I've always assumed that most white South Africans who tried to emigrate are the ones who profited heavily under apartheid and are unwilling to live under multiethnic rule. Basically the most racist of the bunch.
That's not what I understood. Once the new government formed there was a quite a bit of economic instability. White South Africans who benefited heavily under the old apartheid regime saw their career and economic prospects shrink and used their old commonwealth connections to migrate to the UK, Canada, and Australia. They didn't enjoy living with apartheid but they weren't going to sacrifice their comfort so that black South Africans would get a fair shot. The government had instituted some affirmative action measures and quite a few took that as a cue to leave.
I'm not really seeing how what you say is different from what I said, except that you don't think they were racist for it. But then how do you explain the extreme racism you experienced from those emigrates?
