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Boycott South African Airways (SAA). Here’s why

18 December 2018

It is your patriotic duty to do so. If you are unpatriotic, it is your ethical duty. If you are unethical, it is your familial...

Survey Report on the Khaya Lam Land Reform Project – Jan Friedemann

13 December 2018

The Khaya Lam Land Reform Project is an unprecedented and truly innovative project which aims to empower individuals to take responsibility for their own lives....

Government hubris leaves South Africans in the dark

12 December 2018

Industry grinds to a halt. Traffic stands gridlocked. Lights in dangerous areas go out. People sit in the dark. Whereas Christmas should usher in a...

Private sector is best hope to train new doctors, nurses

12 December 2018

The South Africa-Cuba medical doctor programme has been a catastrophic failure, yet the South African government continues to send medical students to the despotic island...

The National Minimum Wage – a toxic, destructive instrument

12 December 2018

The National Minimum Wage (NMW), signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 23 November, is set to harm a great many unfortunate people who...

FMF NEWSLETTER 12 December 2018

12 December 2018

Weekly newsletter...

Media release: Khaya Lam Land Reform Project brings joy to township residents this festive season

11 December 2018

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam Land Reform Project announced today that another 60 residents of Tumahole in the Free State will receive the...

Linear No Threshold (LNT) Folly: An Economics Perspective on Nuclear Safety – Leon Louw and Bonne Posma

11 December 2018

The nature and risks of nuclear radiation are widely misunderstood from the most advanced society to the least sophisticated societies....

Media Digest & Cuttings 2018.11

10 December 2018

Media Digest & Cuttings...

Momentum’s monumental mistake and the perils of mob-rule

06 December 2018

The executives of Momentum insurance appeared recently to have been coerced under popular pressure into making payment of a void policy, thereby upending over 250...

Consumer rights

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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....

The Minimum Legal Drinking Age: A “political imperative”

18 May 2016

In 2015, when the Department of Trade & Industry made public its draft National Liquor Policy (NOTICE 446 OF 2015),...

Economic freedom / Growth

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Boycott South African Airways (SAA). Here’s why

18 December 2018

It is your patriotic duty to do so. If you are unpatriotic, it is your ethical duty. If you are unethical, it is your familial...

The fundamental reason for belief in socialism

04 December 2018

Here is a simple question that will tell you whether you believe in capitalism, communism or socialism....

Black Friday: A celebration of economic freedom

03 December 2018

Today is the latest iteration of the Black Friday phenomenon, with ordinary people rushing to store to cash in on the best deals, spending their...

To prosper, ensure a free economy (it worked for Mauritius)

28 November 2018

According to the latest, annual Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) report, SA’s economic freedom ranking has declined dramatically from 46th position in 2000...

Economic growth and freedom the key ingredients for transformation

27 November 2018

Freedom is the most important human right. Over the years, people of all nationalities, races and cultures have always migrated from oppressive regimes to countries...

Who invented the term ‘capitalism’ and why

26 November 2018

The economic system known as “capitalism” is the only system that guarantees every individual their personal liberty....

SAA – more of the same mistakes promises more of the same hardships

21 November 2018

There is a humorous saying: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”...

South Africans need a radical solution: capitalism

13 November 2018

Collectivism, in all its forms, has been tried, and has failed, all around the world. It will never work even if different people are put...

Media release: Mboweni – R 5 bn bailout for SAA? Maybe! Out of his hands now

08 November 2018

Not only is new finance minister Tito Mboweni the first ANC politician to propose that SAA should be closed down, he is also the first...

Things are getting worse - but there’s an easy solution

07 November 2018

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore mentioned at the recent Leadership Summit that there is an element of “declinism” -- a pessimism about the state of one’s...

Energy

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Government hubris leaves South Africans in the dark

12 December 2018

Industry grinds to a halt. Traffic stands gridlocked. Lights in dangerous areas go out. People sit in the dark. Whereas Christmas should usher in a...

