Quarterly Review: January 2020 – March 2020

Quarterly Review
January 2020 – March 2020

FMF Projects
The FMF’s projects for 2020 include: COVID-19 lockdown, consumer rights, economic freedom / growth, energy, financial sector, healthcare, jobs creation / labour, land reform / property rights (with a particular focus on EWC – Expropriation Without Compensation), rule of law, transformation, as well as ad hoc issues as they arise.

Media
The FMF works hard to increase its media coverage and reach as wide an audience as possible with its message about the benefits of economic freedom, growth and the rule of law.

337 ARTICLES that quote or mention the FMF or originate from interviews or media releases or were written specifically for the media or the FMF’s website were published this quarter. See projects below for more information.

35 INTERVIEWS this quarter on radio and TV.

4 MEDIA RELEASES this quarter. See projects below for more information.

The FMF is conscious of the power of SOCIAL MEDIA and we are working hard to reach more people via our website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offerings.

Twitter: 5,341 followers
Facebook: 5,706 followers
YouTube: 473 videos; 3,466 subscribers; 383,409 views

Podcasts
FMF researchers Martin van Staden, Mpiyakhe Dhlamini, Jacques Jonker and Chris Hattingh continue to do weekly vlogs and podcasts on a wide range of topics. In addition to the weekly ‘Free Marketeers’ vlog which features three of them discussing topics together, they often also do weekly podcasts on topics of their own choosing. All podcasts can be found on the FMF’s YouTube channel.

A few of their podcasts:

• COVID-19 update and repo rate cut – 450 views
• EWC and new conscription powers for Sport Minister – 694 views
• Another no reform SONA amidst the crisis – 686 views
• SAA gets another R3.5 billion – 601 views
• Expropriation without compensation in 2020 – 718 views

Videos
Watch these two golden oldies recently digitised and uploaded to our YouTube channel:
South Africa: The solution
A constitution worth fighting for

FMF history series
We have begun the mammoth task of unearthing and presenting our 43-year history.
If you would like to know more, why not begin by dipping into our under-construction timeline.
We have digitised our photographs and added them to our website beginning with our 1977 (re)inauguration – see galleries.
We have digitised ancient, dusty VHS tapes and uploaded them to our YouTube channel here. A few noteworthy standouts include Leon Louw’s presentations, a prelude to the writing of South African: The Solution. There are 6 videos in this 1985 series beginning with HISTORY SERIES South Africa: The Solution 1 of 6. See also our 1986 privatisation conference: HISTORY SERIES Privatisation conference 1986 1 of 3 and our 1989 consumer conference: HISTORY SERIES Consumer power conference 1989 1 of 5.

If you have any photographs or tales from FMF’s past, we would welcome you sharing them with us.

Cartoons

Previous cartoons published by FMF can be viewed here.

Projects (note: all articles, media releases and submissions are available on the FMF website)

Consumer Rights
Far-reaching health controls with severe implications for consumers have been implemented or are under consideration. What is targeted? Products of greatest significance include tobacco, liquor, salt, sugar, traditional and faith healing, alternative medicines, baby food and junk food.

Articles

• Why is profit so maligned when it is the result of consumers’ choice? by Neil Emerick

Economic Freedom / Growth
The FMF is a co-publisher of the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index with Canadian based think tank Fraser Institute. The index, published annually, measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The foundations of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and security of privately owned property. The findings in the report unambiguously support the fact that economic freedom is strongly related to prosperity and growth; countries that are economically free tend to grow faster and be more prosperous.      

