FREE MARKET FOUNDATION HOME

News

View all

Media release: Khaya Lam Land Reform Project has effected over 3,000 title deeds since project inception

17 October 2018

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam Land Reform Project announced today that 3,059 title deeds to their homes have been presented to recipients since...

Government wage bill: over bloated and underwhelming

17 October 2018

South Africa was once speculated to have a government workforce larger than that of the United States....

FMF NEWSLETTER 17 October 2018

17 October 2018

Weekly newsletter...

The problem of "fair‐labelling" and insurance

16 October 2018

We assign labels to things all the time. When you say, “Pass me a pen”, pen is the label we place on an object with...

The malign folly of "stakeholder" theory

15 October 2018

The only social responsibility of business is to use its resources and occupy its energies in the generation of wealth, so long as it stays...

Media release: Things are worse than they seem: error in World Bank data sees SA slip further in EFW 2018 rankings

11 October 2018

South Africa now ranks 110 out of 162 in the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) 2018 index. It had been reported that SA’s ranking...

Less freedom, lower growth: What we should learn from international indices

10 October 2018

It is a common temptation, in the months before an election, for politicians to promise the moon to those voters they fear might be attracted...

FMF NEWSLETTER 10 October 2018

10 October 2018

Weekly newsletter...

Media release: South Africa ranks 94 out of 162 countries measured in the Economic Freedom of the World Report

10 October 2018

South Africa ranks 94 out of 162 countries and territories according to their economic system....

Stop making laws to which nobody adheres

09 October 2018

The law is supposed to fulfil two important functions in society: protecting people’s persons and property, and conflict avoidance....

Consumer rights

View all

The problem of "fair‐labelling" and insurance

16 October 2018

We assign labels to things all the time. When you say, “Pass me a pen”, pen is the label we place on an object with...

Media release: From nanny state to the nation’s baby sitter

30 May 2018

The World Health Organisation (WHO), made up of unelected well-paid bureaucrats, and the SA government are determined to protect you from yourself whether you want...

Media release: New Tobacco Bill anti-poor and racist; impact assessment missing

22 May 2018

The FMF continues to be a strong voice frequently heard in the media against draconian anti-tobacco legislation and, specifically, the recently published Control of Tobacco...

Media release: Small business dismisses new tobacco Bill as war against the poor

15 May 2018

A coalition of 14 associations, representing over 1.3 million South Africans working in the restaurant, tavern and hospitality industry, and in small business, have written...

Media release: Plain packaging: Five years of failure! An open letter to WHO Director Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus

22 March 2018

“Five Years of Failure!” That’s the message a global coalition of 62 think tanks and rights advocates are sending to the new WHO Director Dr....

Angels and demons and the draconian liquor amendment bill

19 March 2018

Liquor is such a demonised product. It is advocated almost as a lethal poison that evil-minded producers and retailers would wish to administer. ...

Raising the drinking age is condescending and tyrannical; doesn’t work either

07 March 2018

Government appears intent on steaming ahead with the Liquor Amendment Bill, which will, among other things, raise the legal drinking age from 18 to 21....

Tomorrow it is likely to be your turn to have a freedom you value curtailed

13 December 2017

In a democratic society, can government collude with citizens to abuse and undermine the freedoms ordinary South Africans died to ensure? Unfortunately, it can....

Tobacco packaging: Anything but plain

29 November 2017

Why are smokers treated so badly? When justifying the proposed introduction of plain packaging and trying to legalise moral, ethical conduct in South Africa, the...

Media release: The Department of Health’s proposals are an effective ban on smoking

27 November 2017

Government’s interference a threat to rights of individuals, private property owners and bad for business...

Economic freedom / Growth

View all

Government wage bill: over bloated and underwhelming

17 October 2018

South Africa was once speculated to have a government workforce larger than that of the United States....

The malign folly of "stakeholder" theory

15 October 2018

The only social responsibility of business is to use its resources and occupy its energies in the generation of wealth, so long as it stays...

Media release: Things are worse than they seem: error in World Bank data sees SA slip further in EFW 2018 rankings

11 October 2018

South Africa now ranks 110 out of 162 in the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) 2018 index. It had been reported that SA’s ranking...

Less freedom, lower growth: What we should learn from international indices

10 October 2018

It is a common temptation, in the months before an election, for politicians to promise the moon to those voters they fear might be attracted...

