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The Free Market Foundation, founded in 1975, is an independent public benefit organisation that promotes and fosters an open society, the rule of law, personal liberty, and economic and press freedom.

News

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FMF CEO Statement: From which planet our lockdown tobacco law?

24 May 2020

CEO statement: From which planet our lockdown tobacco law?...

Variety is life, beware of the uniformity emerging from the pandemic

22 May 2020

Variety is life, beware of the uniformity emerging from the pandemic...

Media release: Signs that cigarette ban may last to level 1; it should be reversed immediately

22 May 2020

Media release: Signs that cigarette ban may last to level 1; it should be reversed immediately...

End lockdown - Free our children and grandchildren!

21 May 2020

End lockdown - Free our children and grandchildren...

The Medical Aid Conundrum

21 May 2020

The Medical Aid Conundrum...

The lockdown is not prima facie lawful

21 May 2020

The lockdown is not prima facie lawful...

Automated lockdown easing: A unique approach

20 May 2020

Automated lockdown easing: A unique approach...

A Joint Declaration on the Importance of Collaboration, Open Trade, and Innovation in Tackling COVID-19

18 May 2020

A Joint Declaration on the Importance of Collaboration, Open Trade, and Innovation in Tackling COVID-19...

To tackle COVID-19 we need trade collaboration and innovation

18 May 2020

To tackle COVID-19 we need trade collaboration and innovation ...

Covid-19: Let’s abandon the fake news paranoia

15 May 2020

Covid-19: Let’s abandon the fake news paranoia...

Consumer rights

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FMF CEO Statement: From which planet our lockdown tobacco law?

24 May 2020

CEO statement: From which planet our lockdown tobacco law?...

Media release: Signs that cigarette ban may last to level 1; it should be reversed immediately

22 May 2020

Media release: Signs that cigarette ban may last to level 1; it should be reversed immediately...

Why is profit so maligned when it is the result of consumers’ choice?

28 January 2020

Defending the idea of profit will, in these enlightened days, immediately split the room. If you follow politics in the US, watch how campaigners Bernie...

Economic freedom / Growth

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Variety is life, beware of the uniformity emerging from the pandemic

22 May 2020

Variety is life, beware of the uniformity emerging from the pandemic...

End lockdown - Free our children and grandchildren!

21 May 2020

End lockdown - Free our children and grandchildren...

Automated lockdown easing: A unique approach

20 May 2020

Automated lockdown easing: A unique approach...

A Joint Declaration on the Importance of Collaboration, Open Trade, and Innovation in Tackling COVID-19

18 May 2020

A Joint Declaration on the Importance of Collaboration, Open Trade, and Innovation in Tackling COVID-19...

'Flattening the curve' was intended for the virus, not the economy

13 May 2020

'Flattening the curve' was intended for the virus, not the economy ...

Lockdown in Africa – is the treatment worse than the disease?

13 May 2020

Lockdown in Africa – is the treatment worse than the disease?...

A wealth tax is not the kind of structural reform SA needs

11 May 2020

A wealth tax is not the kind of structural reform SA needs...

Media release: Informal traders gather in defiance of Lockdown ahead of civil disobedience campaign.

10 May 2020

Media release: Informal traders gather in defiance of Lockdown ahead of civil disobedience campaign. ...

What real structural reform looks like

06 May 2020

What real structural reform looks like ...

Media release: Tax Freedom Day comes early in 2020, but, thanks to Lockdown, this is not good news.

06 May 2020

Tax Freedom Day comes early in 2020, but, thanks to Lockdown, this is not good news...

Energy

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Eskom’s troubles laid bare

31 January 2020

Eskom is in trouble. It is drowning in debt and cannot meet the demand for electricity. ...

Submission on Eskom's Revenue Clearing Account Application, 2020

22 January 2020

The FMF's submission on Eskom's 2020 revenue clearing account application...

Necsa ruling highlights ministerial overreach

22 January 2020

On 15 January 2020 the remaining members of the Radebe appointed Necsa Board resigned citing a 'dysfunctional' relationship with Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe....

Eskom’s monopoly has caused loadshedding, sabotaged SA’s future

02 August 2019

The government’s conduct over the last century and more has led to the situation South Africa finds itself in today with regards to the provision...

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....

Financial sector

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Our country can no longer afford foreign exchange controls

14 February 2020

In 1995, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced a five-year “phasing-out process” because as he said, “the rand is not under our control …”...

The simple reason why a state bank is unnecessary

25 September 2019

There’s nothing about South Africa that makes it impossible to start a successful business here. Nothing that is, except the government. ...

Where can we store our value?

10 September 2019

We save in order to spend in the future. To do this effectively, we need to know that our future spending power will be at...

Healthcare

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The Medical Aid Conundrum

21 May 2020

The Medical Aid Conundrum...

To tackle COVID-19 we need trade collaboration and innovation

18 May 2020

To tackle COVID-19 we need trade collaboration and innovation ...

Lessons from Spain: Covid-19 exposed the inefficiency of a National Health Service

07 May 2020

Lessons from Spain: Covid-19 exposed the inefficiency of a National Health Service...

Opinion: Nationalising healthcare to save lives in SA, a disastrous consideration

30 April 2020

Opinion: Nationalising healthcare to save lives in SA, a disastrous consideration...

Opinion: A call for strengthened private and public healthcare systems in time of COVID-19

28 April 2020

Opinion: A call for strengthened private and public healthcare systems in time of COVID-19...

