Free SA Slams Draft Hate Speech Regulations as Threat to Privacy and Freedom of Expression
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality (Free SA) has launched a national campaign calling on South Africans to speak out against the draft regulations under the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act, 2023. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is currently accepting public comment on the proposed regulations, […]
Stop Overreach: Fix the Flawed Hate Crimes & Hate Speech Regulations
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is calling for public input on the draft regulations for the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act, 2023. While South Africans overwhelmingly support action against real hate crimes, these draft regulations raise serious concerns about privacy, government overreach, and enforcement that could undermine free […]
Government’s Minimum Wage Policy Blocks Job Creation and Entrenches Poverty, Warns Free SA
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality, Free SA, has issued a strong caution against the National Minimum Wage Commission’s proposed wage hike for 2026, calling it a “policy of exclusion” that risks deepening South Africa’s already catastrophic unemployment crisis. In its submission, authored by Free SA Director Paul Maritz, it argues that in […]
B-BBEE Review is Too Little, Too Late – Free SA Calls for Full Repeal of Race-Based Empowerment Laws
Free SA has launched a national campaign calling for the full repeal of South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and related legislation, following government’s announcement that it will merely “review” the existing system. The campaign follows recent comments by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, signalling a review of race-based empowerment […]
Have Your Say About our Economy: Should we focus on Green, should we focus on growth, or can we focus on both?
South Africa is moving forward with plans to develop a carbon credit market, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet our international climate commitments. This includes market-based mechanisms like carbon taxes and carbon offsets that penalise emissions and reward greener operations. However, this approach brings trade-offs. Certification costs, complex processes, and a lack […]
Free SA to Submit Strong Objection to Business Licensing Bill: Calls for Withdrawal of Anti-Entrepreneurship Legislation
Civil rights organisation Free SA will tomorrow formally submit its opposition to the proposed Business Licensing Bill, 2025, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the legislation in its current form. In its upcoming submission, which has to date been signed by more than 280 members of the public, to the Department of Small Business Development, […]
Should South Africa Still Host the G20 at a Cost of Over R690 Million?
South Africa is set to host the G20 summit at the end of November 2025 — a high-profile international gathering meant to strengthen global cooperation. But with costs expected to exceed R690 million, and four major economies withdrawing from the event thus far, many South Africans are asking: Is this still a sensible use of […]
Free SA Rejects Government’s Business Licensing Bill as a Threat to Economic Freedom, Local Autonomy and Job Creation
Free SA has launched a national campaign opposing the proposed Business Licensing Bill of 2025, which seeks to centralise and control who can do business in South Africa, how they may operate, and where they are allowed to trade. The civil rights organisation has called the Bill a dangerous move toward economic authoritarianism, warning that […]
Stop the Business Licensing Bill — Government wants to control the what, where and when of opening a business
South Africa’s entrepreneurs, small business owners, and informal traders already face mountains of red tape, rising costs, and collapsing local economies. Now, the proposed Business Licensing Bill, 2025 threatens to make things worse by tightening state control over who can do business, where they can trade, and how they must operate. At Free SA, we […]
QLFS: “Recovery” for Whom? Deepening Crisis in Eastern Cape and Labour Market Masked by Misleading National Averages
Free SA warns that the recent decline in South Africa’s official unemployment rate to 31.9% in Q3 2025 masks a dangerously unequal and unsustainable economic reality. Behind the headline figures, provinces like the Eastern Cape remain trapped in deepening joblessness, while nearly half of South Africa’s working-age population is underutilised, a hidden crisis that government […]
