There has ‘arguably not been a better time’ in democratic South Africa to ‘popularise the right ideas’ and advance ‘individual freedom, civil liberties, the rule of law, free markets, freedom of the press, and non-racialism’.
So said Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) head of policy analysis Chris Hattingh at the opening of the Africa Liberty Forum in Cape Town yesterday. The two-day event, held under the auspices of the Atlas Network, is co-hosted by the South Africa Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and the Free Market Foundation (FMF). The CRA is the research unit of the IRR.
Hattingh, speaking on behalf of the IRR, said: ‘There has been no better time to stand for individual freedom, civil liberties, the rule of law, free markets, freedom of the press, and non-racialism.’
To this end, the IRR would continue to ‘build on its storied history of data-driven policy advocacy’.
‘There has arguably not been a better time in democratic South Africa’s story than now to popularise the right ideas. So too for sub-saharan Africa, and Africa more widely. While some countries are turning toward isolationist and protectionist policies, all of which will inhibit economic growth and progress, African countries can lead the way on a freer future.’
Hattingh said that ‘(policies) that advance individual liberty, the rule of law, nonracialism, and wealth creation require a respect, a reverence, for the dignity and agency of the individual’.
‘Prosperity and the achievement of human values are never a given,’ he added. ‘For such phenomena to occur the right ideas and policies need to be understood, implemented, and lived.’
Advancing liberal ideas: Taking part in a panel discussion at the Africa Liberty Forum are, from left, Free Market Foundation CEO David Ansara (holding a copy of IRR head of policy research Dr Anthea Jeffery’s just-published COUNTDOWN TO SOCIALISM – The National Democratic Revolution in South Africa since 1994), DA leader John Steenhuisen, CRA analyst Makone Maja, Build One South Africa co-founder and deputy leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, and Anthea Jeffery
Hattingh noted that South Africa made much progress after 1994. The ‘jettisoning of socialist Apartheid thinking and government actions saw a general increase in the standard of living, opportunities for wealth creation, and a respect for human rights’.
Since 2008, however, ‘too much progress has either been stalled or indeed actively reversed’.
‘Over the past ten years, the ranks of the unemployed have swelled by over 60%, from 4.9 million in Q1 2013 to 7.9 million in Q1 2023. The unemployment rate rose from an already high 25% to 32.9% over the same period. When broken down by duration of unemployment, the proportion of those in long-term unemployment (1 year or longer) increased from 65.5% to 77.2% over the past decade. This highlights that South Africa’s unemployment is neither seasonal nor cyclical, but structural.’
This incorporated the ANC government’s doubling down on destructive policy, such as the National Health Insurance scheme, and the drive to enable expropriation of property without compensation.
‘South Africa will enjoy the opportunity of another election in 2024. The ANC’s organisational decline – and its performance at the voting booth – will in all likelihood continue, with a below-50% performance as a consequence. Enter coalition government.’
This meant that there had never been a better time ‘than now’ to ‘popularise the right ideas’.
In a tribute to the late John Kane-Berman, long-time former CEO of the IRR and a leading voice of South African liberalism, Hattingh recalled that in his own tribute to Kane-Berman, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi invoked Alan Paton’s definition of liberalism as a generosity of spirit, a tolerance of others, an attempt to comprehend otherness, a commitment to the rule of law, a high ideal of the worth and dignity of man, a repugnance for authoritarianism, and a love of freedom.
‘That will forever be the portrait of John Kane-Berman,’ Hattingh said, adding: ‘It falls now to us to carry the right ideas and policies out into the world.’
[Image: Chris Hattingh, head of policy analysis at the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA), addressing the Africa Liberty Forum in Cape Town]