Articles

• Steps the government can take to help the economy survive Covid-19 by Jasson Urbach
• Accountability is more important than government’s desire for control by Jacques Jonker
• Why feminists should embrace economic freedom by Martin van Staden
• Tito Mboweni should cut expenditure and stimulate growth, not raise taxes by Jasson Urbach
• Produksie en spaargeld dryf ‘n ekonomie by Jacques Jonker
• We need less, not more, government intervention in the economy by Mpiyakhe Dhlamini
• The basic conditions which all markets need to succeed by James Peron
• The West’s role in Africa’s day of the locust by Richard Tren and Jasson Urbach
• We don’t want to die poor: that’s how creatives feel about pending copyright changes by Jasson Urbach and Mark Schultz
• Competition Commission retail inquiry does not stand up to scrutiny by Zakhele Mthembu
• The stubborn allure of socialism despite its abject failures by Temba A. Nolutshungu

Media releases

• COVID-19 highlights the critical need for more spectrum to lower cost of data

Evening event
On 05 February, the FMF presented Liberalism in South Africa: Its history and prospects for 2020 and beyond. The South African commentariat was abuzz throughout 2019 on the topic of liberalism, the role it played in South African history, and its relevance for our current context and future. Some say liberalism was complicit in the marginalisation and exclusion of millions of South Africans from the economy, and others regard it as a cold and uncaring ideology that is not fit for a country with South Africa’s socio-economic circumstances. Yet, others defend liberals as having been the only consistent opponents to Apartheid oppression, who charted a viable future for all South Africans, characterised by individual liberty, economic freedom, and governance under a supreme constitution and the Rule of Law. John Kane-Berman, Gwen Ngwenya, and Martin van Staden unpack the topic of liberalism in South Africa.

You can watch the discussion here.

Evening event
On 26 February, Dawie Roodt presented A horrible budget in horrible times. Make no mistake, this is SA’s last chance not to fall into a spiral of fiscal debt which is already out of hand. Crippling state debt due to SOE bailouts and bloated wages has drained the coffers. The last pot of gold is the savers of SA. And this includes pensions. Prescribed assets for pensions may be next, including government employee pensions. Savers beware, the politicians are coming for your money.

You can watch Dawie Roodt’s analysis of the 2020 Budget here.

Submissions
- Submission on Tourism Amendment Bill.

Energy
The FMF is concerned about the energy crisis in South Africa, which continues to impact negatively on ordinary South Africans and has deleterious consequences for economic growth in the economy. Eskom, effectively, has a vertical monopoly on the entire system from generation to transmission and a large part of the distribution of electricity. This old, outdated model is slow to respond to changing circumstances. As a result, consumers are left in the dark and asked to consume less electricity during peak-demand periods. The solution: separate the generation from the transmission and distribution of electricity to make trading possible, including the sale of electricity across the grid from generators to large consumers (wheeling); establish competitive wholesale and retail markets. The unbundling of Eskom is the only feasible option to attract independent power producers (IPPs) and to secure our electricity needs moving into the future.
The FMF proposes a simple, one-word solution to alleviate this dire situation: Changing one word in the 2006 Electricity Regulation Act. To learn more about the proposal, click here.

Articles

• Necsa ruling highlights ministerial overreach by Ivo Vegter
• Eskom’s troubles laid bare by Jacques Jonker

Submissions

• Comment on Eskom's Clearing Account Application

FMF Event
On 29 January, Dave Nicholls presented Load-shedding: what caused it and why the lack of a permanent solution? The truth from an Eskom insider and leading energy expert. The load shedding chaos, disruption and damage to the economy is again part of the daily South African experience and has been intermittently since 2007. David Nicholls, a senior manager with Eskom for over 30 years, presented the technical, financial and political factors that underpinned decisions made in the 1990s, which led to the power crisis in SA since 2007. He also addressed the claim that the electricity crisis has caused the national GDP to be 25% less than it could have been if different approaches had been taken. 

You can view David’s presentation here.

Financial Sector
The purpose of the FMF’s financial policy is to promote the application of free market principles to financial markets. Current actions continue to focus on the “twin peaks” regulation of which the Financial Sector Regulation (FSR) Act is the architecture, and the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act.

