There are an estimated 3.3m migrant workers from other SADC countries in South Africa, between them sending around R11.2 billion rand home each year – R7.6 bn of which is estimated to flow through informal channels such as sending cash with a bus or taxi driver. The sheer volume of cross-border remittance flows and the large proportion sent informally indicates not only an untapped market opportunity for the formal sector to capitalize on, but also a strong policy imperative to reduce access barriers to the formal financial system for migrant workers and facilitate formalization of cross-border remittances. These are the high-level findings of a recent study commissioned by FinMark Trust and conducted by DNA Economics.

Sea of nostalgic generation
River of Facebook nation
In and out migration
Limited freedom of expression
No room for innovation,
But for incarceration,
Parroting, or imitation ...
Strong interest in destruction,
Not in building a lasting foundation
Almost impossible to tolerate difference
And to still be friends
Lack of political moderation
Torpedoes in silent ocean

Radicals left and right
Few with a practical mission statement,
Vision, and commitment
Almost all stuck in the past
Not too many visionaries
But plenty of revolutionary wannabes
And swarms of counterrevolutionaries,
Comrades, cadres, copycats, bullies,
Elitists, opportunists, ideologues,
Egotists, character assassins, and rogues
Relics of the bygone years

Most anachronistic
Few original or unique
Little or no political compromise
But bravado and false promise
Fake democrats
Allergic to alternative viewpoints

Almost everyone wants to lead, but few followers
Not too many look forward—thus, stagnant progress

Confused youth
Trapped in a maze …

Have we learned at all from the past:
From the red blood or feudal mindset?