Media release: South Africa ranks 94 out of 162 countries measured in the Economic Freedom of the World Report

10 October 2018

South Africa ranks 94 out of 162 countries and territories according to their economic system....

Regulating Airbnb encourages anti-competitive behaviour

04 October 2018

The Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) has called on government to regulate Airbnb in South Africa. ...

The incredible growth of the middle class

03 October 2018

The world is fast approaching an incredible milestone in human development: for the first time in history more than half the world’s population will be...

Who will protect us from our protectors?

27 September 2018

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” is a Latin phrase used by the Roman poet Juvenal, which can be translated to mean “who will protect us from...

Further into the mire of socialism

25 September 2018

Reality can be avoided for only so long. The South African economy has slipped into its first technical recession since 2009. ...

Achieving the elusive 6 per cent growth rate

19 September 2018

In 2005, former President Mbeki committed his government to an economic growth target of 6 per cent, but only after 2010. ...

Energy

View all

Media release: Give Eskom – nothing – and certainly not R67 billion

17 May 2018

National energy regulator Nersa should grant power utility Eskom ‘nothing’ until costs have been prudently and efficiently determined....

No reason for government to be involved in personal electricity generation

16 May 2018

The draft Rules for Registration of Small-Scale Embedded Generation published by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) state that every form of home...

How government failed to privatise Eskom

13 December 2017

Government is preventing the private sector from being a solution to South Africa’s rising poverty and declining economy, despite the protestations of policy-makers and bureaucrats....

South African taxpayer to foot Eskom’s debt bill

23 October 2017

Eskom’s latest annual financial statements record irregular expenditure of almost R3bn...

Financial sector

View all

Malema – leave the South African Reserve Bank alone

04 July 2018

Recent calls to “nationalise” the South African Reserve Bank imply that the Bank is a private entity ......

Reinforcing the rand

30 May 2018

The invention of money allowed people to replace their original system of trade, which was barter. Instead of swapping one good or service for another,...

Free at last – Tax Freedom Day 2018

11 May 2018

On Sunday, 13 May, South Africans stop working for the state and start working for themselves. ...

Media release: Congratulations SA tax payers – you can now keep your own money

10 May 2018

Before you earn a cent, government takes a chunk out of your pay packet in taxes....

TEASER: When is Tax Freedom Day 2018?

09 May 2018

Every earner is taxed. Through one kind of tax or another, government takes a bit out of everyone’s earnings....

Media release: Far from protecting consumers, the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act and Twin Peaks cost billions and add nothing

26 March 2018

FAIS, effective in 2004, was supposed to be a significant advance in protecting unsuspecting consumers from ‘rogues’ in the Financial Services sector who were ‘mis‐selling’...

Taxing people into poverty

20 March 2018

Tax has been a part of human history for millennia. There are records of farmers in ancient Egypt giving up a portion of their crops...

Poverty and inequality: Heed Mandela and follow the Zimbabwe example

20 March 2018

South Africa must learn from the Zimbabwe experience. During 2009 - 2013 when Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC was running the finance portfolio, Zimbabwe lifted all foreign...

Media release: Minister Gigaba: Reduce bloated government before introducing new taxes

19 February 2018

Minister Gigaba seemingly has his back against the fiscal wall and will probably announce tax hikes in his 21 February budget. ...

Minister Gigaba – reduce spending and taxes to create jobs

12 February 2018

On 21 February, Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba, will present his annual budget speech before Parliament....

Healthcare

View all

International think tank policy dialogue on health, trade and innovation

03 October 2018

On 25 September think tank leaders from across the globe met in Bogota, Colombia to provide their perspectives on the policies and institutions required to...

Die NGV en die aanslag op ons Vryheid

30 August 2018

Hoe meer mag die staat het, hoe minder vryheid het die individu. Een van die grootste aanvalle nog op individuele vryheid kom in die vorm...

Media release: HMI report says nothing new but careful timing supports Motsoaledi’s contentious NHI Bill

28 August 2018

The preliminary findings of the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry (HMI) into the private healthcare sector, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the Medical...

Alternatives to the NHI

24 August 2018

The Department of Health’s Dr Anban Pillay has slammed the Free Market Foundation (FMF) for criticising the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and has requested...