Articles

• Our country can no longer afford foreign exchange controls by Temba A Nolutshungu

Video on Twin Peaks

Some years ago, the Financial Services Board (FSB) announced that it had “deregistered” over 15,900 financial service providers. The FSB did not specify race, but how much are you willing to bet that many of those deregistered were emerging black brokers and advisors? Now “Twin Peaks” (or Financial Sector Regulation Act) will further undermine transformation in South Africa. In addition, it will create an enormous bureaucracy with reams of red tape. It will cost an estimated R4,8 BILLION per year, every year, which is equivalent to 500,000 RDP houses or 5,000 new clinics per year, every year. Understanding the law and that it has zero measurable benefits is crucial.

The FMF’s Twin Peaks video can be viewed here.

Healthcare
The FMF’s Health Policy Unit (HPU) contends and persistently provides evidence that in all sectors of the economy, free, open markets with competitive private enterprises serve consumer needs best. For the indigent, it would be better for government to purchase higher quality healthcare at a lower cost from the private sector than to provide the service itself. The HPU argues that patients are harmed when government dictates to healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and other firms in the healthcare industry how to manage their affairs, or at what prices they should sell their products and services. The HPU’s mission is to increase access to high quality healthcare for all South Africans.

FMF solutions to healthcare for the indigent

The FMF’s alternative solutions to improved health care for all include:

• Privatising the provision of health care – via giveaways of public hospitals to those who work in them or sales to those who wish to buy them
• Financing health care for the poor – preferably via state-sponsored vouchers, which the indigent can spend where they choose
• Encouraging more private hospitals by deregulating the industry and eliminating Certificates of Need
• Reducing prices and increasing health care quality through increased competition
• Training more doctors and nurses (the number of doctors is limited to 1,300 a year; this number has remained the same since the 1970s despite increases in the population and the disease burden)
• Allowing the private sector to train doctors and nurses
• Encouraging income-producing medical tourism
• Retaining skilled South Africans and attracting others by removing the limit on skilled foreign doctors
• Deregulating medical schemes so they can offer their clients exactly what they want
• Deregulating pharmacies
• Removing price controls, which send mixed messages to the industry
• Speeding up registration of clinical trials
• Giving those who pay for their own health care a tax deduction
• Allowing low cost insurance options

Articles

• The Medical Aid Conundrum by Jasson Urbach
• Fake drugs negatively impact growing AMR trend by Jasson Urbach
• The unknowns of National Health Insurance are exactly what we should be afraid of by Michael Settas
• Medical training programmes need overhaul to address doctor shortage by Jasson Urbach
• Why the NHI is bad medicine for South Africa by Michael Settas
• 2020 – A healthcare upturn unlikely by Dr Johann Serfontein
• NHI will add to SA’s fiscal and healthcare woes by Chris Hattingh
• The NHI: Government intent on destroying private health insurance to pave way the way for NHI

Media releases

• Banning private health insurance denies citizens access to quality healthcare

FMF Event
On 22 January, Michael Settas and Adrian Parsons presented Increasing access to quality healthcare in South Africa. In December, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) announced that no Low-Cost Benefit Options (LCBOs) will be allowed for low-income consumers and no health insurance products will be allowed beyond March 2021. The pronouncements do not reflect a well-considered, balanced view on how to increase access to quality healthcare for low income consumers. They also demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of how private health insurance products have the potential to reach many lower income individuals, in the process, providing increased access to quality healthcare for all South Africans.

You can view the presentations here.

Jobs Creation / Labour
South Africa has an unacceptably high and rising level of unemployment. For government to achieve its stated objective of reducing unemployment and stimulating growth, it must urgently address labour market policies and laws that exacerbate unemployment. A significant part of our current work involves educating the public about the consequences of adopting a National Minimum Wage (NMW). There are currently an estimated more than 10 million unemployed – a NMW just makes it that much harder for these individuals to climb onto the first rung of the economic ladder.