Linear No Threshold (LNT) Folly: An Economics Perspective on Nuclear Safety – Leon Louw and Bonne Posma

11 December 2018

The nature and risks of nuclear radiation are widely misunderstood from the most advanced society to the least sophisticated societies....

SA’s daft electricity policy: 7 myths debunked, including ‘green power’

03 December 2018

The government is currently deciding South Africa’s long-term electricity policy....

To contain prices competition is essential in electricity markets

31 October 2018

A market for electricity has a salutary effect on the behaviour of all the participants in the generation and supply of electricity....

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...

Financial sector

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Momentum’s monumental mistake and the perils of mob-rule

06 December 2018

The executives of Momentum insurance appeared recently to have been coerced under popular pressure into making payment of a void policy, thereby upending over 250...

Draft “Bank Resolution” Bill is vague and violates the rule of law

05 December 2018

The draft Bill aimed at shoring up struggling banks violates the rule of law by authorising unequal treatment without identifying objective differences to justify it....

Media release: Mini budget – Zuma fiddled while South Africa burned!

25 October 2018

Tito Mboweni had the unenviable task of presenting a budget that was the consequence of the maladministration of the Zuma era with a Treasury running...

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...

Healthcare

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Private sector is best hope to train new doctors, nurses

12 December 2018

The South Africa-Cuba medical doctor programme has been a catastrophic failure, yet the South African government continues to send medical students to the despotic island...

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)...

Labour

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The National Minimum Wage – a toxic, destructive instrument

12 December 2018

The National Minimum Wage (NMW), signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 23 November, is set to harm a great many unfortunate people who...

Open the labour market

09 November 2018

The results of South Africa’s official unemployment statistics published by Statistics SA in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) reveal some alarming labour market trends....

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. ...

Land reform

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Survey Report on the Khaya Lam Land Reform Project – Jan Friedemann

13 December 2018

The Khaya Lam Land Reform Project is an unprecedented and truly innovative project which aims to empower individuals to take responsibility for their own lives....

Media release: Khaya Lam Land Reform Project brings joy to township residents this festive season

11 December 2018

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam Land Reform Project announced today that another 60 residents of Tumahole in the Free State will receive the...

Amending the Constitution on shaky grounds will cause illegitimacy

03 December 2018

Removing the right to compensation when expropriating property that is currently contained in section 25 of the Constitution, will be a lethal blow to the...

The Ingonyama Trust should keep its promises and entrench property rights

28 November 2018

During the opening of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders in 2016 in Ulundi, the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, said that people who live on...

Media release: Johann Rupert sponsors 70 Title Deeds in Aberdeen

21 November 2018

On 16 November, 70 residents of the Karoo town of Aberdeen walked into the presentation hall as tenants and out as home owners, with full...

Media release: FMF International Conference: Expropriation without Compensation (EWC)

20 November 2018

Today 20 and tomorrow 21 November, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) is hosting a two-day conference focusing on achieving land reform without undermining property rights....

Media release: Government thinks review of just 0.01 percent of submissions is sufficient to change S25 of Constitution

20 November 2018

To consider the fundamental question of whether to change S 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation (EWC), it appears that the...

Former president Thabo Mbeki urges ANC rethink on EWC

14 November 2018

It is a well-known fact that the ANC sees itself not primarily as a ruling party but rather as a movement. ...

Media release: No to Expropriation Without Compensation

13 November 2018

The ANC is playing a dangerous political game in forcing through its policy of changing the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation (EWC) and...

Are supporters of EWC doing their part?

13 November 2018

This is interesting in the context of Ramaphosa’s speech at the 8th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture where he said "We cannot speak of...

Rule of law / Law

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Media release: Police oversight regime is constitutionally inadequate

06 November 2018

New research by the Rule of Law Project has revealed that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act (IPID Act) contravenes certain notions of the Rule...

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...

Transformation

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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”. ...

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