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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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Ban government from providing taxpayer-guaranteed debt assistance to SOEs

05 August 2020

Ban government from providing taxpayer-guaranteed debt assistance to SOEs ...

EWC is a zero-sum game that will lead to more poverty and misery

05 August 2020

EWC is a zero-sum game that will lead to more poverty and misery...

Media release: Government should not infringe on private property rights to advance 5G

05 August 2020

Media release: Government should not infringe on private property rights to advance 5G...

FMF NEWSLETTER 5 August 2020

05 August 2020

Weekly newsletter...

Proposed lockdown 'developmental mandate' for the Reserve Bank is unconstitutional

31 July 2020

Proposed lockdown 'developmental mandate' for the Reserve Bank is unconstitutional...

Submission on Economic Regulation of Transport Bill, 2020

31 July 2020

The FMF's submission on the 2020 version of the Economic Regulation of Transport Bill....

Prohibition has never and will never lead to smokers quitting

30 July 2020

Prohibition has never and will never lead to smokers quitting...

FMF NEWSLETTER 29 July 2020

30 July 2020

Weekly newsletter...

Which is better in a pandemic - privately funded or government funded healthcare?

30 July 2020

Which is better in a pandemic - privately funded or government funded healthcare?...

EWC not the answer for post-COVID-19 South Africa

29 July 2020

EWC not the answer for post-COVID-19 South Africa...

Consumer rights

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Prohibition has never and will never lead to smokers quitting

30 July 2020

Prohibition has never and will never lead to smokers quitting...

For each day of cigarette ban, South Africa loses 1.5 community clinics

10 July 2020

Appropriately, on the same day, Africa Check confirmed that the government is losing around R35 million per day in excise taxes for tobacco products. ...

FMF CEO STATEMENT: On the declaration of the illegality of lockdown regulations

03 June 2020

FMF CEO STATEMENT: On the declaration of the illegality of lockdown regulations...

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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Media release: Government should not infringe on private property rights to advance 5G

05 August 2020

Media release: Government should not infringe on private property rights to advance 5G...

The Competition Commission gets 'excessive pricing' totally wrong

28 July 2020

The Competition Commission gets 'excessive pricing' totally wrong...

Patrick Mahomes's $503 million contract offers a crucial lesson in value creation and economic freedom

28 July 2020

Patrick Mahomes's $503 million contract offers a crucial lesson in value creation and economic freedom...

Proposed amendment of PFMA deserves multi-partisan support

22 July 2020

Proposed amendment of PFMA deserves multi-partisan support...

Media release: So, Tito blinked and SAA will continue to fly the rich at the expense of the poor

17 July 2020

So, Tito blinked and SAA will continue to fly the rich at the expense of the poor...

Radical deregulation and liberalisation to lower data prices: Lock-down ICASA

17 July 2020

Radical deregulation and liberalisation to lower data prices: Lock-down ICASA ...

If SA’s serious about changing course it must adopt Sowell’s ideas of freedom

14 July 2020

On June 30, one of the greatest men in the history of classical liberalism celebrated his 90th birthday....

Mboweni’s national budget shows folly of a command economy

10 July 2020

This, to some extent, is unavoidable due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we need to be careful because we face very high economic risks. The...

How Africa can bounce back from Covid-19

06 July 2020

How Africa can bounce back from Covid-19...

Media release: Free Market Foundation concerned about deterioration of freedom in Hong Kong

03 July 2020

Media release: Free Market Foundation concerned about deterioration of freedom in Hong Kong...

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....

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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Which is better in a pandemic - privately funded or government funded healthcare?

30 July 2020

Which is better in a pandemic - privately funded or government funded healthcare?...

The COVID-19 response shows government can't handle NHI

15 July 2020

South Africa's government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown was supposedly instituted to buy the government time to manage the spread of the virus, and to allow the public...

Time in lockdown has been wasted

10 June 2020

Time in lockdown has been wasted...

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...

Labour

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Bulelani Qolani and the problem of urban land reform

21 July 2020

Bulelani Qolani and the problem of urban land reform...

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....

Land reform

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EWC is a zero-sum game that will lead to more poverty and misery

05 August 2020

EWC is a zero-sum game that will lead to more poverty and misery...

EWC not the answer for post-COVID-19 South Africa

29 July 2020

EWC not the answer for post-COVID-19 South Africa...

Land expropriation without compensation: Lessons from Venezuela paint dire future

10 July 2020

A few years ago, the US Central Intelligence Agency declassified a document from the 1980s that recorded some of the jokes the Soviet Union citizens...

Letter: David Rakgase’s farm victory good news

05 June 2020

Letter: David Rakgase’s farm victory good news...

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....

Rule of law / Law

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Ban government from providing taxpayer-guaranteed debt assistance to SOEs

05 August 2020

Ban government from providing taxpayer-guaranteed debt assistance to SOEs ...

Proposed lockdown 'developmental mandate' for the Reserve Bank is unconstitutional

31 July 2020

Proposed lockdown 'developmental mandate' for the Reserve Bank is unconstitutional...

We should talk about civil disobedience

30 June 2020

Why must we wait until a particular government is ousted before we verbalise our acceptance of civil disobedience in the face of unacceptable law?...

26 June 2020

The rule of law was undermined and the consequences are showing

05 June 2020

The rule of law was undermined and the consequences are showing...

Racialism in law is incompatible with the Rule of Law

03 June 2020

Racialism in law is incompatible with the Rule of Law...

Defending and advancing liberalism in South Africa after Covid-19

29 May 2020

Defending and advancing liberalism in South Africa after Covid-19...

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!...

Transformation

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WhatsApp stokvels: Liberalise informal banking sector to fuel growth

17 July 2020

WhatsApp stokvels: Liberalise informal banking sector to fuel growth...

Radical economic transformation to end poverty by being radically rational

08 July 2020

South Africans are entering a period of hardship like none we have seen before....

We need government, but we need civil society even more

03 July 2020

I was sitting at my desk when the whole world started shaking violently....

Draconian lockdown forces hard choices

01 July 2020

The negative effects of South Africa's hard lockdown continue to reverberate through the economy and broader society. ...

Beware the funding decisions of government, the youth will pay

23 June 2020

Beware the funding decisions of government, the youth will pay...

Government stimulus has not worked, let's try something else

19 June 2020

Government stimulus has not worked, let's try something else...

Veiled threats against free speech are an attack on democracy

12 June 2020

Veiled threats against free speech are an attack on democracy...

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...

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