

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 (130)
Articles By This Author

‘It’s the law!’ – the motto of the 21st century’s useful idiot
- By Martin van Staden
- . Apr 18, 2024
Superficially, society seems to have taken the historical lesson offered by the Holocaust to heart: being ordered to engage in injustice – mass extermination, in

Now is the time for Home Rule in South Africa
- By Martin van Staden
- . Apr 11, 2024
Today marks the end of the Free Market Foundation (FMF)’s south coast roadshow, from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, and the launch of the FMF’s

Beware the sophistry of ‘legal vs illegal immigration’ discourse
- By Martin van Staden
- . Apr 4, 2024
The one subject in which I differ wildly from most of those who find value in my work is immigration. I favour a significantly less

Wrongly labelled ‘universal franchise’ is why we can’t have nice things
- By Martin van Staden
- . Mar 28, 2024
There is no such thing as ‘universal franchise’. It does not and has never existed. All franchise – everywhere and always – is qualified. The

How are liberals to respond to calls for Cape independence?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Mar 21, 2024
As with many things, Cape independence divides liberal opinion. As someone who is sympathetic to, but not yet a supporter of, the secession of the

The process is the punishment: A fatal flaw in South Africa’s criminal justice system
- By Martin van Staden
- . Mar 14, 2024
Recently, over lunch, a practising advocate revealed to me that there is a principle in our criminal law (and that of many other jurisdictions): there

When judges aren’t
- By Martin van Staden
- . Mar 7, 2024
The Western (including South African) judiciary is a peculiar thing. To defy a judge is to commit an offence to society so great that most

From pact to pillar: The Multi-Party Charter after the 2024 election
- By Martin van Staden
- . Feb 29, 2024
The Multi-Party Charter has the potential to become a new pillar in South African society – just what the country might need after the 2024

‘Rule of Law’: Vapid or still relevant?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Feb 22, 2024
The following is an edited address I delivered to the European Center for Austrian Economics Foundation at the Princely Wine Cellars in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, on

Can we address real crime in an overcriminalised society?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Feb 15, 2024
South Africa is a country so beleaguered by out-of-control violent crime that in some cases it even makes active warzones look peaceful by comparison. 2024