23 April 2026
Blaai af vir Afrikaanse weergawe.
The Free Market Foundation (FMF) welcomes the call by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Parliament to scrap professional registration fees for unemployed graduates and early career professionals.
EFF member of Parliament Sihle Lonzi has requested the convening of various organs of state to consider the abolition of annual fees required by South African professional regulatory bodies, particularly as they relate to registered members who are not gainfully employed. Failure to pay often results in deregistration, which further complicates their ability to generate income.
“Professional registration fees and other manifestations of occupational licencing and economic gatekeeping are of dubious justification by themselves,” says FMF Head of Policy, Martin van Staden. “But they are morally intolerable when applied to professionals who are not generating an income but must retain registration for future work.”
“Ideally, state funding must derive from voluntary contributions or strictly circumscribed general taxation, not targeted extraction,” adds Van Staden.
South Africa’s official unemployment rate stood at 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. This remains one of the highest formal unemployment rates in the world, with youth unemployment still hovering around 57%.
More than 7.8 million South Africans are unemployed, and the broader picture – including discouraged job-seekers – paints an even starker crisis of joblessness and underemployment. Imposing further regulatory burdens on those seeking to work only deepens this crisis.
Job Seekers Exemption Certificates
The principle the EFF has latched onto is sound as a general matter of public policy.
According to the FMF, the unemployed must, as far as possible, be exempted from all political and regulatory barriers standing in the way of their gainful employment. This includes not only professional registration fees but the full suite of labour market rigidities that price many South Africans out of work.
To this end, the FMF has long proposed the Job Seekers Exemption Certificate (JSEC), most recently as part of its Liberty First policy agenda.
The JSEC would be a voluntary, free, and instantly revocable certificate that empowers individuals unemployed for six months or longer to temporarily exempt themselves from the inaptly so-called “protections” of South African labour law.
Holders can negotiate mutually beneficial employment terms directly with employers, free from third-party interference such as minimum wage laws, bargaining council extensions, complex dismissal procedures, and other regulatory burdens. This restores dignity and choice, allowing the long-term unemployed to access opportunities that rigid rules currently deny them.
The JSEC proposal aims to provide an immediate, practical tool to combat structural unemployment without waiting for broader legislative overhauls.
“Scrapping fees for the unemployed is a positive step, but true progress requires removing the deeper regulatory obstacles that keep millions from working,” concludes Van Staden. “The FMF urges policymakers to embrace exemptions that prioritise employment and self-reliance over bureaucratic gatekeeping.”
The FMF calls on all parties in Parliament and organs of state to support the abolition of these fees and to give serious consideration to broader exemption mechanisms, such as the JSEC, that place the right to work at the centre of South Africa’s economic policy.
Ends.
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Vryemarkstigting steun die skrapping van registrasiefooie vir werklose professionele persone
23 April 2026
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Die Vryemarkstigting (FMF) verwelkom die Ekonomiese Vryheidsvegters (EFF) in die Parlement se eis om professionele registrasiefooie vir werkloos gegradueerdes en vroeë-loopbaan professionele persone te skrap.
EFF-parlementslid Sihle Lonzi versoek dat verskeie staatsorgane byeengeroep word om die afskaffing van jaarlikse fooie te oorweeg wat deur Suid-Afrikaanse professionele-reguleringsliggame vereis word, veral soos dit betrekking het op geregistreerde lede wat nie winsgewend indiensgeneem is nie. Versuim om te betaal lei dikwels tot deregistrasie, wat hul vermoë om inkomste te genereer verder bemoeilik.
“Professionele registrasiefooie en ander manifesterings van beroepslisensiëring en ekonomiese hekwagtery is op sigself van twyfelagtige regverdiging,” sê FMF Beleidshoof, Martin van Staden. “Maar dit is moreel onaanvaarbaar wanneer dit toegepas word op professionele persone wat nie inkomste genereer nie, maar registrasie moet behou vir toekomstige werk.”
“Ideaal gesproke moet staatsbefondsing uit vrywillige bydraes of streng omskrewe algemene belasting spruit, nie geteikende ekstraksie nie,” voeg Van Staden by.
Suid-Afrika se amptelike werkloosheidsyfer het in die vierde kwartaal van 2025 op 31,4% gestaan. Dit bly een van die hoogste formele werkloosheidsyfers ter wêreld, met jeugwerkloosheid wat steeds rondom 57% huiwer.
Meer as 7,8 miljoen Suid-Afrikaners is werkloos, en die breër prentjie – insluitend ontmoedigde werksoekers – skilder ’n selfs skerper krisis van werkloosheid en onderindiensneming. Die oplegging van verdere regulatoriese laste op dié wat werk soek, verdiep slegs hierdie krisis.
Werksoekersvrystellingsertifikate
Die beginsel waaraan die EFF raak is verstandig as ‘n algemene saak van openbare beleid.
Volgens die FMF moet werkloses, so ver as moontlik, vrygestel word van alle politieke en regulatoriese hindernisse wat in die weg staan van hul winsgewende indiensneming. Dit sluit nie net professionele registrasiefooie in nie, maar die volle reeks arbeidsmarkrigiditeite wat baie Suid-Afrikaners uit werk prys.
Met hierdie doel het die FMF lank reeds die Werksoekersvrystellingsertifikaat (JSEC) voorgestel, mees onlangs as deel van sy Liberty First-beleidsagenda.
Die JSEC sal ‘n vrywillige, gratis, en onmiddellik-herroepbare sertifikaat wees wat individue wat ses maande of langer werkloos is, bemagtig om hulself tydelik vry te stel van die onvanpas-sogenaamde “beskermings” van die Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsreg.
Sertifikaathouers kan wedersyds voordelige diensvoorwaardes direk met werkgewers onderhandel, vry van derdeparty-inmenging soos minimumloonwette, uitbreidings van bedingingsrade, ingewikkelde ontslagprosedures, en ander regulatoriese laste. Dit herstel waardigheid en keuse, en stel die langtermyn-werkloses in staat om geleenthede te bekom wat streng reëls hulle tans verhoed.
Die JSEC-voorstel beoog om ‘n onmiddellike, praktiese instrument te bied om strukturele werkloosheid te bestry sonder om te wag vir breër wetgewende hervormings.
“Die skrapping van fooie vir die werkloses is ‘n positiewe stap, maar ware vooruitgang vereis die verwydering van die dieper regulatoriese hindernisse wat miljoene uit werk hou,” sluit Van Staden af. “Die FMF doen ‘n beroep op beleidsmakers om vrystellings te ondersteun wat werkskepping en selfstandigheid bo burokratiese hekwagtery prioritiseer.”
Die FMF eis dat alle partye in die Parlement en staatsorgane die afskaffing van hierdie fooie steun en ernstige oorweging skenk aan breër vrystellingsmeganismes, soos die JSEC, wat die reg op werk in die middelpunt van Suid-Afrika se ekonomiese beleid plaas.
Einde.
