

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 (141)
Articles By This Author

GNU “reform”: Centralising spaza regulations and excluding foreigners?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 21, 2024
The first notable initiative in government by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – South Africa’s second oldest existing federalist institution – has been to centralise

Is the DA abandoning its values in the GNU?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 14, 2024
Almost three decades ago, the erstwhile Democratic Party (DP) campaigned on a motto of “Freedom, Free Enterprise, Federalism.” Today – when those three things are

Regulations serve only to “protect” us from prospering
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 7, 2024
The institution of “regulation” is so ingrained that many accept its existence uncritically, premised on the notion that it “protects” society from the excesses of

Mini-budget: Does the GNU have the will to rein in extravagant state spending?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Oct 31, 2024
The following is an edited press statement I delivered on 29 October at the launch of the Free Market Foundation’s “Liberty First: Size of Government”

Free trade is low-hanging fruit for the GNU to spur growth
- By Martin van Staden
- . Oct 24, 2024
The first 100 days of the Government of National Unity (GNU) have been good for sentiment, but on the whole fruitless for fundamental policy reform.

Reject “Godwin’s law” and learn the lessons of Nazi Germany
- By Martin van Staden
- . Oct 17, 2024
Mike Godwin might not have intended it, but his internet adage is being used to nullify warnings that Nazi Germany should teach us to be

These “normal” but out-of-touch rules keep South Africans unsafe
- By Martin van Staden
- . Oct 10, 2024
For many decades, South Africa has enjoyed taking rules from relatively safe countries and applying them uncritically to one of the most homicidal and criminal

“Classical” liberalism is, and must be, muscular
- By Martin van Staden
- . Oct 3, 2024
In South Africa’s small “classical” liberal community, there are many differences in temperament. Some get very uncomfortable when it is time to go beyond clinical

Private property is inseparable from other “basic” freedoms
- By Martin van Staden
- . Sep 26, 2024
Centre-left social democrats walk an unsound, uneasy path of pretending to favour “liberty” while also favouring redistributionary and intensely regulatory initiatives on behalf of the

The DA and BELA: Whose mandate is it anyway?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Sep 19, 2024
If Democratic Alliance (DA) ministers begin implementing and enforcing the very policies they campaigned against, it would not be an indication of a healthy coalition