Tag: Free Market Foundation

South Africa’s long march away from economic freedom continues in 2023, Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index reveals. The 2023 Economic Freedom of the World annual report reveals that South Africa has dropped to 94th, down one place from its ranking of 93rd last year, out of the 165 countries analysed.

As more people choose vaping as an alternative to smoking, discussions surrounding its regulation and taxation have become hot-button issues worldwide, and South Africa is no exception. One prevalent topic is the idea of raising taxes on vaping products.

Written constitutions are meant to limit government scope and power. Bills of rights are meant to safeguard individual freedom from government overreach. This is as true in South Africa as it is anywhere else. Does the South African Constitution have a provision that allows government to ‘weasel’ its way out of strictly recognising and protecting our rights, or have we misconstrued section 36 entirely?

Election season is coming up soon in South Africa, and those with governmental power have started promising jobs to the millions who are unemployed. Yet anyone who has an inkling of economic knowledge would know that the politicians are writing cheques with their mouths, and that they will be unable to cash their actions.

As African liberal minds assemble in the ‘Mother City’ to trade ideas on a variety of strategies for effective liberal governance on our continent, the old English adage says, when big minds assemble in one room, it is unlikely they will agree on anything, is appropriate.

Considerable negative public comment notwithstanding, the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have pressed ahead with the establishment of a new statutory body, this time a state insurer of bank-deposits.

Bank deposit insurance exacerbates the very crises it is assumed to alleviate. It inevitably promotes its own expansion and perforce brings calls for yet heavier regulation.

The Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA) is not just a perverse, incompetent, and tyrannical piece of legislation, but yet another milestone on this government’s journey to embracing its own form of Apartheid.

As with the bosomy among the fairer sex, big government inevitably stimulates public interest and invites frenetic courtship and unrelenting pursuit. The pursuers are usually rent-seekers, lobbyists and representatives of all sorts of sectional interests.

The fact that a South African individual is unemployed, is not well-educated, and has had difficulty in finding employment, does not mean that government officials are entitled to treat them with disrespect. All citizens who obey the laws, and treat their fellow citizens with respect, are not only entitled to be treated with equal respect but also to have their rights, as described in the South African Constitution, fully respected.