Articles

• Minimum wages incentivise job cuts – let’s try something else by Sindile Vabaza

Land Reform
FMF believes that secure property rights represent one of the most important requirements for the protection of both economic freedom and civil liberties. FMF is very concerned about recent proposals to amend the property rights clause in the Constitution. FMF proposes that:

1. All black occupied council-owned urban plots be converted to full ownership (“freehold”) – FMF is working with Ngwathe municipality (Parys, Free State) to convert 20,000 plots to full freehold.
2. Superfluous government land be redistributed to the victims of apartheid as a substantial once-off compensation.
3. Pre-emptive clauses be removed from existing and future RDP titles.
4. In tribal areas, communities be allowed to grant private title over homesteads while maintaining communal rights over arable land.
5. The Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act, 1970 be repealed to make it easier for poor individuals to finance smaller, more affordable plots of land.

Khaya Lam (My Home) Land Reform Project

Khaya Lam is an FMF initiative that seeks to reverse the evils of apartheid. FMF Executive Director, Leon Louw, notes: “Black land deprivation was probably the single worst element of apartheid. Since apartheid ended, little has changed. In South Africa today there are still around 5 million black families living as tenants or without ownership rights in houses they have lived in for generations. There has been no systematic conversion of these “council owned” and “traditional community” properties to full unrestricted ownership. The prospects for economic upliftment throughout South Africa through the Khaya Lam national property titling project are exciting and immense”.

Under the project management of Perry Feldman, the FMF’s Khaya Lam project is gaining momentum. In addition to Ngwathe (FMF’s pilot project), FMF is now working in Grabouw, Stellenbosch, Graaff-Reinet, Barkly West, Viljoenskroon, Alexandra, Thanda and Cape Town (Hout Bay, Vukuzenzele, Hillview).

Khaya Lam: Brief progress report

On 26 February, 250 title deeds were presented in Phiritona, Heilbron.

This presentation was the final result of years of setbacks, but Perry and Veronica persevered, nonetheless. In October of 2018 the offices were burnt down, and all the municipal records were destroyed as well as a Checkers U Save. The U Save has since not been rebuilt. Without a record of who lives on which stand it is impossible for the municipality to issue a “permission to occupy” – this was essential for them to begin the transfer process.

In January of 2019, Perry met with the Director of Community Development and asked whether there was a plan to rebuild the records, so that Khaya Lam could carry out its mandate to start with the first 250 transfers. There was none.

With the Director’s blessing they facilitated a process whereby EPWP workers were used under supervision to interview home-owners to verify their status.

This whole process culminated in the ceremony on 26 February.

Change a family’s life for the better today

If you would like to sponsor a title deed at just R2,500 (or a part title deed), please email chrishattingh@fmfsa.org or do so directly through our website here.

PLEASE NOTE: We have a sponsor who donates just R200 per month toward Khaya Lam. His monthly contribution has so far sponsored 6 title deeds, contributing a whopping R600,000 into the economy. And another who sponsors one title deed per month. Why not join them?

Articles

• South Africa considers legislation that would allow the state to seize any citizen’s property by Chris Hattingh
• EWC: A warning ignored, a society crumbling by Martin van Staden
• Bantustan Act threatens hard-won property rights for rural dwellers by Zakhele Mthembu

Media releases

• 250 families in Phiritona, Free State, receive title deeds

Transformation
Some argue that freedom from apartheid has not made a substantial impact on black advancement. Others argue that for blacks to succeed they need government assistance through Reconstruction and Development Policies and Black Economic Empowerment legislation. Still others are of the view that economic freedom and growth, the development of a strong legal framework, and good infrastructure and security, are all that is required for the realisation of human potential.

Articles

• Government deserves a red card for tyrannical new Sport Bill by Chris Hattingh

Media releases

• Government must not devastate the informal sector

Event

On 6 February, Temba A. Nolutshungu participated in Analysing the Real State of the Nation. The event, organised by Progress SA, saw Temba and John Steenhuisen discuss how they see current political, economic, and social matters in South Africa.

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