An unintended, but serious consequence of government’s drive to introduce NHI is that young adults and families will be hit the hardest

22 August 2018

A unintended, but serious consequence of government’s drive to introduce NHI is that young adults and families will be hit the hardest....

Funding figures vital for assessing the viability of NHI

24 July 2018

Despite Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi not wanting to commit to even a rough estimate of costs of the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, the failure...

NHI – What is the Union Mandate?

19 July 2018

Cosatu has been vocal in their support for NHI, even calling for the head of Aaron Motsoaledi as Minister of Health for his implementation delays....

How about private-run education facilities to train doctors in South Africa

18 July 2018

Is anyone surprised that the programme which trains South Africans as doctors in Cuba has been a catastrophic failure? According to Business Day, ...

Drug makers slapped with a backlog fee

04 June 2018

The newly formed South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) – successor to the apartheid-era and largely dysfunctional Medicines Control Council (MCC)...

Media release: Young people and families hit hardest by gap cover limitations

29 May 2018

An unintended, but serious consequence of government’s drive to introduce NHI is that young adults and families will be hit the hardest....

Labour

View all

Policymakers, is there no compassion for the unemployed?

05 October 2018

Unemployment has been a national crisis for too long leaving 9.4 million South Africans unemployed....

How to destroy jobs

17 September 2018

Jobs result from economic growth; don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg: Free Market Capitalism...

Grinding the jobless into the ground with job deprivation rules

08 August 2018

Much is written about inequality, decrying high salaries paid by companies to their executives as being one of its main causes, while no consideration is...

Did parliament intend to introduce a fake minimum wage “exemption”?

18 July 2018

Is the exemption from the National Minimum Wage (NMW) provided for in the legislation deliberately and seditiously being torpedoed by bureaucrats, or did government all...

Politicians approve economically disastrous and unconstitutional NMW

06 June 2018

The politicians who approved the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Bill appear to believe that they live in an Alice in Wonderland world in which they...

Job Seekers Exemption Certificates: Just Let Me Work!

02 May 2018

Government should help the jobless to help themselves by removing the obstacles that prevent them from selling their labour at the best price and under...

NMW to cause economic havoc in rural areas and destroy SA job opportunities

29 March 2018

Researchers exhorting the SA government to implement the NMW reported that they could find no studies showing high job losses from the institution of minimum...

Set South Africa’s forgotten people free – in defence of the unemployed

21 February 2018

Mr Ramaphosa, like most South Africans I am relieved that you have ascended to the country’s highest political post. ...

Media release: Failure to respect constitutional rights causes mass unemployment

24 January 2018

If you have no work, no money and a hungry family, what pay would you work for?...

The minimum wage magic wand

16 January 2018

Would an accountant worth his salt advocate that the best way to keep a business running is to spend money which you do not have,...

Land reform

View all

Media release: Khaya Lam Land Reform Project has effected over 3,000 title deeds since project inception

17 October 2018

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam Land Reform Project announced today that 3,059 title deeds to their homes have been presented to recipients since...

Khaya Lam (My Home) Land Reform Project: Mokwallo title deed presentation - 26.09.2018

02 October 2018

The presentation of 45 title deeds on 26 September at the Montoedi Hall in Mokwallo, Vredefort by the Khaya Lam (My Home) Land Reform Project...

Expropriation without compensation is a contradiction in terms

01 October 2018

For better or worse, there is no government in the world that does not possess the power to expropriate the private property of its subjects....

Chavismo: The latest socialist failure

26 September 2018

The tragedy unfolding in Venezuela serves to prove a point long-settled by the failures of communist China, the USSR, Cambodia, Zimbabwe etc. ...

Media release: Bad faith public participation in EWC hearings a travesty of participatory democracy

20 September 2018

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) exclusion from the expropriation without compensation (EWC) parliamentary hearings is an affront to South Africa’s participatory democracy and the land...

Media release: Expropriation without compensation will require 75 per cent vote – Professor Robert Vivian

17 September 2018

75% of the National Assembly vote would be required to change the Constitution to allow general expropriation without compensation, not 66% as the ANC and...

How to provide responsibly for expropriation without compensation

17 September 2018

If the Constitution is to be amended to provide for expropriation without compensation (EWC) – something South Africans of all stripes should oppose in principle...

Title deeds are simply a means to an end – security of property rights

07 September 2018

South Africa has a history of denying property rights, especially to the poor and vulnerable....

