
Martin van Staden
http://www.martinvanstaden.com
Martin van Staden is the Head of Policy at the Free Market Foundation and former Deputy Head of Policy Research at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). Martin also serves as the Editor of the IRR’s History Project and its Race Law Project, and is an advisor to the Free Speech Union SA. He is pursuing a doctorate in law at the University of Pretoria. For more information visit www.martinvanstaden.com.
- Total Post (151)
Articles By This Author

We can only have one: EWC or constitutionalism
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jul 10, 2025
The following is an edited address I delivered at the Residential Investment & Development (Reside) Summit on 9 July. Early in May, Dean Macpherson, the

Reject the “we only had two weeks to negotiate a GNU” meme
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jul 3, 2025
It is still early days in South Africa’s era of coalition politics, with the risk, and the scale, of (unintentional) misinformation and (deliberate) disinformation about

When the Constitution and democracy fail
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jun 26, 2025
Constitutions are not sacred texts: they are tools to recognise and entrench liberty, limit state power, and ensure basic justice. But a constitution can fail

“But what’s the alternative to BEE?”
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jun 19, 2025
The Free Market Foundation and Solidarity Research Institute last week launched perhaps the first quantification of the cost of so-called broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE)

The totality of race law in South Africa’s economy
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jun 12, 2025
The following are edited remarks I delivered at the launch of the joint Free Market Foundation-Solidarity Research Institute report on the cost of so-called “broad-based

For those at the back: “Just and equitable” compensation is (above) market value
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jun 5, 2025
“Market value is not the constitutional standard” is a common argument in the discourse around compensation for expropriated property. And it is correct. But most

The Constitution is a race law and the ConCourt makes race laws
- By Martin van Staden
- . May 29, 2025
One of the common criticisms “of” (a strawman of) the Index of Race Law is that most if not all of the post-1994 race laws

DA faces greater moral crisis today than during Maimane years
- By Martin van Staden
- . May 22, 2025
Yesterday, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen formed part of a delegation that visited Donald Trump to plead South Africa’s case. Precisely what Steenhuisen’s contributions

Of course Afrikaners and other minorities face persecution
- By Martin van Staden
- . May 15, 2025
We talk a lot about the fast media cycle in the age of information, but more concerning is the fast “knowledge” cycle: things people knew

If you aren’t against “transformation”, you should be
- By Martin van Staden
- . May 8, 2025
You’re against the Patriot Act? What, you aren’t a patriot? You’re against Bantu education? What, don’t you believe members of Bantu ethnicities are entitled to