FMF Policy Memorandum
Summary
The Free Market Foundation’s Don Caldwell Memorandum on Socialism and Racial Engineering in “Post-Apartheid” South Africa sets out the FMF’s assessment of South Africa’s political and economic direction, and its implications for relations with the United States.
Authored by FMF Head of Policy Dr Martin van Staden with CEO David Ansara, the memorandum argues that South Africa remains strategically important to the United States because of its commercial ties, mineral resources, position on major shipping routes, and regional influence.
The paper focuses on the continued use of race in economic regulation, concerns over property rights under the Expropriation Act and related measures, the application of constitutional protections, and Pretoria’s foreign policy relationships.
It argues that American policy should distinguish between the South African government and ordinary South Africans, businesses and industries. Rather than imposing broad measures that could damage the wider economy, the FMF recommends that pressure be directed at specific racial and confiscatory laws and the officials responsible for administering them.
The memorandum ultimately calls for South Africa to return to the constitutional principles of individual liberty, private property, free enterprise, non-racialism and limited government, arguing that these principles would serve both South African prosperity and a stronger relationship with the United States.
Contributors
