Malungisa Soga* dreamed of becoming a successful entrepreneur and job creator in the Eastern Cape when he registered his company in 2014.
Starting out as a supplier of goods and services to provincial government departments and municipalities, he expanded into construction three years later.
By early 2018, he had secured low-cost housing contracts, employed five people in his KuGompo City office and more than 60 casual workers on construction sites.
Business was thriving and he planned to expand further.
Then government payments began drying up.
As invoices remained unpaid for months, Soga was forced to use his own money to keep the business alive.
Eventually, he started laying off staff, many of whom were the sole breadwinners in their households.
“The delay in payment of suppliers and contractors in the Eastern Cape is one of the serious challenges that face emerging businesses.
“Sometimes we had to wait for over six months and more to receive payments, and that created a lot of challenges.
“I could not pay suppliers on time. I could not pay rent. I could not pay salaries on time, leading to my operations being compromised,” Soga said.
By 2023, he had reached breaking point.
He shut down his business, left the Eastern Cape and relocated to George in the Western Cape.
Today, he has rebuilt his construction company, employing nine permanent staff and more than 200 casual workers across multiple projects.
Soga is one of nearly one-million people who have left the Eastern Cape over the past decade in search of better opportunities.
According to Statistics South Africa’s mid-year population estimates released last week, about 981,900 people left the province between 2016 and 2026.
While 394,200 people moved into the Eastern Cape during the same period, inflows only partly offset departures, leaving the province with a net migration loss of more than 587,600 people.
The report shows the Western Cape has been the biggest beneficiary of the Eastern Cape’s population loss, attracting more than 341,000 people. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal followed.
Political parties and business leaders say the figures reflect the province’s economic decline, warning that the continued exodus is draining skills, weakening businesses and reducing the province’s share of national funding, which is partly based on population size.
Qonce-born television actor and performing arts activist Lulama Masimini, who holds a master’s degree from the University of Cape Town, said he was forced to leave because opportunities in the film industry in the province were almost non-existent.
“There is no place like home. I would really love to come back home and operate from there.
“In fact, I had tried, but issues such as lack of opportunities and financial support make it impossible to settle in the province,” he said.
Eastern Cape government spokesperson Khuselwa Rantjie said outward migration was not a new phenomenon.
“Historically, the province has been a labour-sending region, and today many of those leaving are better educated and highly skilled, pursuing opportunities across the country and internationally.
“While Stats SA reports significant outward migration, the net migration figure is considerably lower once return migration is taken into account.
“This provides a more balanced picture of population movement,” she said.
She said the Eastern Cape government had consistently argued that the equitable share formula should better account for people who continued to depend on provincial services despite working elsewhere.
“Many Eastern Cape residents work elsewhere but maintain strong family and economic ties to the province and return regularly, creating service demands that are not always reflected in funding allocations.”
Rantjie said the migration trends highlighted the need to accelerate economic development.
“Our focus is on attracting investment, expanding infrastructure, driving industrialisation, strengthening energy security and developing skills to create sustainable jobs closer to where our people live.
“Recent investment engagements with domestic and international partners form part of this effort.
“Our goal is not to prevent people from seeking opportunities elsewhere.
“South Africans are free to live and work anywhere in the country, but our responsibility is to build an Eastern Cape where more people can realise their aspirations through a growing economy that offers quality jobs, entrepreneurship opportunities and improved livelihoods.”
The province is exporting the very people it needs to build its future.
— DA MPL Andrew Whitfield
Black Business Forum president Luthando Bara said migration in search of opportunity was common worldwide, but the scale of the Eastern Cape’s losses should alarm policymakers.
“It reflects more than population movement. It is a measure of declining economic confidence and diminishing opportunity.
“For the business community, this trend has profound implications.
“The continuous loss of skilled professionals, entrepreneurs and young graduates weakens the province’s productive capacity.
“Businesses depend on the availability of skilled labour to remain competitive, innovate and expand.
“As talent leaves, companies face increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining the expertise required to sustain growth,” Bara said.
DA MPL Andrew Whitfield said the figures reflected years of economic decline.
“The province is exporting the very people it needs to build its future.
“The scale of this outward migration reflects the depth of the Eastern Cape’s economic decline.
“People are leaving because the province is failing to provide the jobs, opportunities, and to get towns and cities working for all.”
Whitfield said the province’s official unemployment rate of 44.6% in the first quarter of 2026, rising to 54.4% on the expanded definition, had created a vicious cycle.
“The result is a self-perpetuating cycle. Weak economic growth and unemployment push skilled and ambitious residents out of the province.
“Their departure reduces the pool of professionals, artisans, entrepreneurs, graduates and experienced workers available to grow the economy.
“That loss of capacity contributes to further economic stagnation, which drives even more people to leave.”
He said reversing the trend would require stabilising local government, creating conditions for economic growth and implementing strategies to retain graduates and attract former residents back to the province.
“The province needs a focused strategy to retain graduates and scarce skills, attract former residents back, and position the province as a lower-cost destination for businesses, professionals, entrepreneurs and remote workers,” Whitfield said.
EFF MPL Simthembile Madikizela described the figures as “an economic evacuation”.
“For three decades, the ANC has systematically destroyed the productive capacity of the Eastern Cape through corruption, failed governance, collapsing municipalities and an economy that offers millions of young people no future.
“Instead of exporting manufactured goods, the ANC has turned the Eastern Cape into a province that exports its own people.
“The majority of those leaving are working-age people seeking employment and economic opportunities elsewhere.
“These are the people who should be driving industrial growth, supporting local businesses, paying taxes and raising families in the Eastern Cape.
“Instead, they are forced to leave because the ANC has failed to build an economy that works for them.
“Every resident who leaves weakens the provincial economy.
“Businesses lose customers, municipalities lose revenue, communities lose skills, and the province ultimately receives a smaller equitable share to provide basic services,” Madikizela said.
* Not his real name
Daily Dispatch
Asanda Nini
www.dailydispatch.co.za