A briefing in The Economist entitled ‘Drawbridges up’ was one of two pieces in an early August edition of the magazine on geopolitical “openness”. It’s a subject that has penetrated global consciousness in a post-Brexit world that also faces a refugee crisis, along with the very real possibility of Donald Trump’s presidency. The new divide in rich countries, the article says, is not between the political left and right, but “open” versus “closed”.On which side of this binary does South Africa stand? Is the country steadily raising its drawbridges, or is it as open for business as the president would have us believe?During two decades in the field, immigration lawyer Gary Eisenberg has watched with dismay as South Africa emerged from an era of enforced isolation, only to re-erect the same barriers to trade and capital flows that restricted the economy pre-1994.“Barriers to trade and foreign direct investment are not always immediately visible,” says Eisenberg, recalling the US and J...
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