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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Free SA Calls for transparent and inclusive engagement on Firearms Amendment Bill
Civil society organisation Free SA has submitted formal comments to the Ministry of Police, urging government to ensure that any amendments to the Firearms Control Act are preceded by transparent and inclusive consultation with all affected stakeholders. The submission follows growing concerns over the lack of formal engagement with groups such as lawful firearm owners, […]
Free SA rejects Polling Ombud proposal: A dangerous assault on transparency and democracy
Free SA is sounding the alarm on a deeply troubling development buried within the Draft Electoral Laws Amendment Bill: the proposed establishment of a Polling Ombud with sweeping powers to censor political information in the run-up to elections. This proposal represents a direct assault on South Africa’s democratic values of transparency, public participation, and freedom […]
Free SA Calls for Sunset Clause on BEE: “Empowerment Must Be Effective, Not Eternal”
Civil rights organisation Free SA is calling for a legislative sunset clause on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), arguing that South Africa’s current empowerment framework is outdated, constitutionally tenuous, and economically harmful. Free SA has launched a national campaign urging Parliament to review and time-limit all BEE-related legislation, ensuring any affirmative action measures are evidence-based, […]
Free SA calls on citizens to speak out in landmark inquiry into police corruption and political interference
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality (Free SA) urges all South Africans to seize the rare and critical opportunity to participate in Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee inquiry into the damning allegations made by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Lt Gen Mkhwanazi’s testimony on 6 July 2025 laid bare a deeply troubling picture of political […]
Gun Control: ‘Exclude us at your peril’ says Free SA as is it demands full stakeholder engagement in firearms legislation
The Foundation for Rights of Expression and Equality (Free SA) today denounced the South African government’s exclusion of firearms stakeholders from ongoing legislative discussions surrounding the Draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill. In a country already burdened by rampant crime, policy-making behind closed doors will only deepen mistrust and further alienate the very communities whose safety […]