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SA’s youth need a free future to flourish

19 June 2019

When young Americans grow up, rarely do you hear them being excited about going to study in Europe when they leave school. Why would they...

FMF NEWSLETTER 19 June 2019

19 June 2019

Weekly newsletter...

Want peace, prosperity, growth, and low unemployment? Follow the Constitution

14 June 2019

Most people say they want freedom, but what do they mean by that word?...

Carbon tax may be noble but it will add to SA’s woes

14 June 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Carbon Tax Act into law. This new tax will be imposed on South Africans from June 1 2019....

More businesses closing, urgent reform required

12 June 2019

Stats SA’s April Statistics of Liquidations and Insolvencies paint a very grim picture. The number of business liquidations increased by 53.1% between April 2018 and...

FMF NEWSLETTER 12 June 2019

12 June 2019

Weekly newsletter...

Quarterly Review 2019.03

12 June 2019

quarterly review 2019.03...

Media release: BLSA CEO Mr Bonang Mohale receives the FMF 10th Luminary award for his contribution to SA’s business community and defending the rights of all South Africans.

11 June 2019

Today, 11 June 2019, Mr Bonang Mohale, highly respected businessman and CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BSLA*) received the Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) 10th...

Submission on Tourism Amendment Bill, 2019

11 June 2019

The FMF's submission on the 2019 Tourism Amendment Bill....

Democratising Capitalism by Bonang Mohale

10 June 2019

At the time that the world is converging and disintegrating at the same, in 2002 Michael Mandelbaum, one of America’s leading foreign policy thinkers, building...

Consumer rights

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Why the outrage over sugar tax job losses? Or, “we told you so.”

20 February 2019

The Sunday Tribune reports that as many as 350,000 jobs are at stake in the industries reliant on sugar. ...

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...

Economic freedom / Growth

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Want peace, prosperity, growth, and low unemployment? Follow the Constitution

14 June 2019

Most people say they want freedom, but what do they mean by that word?...

Media release: BLSA CEO Mr Bonang Mohale receives the FMF 10th Luminary award for his contribution to SA’s business community and defending the rights of all South Africans.

11 June 2019

Today, 11 June 2019, Mr Bonang Mohale, highly respected businessman and CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BSLA*) received the Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) 10th...

Democratising Capitalism by Bonang Mohale

10 June 2019

At the time that the world is converging and disintegrating at the same, in 2002 Michael Mandelbaum, one of America’s leading foreign policy thinkers, building...

After terrible GDP growth numbers, the time has come to abandon fiscal stimulus

06 June 2019

The latest GDP numbers show that the South African economy declined by 3.2% for the first quarter of 2019. ...

SAA’s Jarana hits ejector button

05 June 2019

South African Airways’ sometimes-controversial CEO, Vuyani Jarana, has resigned. ...

Media release: SAA Financial Chaos: FMF submits PAIA applications re SAA and SAX overdue financial statements

04 June 2019

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) is submitting PAIA applications to enable the public to understand the true extent of the financial chaos that exists within...

Is vryheid Suid-Afrika se voorland?

31 May 2019

Daar is weereens ‘n verkiesing in Suid-Afrika, en weereens is daar ongelooflik baie op die spel....

Your work for Sars stops on Saturday – Tax Freedom Day 2019

24 May 2019

On Saturday, May 18 South Africans stop working for the government and start working for themselves. ...

Cuba is no example to follow

22 May 2019

Venezuela is proof of the miraculous impact of socialism. They took a prosperous nation and destroyed it almost overnight. That’s a problem for that other...

Media release: Congratulations SA taxpayers - you've paid government. Now what you earn is yours!

17 May 2019

Before you earn a cent, government takes a chunk out of your pay packet in taxes. This Saturday, 18 May, marks Tax Freedom Day 2019...

Energy

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Carbon tax may be noble but it will add to SA’s woes

14 June 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed the Carbon Tax Act into law. This new tax will be imposed on South Africans from June 1 2019....

Renewable energy is a disaster and will collapse SA’s electricity supply system

26 April 2019

South Africa is lurching towards another electricity disaster to make the Eskom disaster even worse....

Misdiagnosis means Eskom’s problems will persist

11 March 2019

If you counted every hair on your head, that amount probably will not add up to the amount of times you have read and heard...

Government must take steps to unbundle Eskom

04 March 2019

Should government continue to dominate energy supply as is proposed in the government's latest declared plans? ...

Government stealth tax to fund ailing Eskom

27 February 2019

Officially, for the 2019/20 financial year, government will not be increasing income taxes....

Eskom was doomed to fail. It’s core problem? Its monopoly

14 February 2019

It has become an accepted premise among some South Africans that the current government is responsible for the troubles facing Eskom, whether it is the...

Media release: NERSA must give Eskom zero

05 February 2019

Terry Markman presented the Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) oral submission at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) public hearings on Eskom’s tariff increase...

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....

Financial sector

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Finance bill delegates huge legislative power to unelected people

07 May 2019

The Treasury wants parliament to give up large swathes of its lawmaking power in favour of a handful of unelected appointees....

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 ......

Healthcare

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The healthcare landscape after the elections: What can we expect?

14 May 2019

Will elections lead to positive changes in SA’s Healthcare system?...

Government focus on private healthcare costing public healthcare

06 May 2019

In a written reply to a question in parliament, economic development minister Ebrahim Patel disclosed that the private Health Market Inquiry (HMI) has cost taxpayers...

Election fever stokes the NHI fire

18 April 2019

When in the grip of election fever, it becomes even more difficult than usual to decipher facts from the deluge of rhetoric and obfuscation proffered...