Media release: World Intellectual Property Day: IP More Important Than Ever In The Age Of COVID-19

24 April 2020

Media release: World Intellectual Property Day: IP More Important Than Ever In The Age Of COVID-19...

Scrapping private health cover a violation of bill of rights

20 April 2020

Scrapping private health cover a violation of bill of rights...

Fake drugs negatively impact growing AMR trend

15 April 2020

Fake drugs negatively impact growing AMR trend...

The unknowns of National Health Insurance are exactly what we should be afraid of

11 March 2020

It was India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who once said, “Beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to...

Medical training programmes need overhaul to address doctor shortage

28 February 2020

The South Africa-Cuba medical doctor training programme has been a catastrophic failure, yet during his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that...

Labour

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Small businesses hit hard by national lockdown

17 April 2020

Small businesses hit hard by national lockdown...

Freer markets generate prosperity, especially for the poor

16 August 2019

Amid rising unemployment, the Congress of South African Trade Unions has called on the government to amend the Labour Relations Act to make it more...

First time in history – more than 10 million unemployed

07 August 2019

You cannot legislate people out of poverty. You cannot regulate jobs into existence....

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...

Land reform

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SA must look at the many horrific results of land expropriation without compensation

15 May 2020

SA must look at the many horrific results of land expropriation without compensation...

Land expropriation without compensation is an illusion that cannot lead to a better life

11 May 2020

Land expropriation without compensation is an illusion that cannot lead to a better life...

Lessons from Venezuela: Implosion started with land grabs

07 May 2020

Lessons from Venezuela: Implosion started with land grabs...

Letter to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services; Appeal to raise the amounts for the purposes of Section 18(3) of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act no. 66 of 1965)

07 May 2020

Appeal to raise the amounts for the purposes of Section 18(3) of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act no. 66 of 1965) ...

South Africa considers legislation that would allow the state to seize any citizen’s property

06 April 2020

South Africa considers legislation that would allow the state to seize any citizen’s property...

Land expropriation in SA: A warning ignored, a society crumbling

11 March 2020

South African history demonstrates how bad a teacher history is....

Media release: Khaya Lam media release: 250 families in Phiritona, Free State, receive title deeds

27 February 2020

The Free Market Foundation’s (FMF) Khaya Lam Land Reform Project in partnership with the Ngwathe Municipality is proud to announce that 250 families of Phiritona...

Media release: EWC: Unnecessary for land reform, dangerous to the economy, disastrous for the poor

17 February 2020

Expropriation without compensation (EWC) is unnecessary for land reform, dangerous to the economy, and will be disastrous for the poor....

The worrying escalation of land expropriation without compensation

07 February 2020

Giving the executive, rather than the courts, the power to decide when seizing property without paying for it is fair does not serve the quest...

Bantustan Act threatens hard-won property rights for rural dwellers

17 January 2020

Once again, traditional leadership in South Africa is being tested as the proposed legislation seeks to perpetuate rural dwellers’ insecurity of land rights....

Rule of law / Law

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The lockdown is not prima facie lawful

21 May 2020

The lockdown is not prima facie lawful...

Covid-19: Let’s abandon the fake news paranoia

15 May 2020

Covid-19: Let’s abandon the fake news paranoia...

Government is flouting the Rule of Law!

10 May 2020

Government is flouting the Rule of Law!...

Lockdown, tyranny and the rule of law

08 May 2020

Lockdown, tyranny and the rule of law...

Civil liberties are being threatened accompanied by thunderous applause

29 April 2020

Civil liberties are being threatened accompanied by thunderous applause...

Die COVID-19-afsondering: juridies en prakties gedoem

14 April 2020

Die COVID-19-afsondering: juridies en prakties gedoem...

Media release: New report: Constitutional validity of coronavirus lockdown regulations is disputable

10 April 2020

New report: Constitutional validity of coronavirus lockdown regulations is disputable...

Comply with the lockdown, but don’t judge those who don’t

08 April 2020

Comply with the lockdown, but don’t judge those who don’t...

Media release: Beware benign interpretation of government power in times of crisis

07 April 2020

Media release: Beware benign interpretation of government power in times of crisis...

Is locked-down SA a frog in the warming Covid-19 pot?

06 April 2020

Is locked-down SA a frog in the warming Covid-19 pot?...

Transformation

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South Africa’s Coronavirus Repression Signals Worse To Come

08 May 2020

South Africa’s Coronavirus Repression Signals Worse To Come...

Pandemics are costly and destructive, no matter what we do

24 April 2020

Pandemics are costly and destructive, no matter what we do...

COVID-19: Consider the unintended consequences of the lockdown

01 April 2020

COVID-19: Consider the unintended consequences of the lockdown...

Media release: Government must not devastate the informal sector

30 March 2020

Government must not devastate the informal sector...

Government deserves a red card for tyrannical new Sport Bill

04 March 2020

Imagine for a moment the Rugby World Cup winning captain, Siya Kolisi, on a gymnastics mat, trying to perform handstands and backflips. ...

Prosperity and tolerance

11 September 2019

Of late I’ve seen more discussion on the idea that slavery made America prosperous....

Unions: Friend or foe of the poor?

31 July 2019

Labour unions are undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to any positive reform, not because this particular group of individuals is somehow more evil than the rest...

Population bugaboo

25 July 2019

The Population Media Center is pushing the overpopulation panic again—that’s so 1960s! They proclaim, “If somebody tries to tell you that population growth is ‘slowing...

SONA: Big (pipe)dreams, no detail

21 June 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 20 June....

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...

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