EWC is an assault on the constitutional right to dignity

29 August 2018

Land dispossession was commonplace in pre-democratic South Africa. People were kicked off their land because past regimes had no regard for individual property rights....

The land fetish

28 August 2018

Doctors are the hardest people in the world to control. ...

Rule of law / Law

View all

Stop making laws to which nobody adheres

09 October 2018

The law is supposed to fulfil two important functions in society: protecting people’s persons and property, and conflict avoidance....

Reduce corruption by reducing discretion

05 September 2018

South Africa and other societies spend untold millions on combating the scourge of corruption. Conferences are held on how to fight it more effectively and...

Affirmative action: It’s time to up the ante in constitutional discourse

29 August 2018

In “The Rule of Law vs the Constitution” (7 August 2018) Sydney Kaye writes of how the Constitution of South Africa itself falls foul of...

Media release: Parliamentary deference to executive bills a cause for concern

24 August 2018

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) notes with concern a report on legislative performance that shows that Parliament has acquiesced to the executive branch of government...

Government’s ‘malicious compliance’ with socio-economic impact assessments

03 August 2018

Since 1 October 2015, the Cabinet of South Africa has required socio-economic impact assessments (SEIAs) to be conducted whenever Cabinet approval is required for draft...

Recklessly throwing taxpayer funds at court cases is unconstitutional

25 July 2018

With unemployment and social welfare at crisis levels and an actively shrinking economy, one would expect government to spend the little funds it forcefully extracts...

Media release: Subdivision and land use laws hinder land reform and are unconstitutional

23 July 2018

Research conducted by the Rule of Law Project has found that two Acts of Parliament dealing with land use are unconstitutional and are proving to...

Media release: Violation of the Rule of Law gave SA the Guptas and Zuma corruption

18 June 2018

The Rule of Law (RoL) protects citizens from abuse of power and corruption by politicians and officials and safeguards individual rights and liberty....

Violations of the Rule of Law undermine the Political Party Funding Bill

13 June 2018

The Political Party Funding Bill appears to be well on its way to becoming law in South Africa. Its intention to shed light on the...

There is no need for the Hate Speech Bill

23 April 2018

In what spirit was the Hate Speech Bill drawn up? To add a moral imperative to South African law? To fulfil an aspect of social...

Transformation

View all

Population explosion: Is the end nigh?

03 September 2018

Paul Ehrlich says the collapse of civilization is a “near certainty” within decades – again. Well, given how awful his track record has been, I’m...

Freedom and prosperity for all

01 August 2018

Given the current economic situation in the country characterised by low growth, more people are coming to appreciate the sound moral, philosophical, and economic underpinnings...

Die tirannie van politieke korrektheid

27 July 2018

Vryheid van uitdrukking en individuele vryheid in die algemeen is voorvereistes vir 'n vrye, oop en gelyke samelewing soos beloof in die Grondwet, maar hierdie...

Liberty is the source of human progress

17 July 2018

Promoting his seminal book, South Africa’s war against Capitalism, the economist Professor Walter Williams averred that “The solution to South Africa’s problems is not special...

Trump was right, South Africa is a 'crime ridden mess'

18 June 2018

It was horror at the Alexandra Community Health Centre two weeks ago when an unknown group of men armed with knives stormed the clinic and...

HISTORY SERIES: FMF marches in support of informal business

14 May 2018

The ghost of Hendrik Verwoerd must be walking through Sandton with a broad grin on his face, says Leon Louw, of the Free Market Foundation...

Political correctness is supposed to protect me, but I reject its censorship

10 May 2018

Freedom of expression and individual liberty are prerequisites for a free, open and equal society as promised in the constitution, yet this freedom is always...

HISTORY SERIES: 1975 - introducing the FMF

07 May 2018

FMF founded 1975 to promote free market economics...

HISTORY SERIES: 1978 - Friedrich Hayek visit to South Africa

07 May 2018

Friedrich Hayek spent 28 days in South Africa in 1978 promoting free market economics...

HISTORY SERIES: Case brought by FMF’s sister organisation, the Law Review Project

23 April 2018

The reason why POCA and the AFU enjoy near-universal support is obvious: all decent people want the government to be “tough on crime”. ...

FREE MARKET FOUNDATION HOME

YouTube