The NHI: Analysis from a public choice perspective

03 April 2019

The NHI is set to be South Africa’s version of universal healthcare where resources are pooled in order to provide health services for everyone. ...

SA’s wasted NHI millions could have been spent so much better

02 April 2019

In a written reply to a question in Parliament, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel disclosed that the private health market inquiry has cost taxpayers R197...

NHI model unaffordable and to cause job losses

01 April 2019

Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has accused the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA) of “fear-mongering” and attempting to sabotage the implementation of government’s National...

Unviable scheme has potential to wreck country’s fragile economy

05 March 2019

Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has accused the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA) of “fear-mongering” and attempting to sabotage the implementation of government’s National...

Looming NHI disaster would dwarf Eskom

04 March 2019

As much as the country is currently focused on the crisis in Eskom, the nation seems to have lost sight of the looming NHI Fund,...

The Eskom of healthcare

04 March 2019

Election season is here and this past week we have heard about the ruling party’s grandiose National Health Insurance (NHI) proposal and its new springboard,...

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...

Labour

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More businesses closing, urgent reform required

12 June 2019

Stats SA’s April Statistics of Liquidations and Insolvencies paint a very grim picture. The number of business liquidations increased by 53.1% between April 2018 and...

Minimum Wage: A crime against the poor

29 May 2019

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a crime against the poor of this country as it absolutely forbids them from accepting any compensation below the...

Unemployment blight can be alleviated with the correct remedy

15 May 2019

Stats SA recently announced South Africa’s unemployment rate has increased to 27.6%. The expanded rate increased to 38%, which translates to 9,994,000 unemployed people. ...

Workers’ Day means nothing to many people – a consequence of SA’s laws

10 May 2019

May 1 marked the latest iteration of Workers’ Day, a yearly public holiday in South Africa....

Prohibiting prostitution is unconstitutional

17 April 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that sex work might soon be decriminalised. ...

The idea that labour and capital have divergent interests is wrong

02 April 2019

You cannot produce anything without capital....

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...

Land reform

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Ideologie bedreig ons grondwetlike legitimiteit

31 May 2019

Daar is diegene in ons sameleweing wat die Grondwet kritiseer as fundamenteel gebrekkig, ...

Stop government from taking your property

21 May 2019

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs investor conference on Wednesday, President Ramaphosa attempted to address investors’ concerns regarding expropriation of property without compensation (EWC)....

Expropriation without compensation is anti-poor and anti-transformation

21 May 2019

Expropriation without compensation (EWC) is likely to become the biggest barrier to entry into the modern economy for millions of South Africans....

Expropriation without compensation will not help its intended beneficiaries

02 May 2019

The entire land confiscation project is a disaster that will not help the people it is meant to help. ...

Media release: Restoring property rights through title deeds on Freedom Day

30 April 2019

On Freedom Day, 27 April 2019, a generation after the fall of Apartheid, a further 66 residents of Vukuzenzele (which means stand up and do...

Expropriation without compensation sends a clear message

26 April 2019

Call it what you want: economic justice, expropriation without compensation, helping the poor, but the reality is most of the world will sum it up...

Media release: Land reform bills threaten everything the struggle achieved

09 April 2019

Should the change to section 25 of the Constitution to allow expropriation without compensation (EWC) go ahead, government, in effect, while continuing to recognise property...

Zimbabwe land lessons for SA

13 March 2019

American sportsman Yogi Berra was known for his quirky turns of phrase. One of his most famous was, "It's like déjà vu all over...

It would be deplorable to rush the expropriation amendment

08 March 2019

The parliamentary ad hoc committee on amending the Constitution to provide for expropriation without compensation said it intended to speed up the process and settle...

Land discourse being used as smoke and mirrors

06 February 2019

The land debate, as hackneyed as it is, is being used by both the EFF and the ANC as a proxy fix to whitewash various...

Rule of law / Law

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State’s undermining of Rule of Law in private security regulation puts safety at risk

06 March 2019

The Constitutional Court has declared that there is a disturbing dark side to the often-stated miracle of South Africa’s constitutional democracy:...

A free society is an armed society

20 February 2019

Section 12 of the Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to freedom and security of the person...

The Rule of Law and moving SA forward

19 February 2019

The Rule of Law is one of the ideals of our political morality. It refers to the ascendancy of law as such and of the...

When it comes to making laws quality over quantity is preferable

04 February 2019

The view that a legislature is only “productive” when it passes many laws in a short period must be challenged....

SA’s support of Venezuela’s Maduro tramples on the Constitution

30 January 2019

The South African government has thrown its support behind the tyrant Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela in the midst of a constitutional crisis in that country....

Exploring the constitutional definition of hate speech

14 January 2019

The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crime and Hate Speech Bill is likely to become law during 2019....

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...

Transformation

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SA’s youth need a free future to flourish

19 June 2019

When young Americans grow up, rarely do you hear them being excited about going to study in Europe when they leave school. Why would they...

Cut spending and corruption, or get used to tax shortfalls

08 April 2019

The South African Revenue Service is again moaning about its latest shortfall in tax collection. It collected R1.28 trillion instead of the projected R1.3 trillion...

Is there anything to celebrate this Human Rights Day?

02 April 2019

What, exactly, are we celebrating on Human Rights Day this year?...

Black people can get out of poverty, if the government gets out of their way

28 January 2019

Poverty has been decreasing in Africa as countries have gradually liberalised their economies, yet the South African government has chosen to go in the opposite...

Is multilingualism the silver bullet?

02 January 2019

The Apartheid government’s Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 forced black schools to integrate Afrikaans as a language of instruction....

Voucherising education to benefit low income communities

19 December 2018

In the 2016-2017 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, South Africa's primary education system was rated 126th out of 138 countries....

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...

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