2009)

Thanks for enlightening us Rooster... not! If anyone really wants to know the truth let them look at the facts and figures. Why would millions of people leave? You say there is harmony here and everything is great. Then why is everyone leaving or complaining? Why? Why are people uprooting themselves and tearing families apart, sometimes to opposite sides of the world? They / we can't all be racists has beens? We can't all be cowards. We can't all be deluded.

By denying there is a problem we are doomed to never fixing it or moving forward. Denialists will ensure that crime will always be at stratospheric levels because they normalise an abnormal situation.

Rooster, we have danced this dance before a few months ago... I'll say it again... for those that want to come... great it is a great country but you have to make yourself aware of the dangers. Most things can be googled these days, check out statistics, online newspapers, public forums, etc, etc. 

We all have an internal meter that weighs up the pros and cons AS PER OUR OWN CRITERIA. Do your research. Look at the bigpicture and ask yourself the difficult questions. If something bothers you get to the bottom of it. Knowledge and common sense is power.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

What disgusting behaviour you are displaying. We have a new person asking some questions about how to move to south africa and they have to face a tirade of nonsense that sounds more like my two children fighting than adults answering questions!! Now please stop it, you are not showing anyone anything about the pros or cons of south africa, you are showing that you are incapable of communicating in an adult and responsible fashion!

I apologise to the OP and would suggest that she pays little attention to the rants from these posters. So unless you can answer the questions asked in an adult fashion, then dont answer at all! 

Jo


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## marieannetta (Mar 22, 2010)

Hi EllieB

Have you arrived? Are you settling in? Let us know.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

zambezi.king said:


> Thanks for enlightening us Rooster... not! If anyone really wants to know the truth let them look at the facts and figures. Why would millions of people leave? You say there is harmony here and everything is great. Then why is everyone leaving or complaining? Why? Why are people uprooting themselves and tearing families apart, sometimes to opposite sides of the world? They / we can't all be racists has beens? We can't all be cowards. We can't all be deluded.
> 
> By denying there is a problem we are doomed to never fixing it or moving forward. Denialists will ensure that crime will always be at stratospheric levels because they normalise an abnormal situation.
> 
> ...


I'm 100% in favor of dealing with the FACTS. Why wouldn't I be ? They all support my assertion the country is getting better. South Africa is richer, freer, safer and thriving more than ever before. All the facts support this.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Therooster said:


> I'm 100% in favor of dealing with the FACTS. Why wouldn't I be ? They all support my assertion the country is getting better. South Africa is richer, freer, safer and thriving more than ever before. All the facts support this.



the hard part is finding the right facts lol!!!! There are just so many of them and they're all different!!!

Jo xxx


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Therooster said:


> I'm 100% in favor of dealing with the FACTS. Why wouldn't I be ? They all support my assertion the country is getting better. South Africa is richer, freer, safer and thriving more than ever before. All the facts support this.


As I said elsewhere .... show us the facts about crime .... I keep seeing people say that its very low in SA and not serious any more


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> As I said elsewhere .... show us the facts about crime .... I keep seeing people say that its very low in SA and not serious any more


I'm going to assume that in 1994, you thought crime was at a perfecly acceptable level seeing as that is the year most saffers did the "chicken run". Well this was the first year we reported crime stats and it was as high as 70 per 100 000 people being murdered. Now days it's 33.6 per 100 000 people. 

Those are the facts.


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

jojo said:


> the hard part is finding the right facts lol!!!! There are just so many of them and they're all different!!!
> 
> Jo xxx


Hi Jo Jo. I have spend a lot of time researching the facts. I'm not here to sugar coat problems or decieve anyone. If you come up to me and say "Rooster the crime in South Africa is high" I won't even argeu with you. It is.

But if you come up to me and say "The crime is getting worse" I will correct you. 

Likewise if you say to me "You have a high chance of getting murdered in South Africa." I will show you how you have a much higher chance of dying of cancer or a car crash. Then I will go even further and show you much evel less you have a chance of getting murdered if you're a middle classed person. The dats is out there. It's just some folk prefer the urban myths.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Therooster said:


> Hi Jo Jo. I have spend a lot of time researching the facts. I'm not here to sugar coat problems or decieve anyone. If you come up to me and say "Rooster the crime in South Africa is high" I won't even argeu with you. It is.
> 
> But if you come up to me and say "The crime is getting worse" I will correct you.
> 
> Likewise if you say to me "You have a high chance of getting murdered in South Africa." I will show you how you have a much higher chance of dying of cancer or a car crash. Then I will go even further and show you much evel less you have a chance of getting murdered if you're a middle classed person. The dats is out there. It's just some folk prefer the urban myths.


maybe if you provide some links to the data it might help?


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## Therooster (Jul 1, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> maybe if you provide some links to the data it might help?


Violent crime data or what ?

List of countries by intentional homicide rate to 1999 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


List of countries by homicide rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


These figures correlate perfectly with rhe S.A.P.S figures.

What data do you want ?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Therooster said:


> Hi Jo Jo. I have spend a lot of time researching the facts. I'm not here to sugar coat problems or decieve anyone. If you come up to me and say "Rooster the crime in South Africa is high" I won't even argeu with you. It is.
> 
> But if you come up to me and say "The crime is getting worse" I will correct you.
> 
> Likewise if you say to me "You have a high chance of getting murdered in South Africa." I will show you how you have a much higher chance of dying of cancer or a car crash. Then I will go even further and show you much evel less you have a chance of getting murdered if you're a middle classed person. The dats is out there. It's just some folk prefer the urban myths.


If I said to you this is a non political forum and if asked you to simply offer your experience and knowledge the cost of living, employment and everyday life would you please??? I'm sure everyone knows that life is different and unsettled in South Africa. So lets concentrate on the questions asked and not bring the drama, fear or a particular set of facts into the post at every available opportunity........ and certainly dont allow things to degenerate into a trading of insults!

Thats it really 

Jo xxxx


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