Perhaps they didn't want Apartheid to end.
My ex left South Africa before apartheid ended because he could not get a job after he graduated. Things were going down in hill in South Africa way before apartheid ended all because of certain aspects of the government's policies. Of course they didn't want apartheid to end because they were the chief beneficies of the goodies. Having black South Africans learn afrikaans instead of english despite the fact that english was becoming the world's language was one. In fact, I would advise EVERYONE to read Mark Mathabane to get a poor black person's perspective on apartheid era South Africa.