Afrikaner Entrepreneur Considers Fleeing to America After Surviving Violent Attack

Tom Joubert, a successful South African businessman, is weighing a drastic life change: leaving his thriving company to become a truck driver in America.

The decision stems from a traumatic 1999 robbery that left him paralyzed and continues to haunt his sense of safety in his home country.

On June 12, 1999, Joubert was helping at his mother’s small retail store in Morgenzon, a rural town in Mpumalanga, when two armed robbers stormed in. As the shop was about to close, the assailants demanded money. Joubert, drawing on his military training, attempted to protect his mother by disarming one attacker. In the chaos, he was shot twice, once through his left side, the bullet shattering two vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

“I saw his finger move to the trigger, and I knew I had only seconds to act,” Joubert said in an interview with Willem Petzer for a documentary, Crimes Against Humanity, about South African crime. “I jumped in front of my mother to shield her.”

The attack left Joubert in a coma for two weeks and hospitalized for months. Defying initial prognosis, he taught himself how to walk again, though he still endures chronic pain. The psychological toll was equally devastating. His mother, who witnessed the attack, was never the same; her hair turned white from stress, and she passed away a few years later. “She was never the same woman again,” Joubert said. “She couldn’t sleep without a light.”

Despite building a business that employs over 50 people and supports local communities, Joubert lives in constant fear. He recounted receiving death threats and facing pressure to hire unqualified workers from the community, some of whom he claims steal from his company. Last November, a man pointed a gun at him in traffic, a chilling reminder of his vulnerability.

“I fear for my life every day,” Joubert said. “I’m at a point where my life is worth more driving a truck in America than staying here.”

The perpetrators of the 1999 attack were briefly detained but released due to Joubert’s inability to identify them while hospitalized. He believes they went on to commit further violent crimes, including murders, highlighting what he sees as a broader issue with crime and justice in rural South Africa.

Joubert’s story reflects a growing sentiment among some South Africans who feel unsafe amid high crime rates. While he sponsors local schools and employs community members, contributing R150,000 monthly in salaries, the persistent threats have pushed him to consider selling his business and starting anew in America.

“If I leave, 300 people won’t eat because of the families my workers support,” he said. “But I have more hope of living a full life in America than here.”

Joubert’s potential departure emphasizes the challenges facing South Africa, where skilled professionals like him, a diesel mechanic and savvy businessman, feel compelled to leave. For now, he remains torn between his responsibility to his employees and family and the promise of safety abroad.

“It’s sad,” he said. “I can bring something to America, but I’m doing it here now. If we all leave, what will happen to South Africa?”