Spaza crackdown will undermine respect for law and property, says FMF

FMF Press Release (Economy Growth Business 2)

19 November 2024

Blaai af vir Afrikaanse weergawe.

In a press briefing on Tuesday morning, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) warned that the new spaza shop crackdown bylaw will in practice have negligible effect other than to further weaken respect for the law in South Africa.

The briefing comes on the occasion of the FMF publishing “Liberty First: Legal System and Property Rights,” the latest in a series of policy reform proposals for the Government of National Unity (GNU) to bring about economic growth and prosperity. Martin van Staden, FMF Head of Policy, explained that the integrity of the legal system and respect for property rights are foundational to achieving economic freedom.

On 8 November, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs gazetted its standard draft township economies bylaw.

“Virtually everything in the bylaw is already law in some form or another. These informal, often unregistered shops do not even begin to have the resources necessary to hire compliance officers or lawyers,” says Van Staden. “They are already not complying with the diktat of regulators, so why do we think just making another law will change that?”

“The answer is to deregulate and to liberalise. By reducing the compliance burden, we incentivise businesses to operate within the bounds of law,” Van Staden continued. “But if operating within the bounds of law is so burdensome that these entrepreneurs simply cannot do it, then we are being mischievous with our legislative and regulatory pens.”

The FMF policy reform paper delves into detail about how South Africa can improve its legal system, including on the questions of political decentralisation, regulatory certainty, and building capacity to fight violent crime. Crucially, it also explores how private property rights for all South Africans can be strengthened.

On the question of regulatory certainty, the paper recommends to government that it should be compulsory for any new legislation, regulations, or policies to be subjected to neutral and high-quality impact assessments. This was evidently not done in the case of the proposed bylaw.

“If there was a real, not box-checking, impact assessment on this bylaw, it would have been discovered that it would either have no real-world impact, since these businesses are already flouting the law, or that its impact would be economically deleterious by pressing even more people into unemployment,” says Van Staden.

Among its recommendations, the paper presses government to capacitate South Africa’s criminal justice institutions to focus on real criminal behaviour, rather than being preoccupied with politically contrived “offences” with no discernible victims.

“That is how the spaza shop crisis should be dealt with. Whether intentionally or by criminal negligence, someone caused the deaths of dozens of innocent children. Our focus should not be on anti-growth or xenophobic regulations, but on prosecuting the culprits and making examples of them for any future wrongdoers,” concludes Van Staden.

Click here for a soundbite by Martin van Staden.

Click here to read the full “Liberty First: Legal System and Property Rights” paper.

Ends.

***

Toeslaan op spaza winkels sal respek vir reg en eiendom verbrokkel, sê FMF

19 November 2024

Scroll up for English version.

Tydens ’n perskonferensie Dinsdagoggend het die Vryemarkstigting (FMF) gewaarsku dat die nuwe verordeninge oor spaza-winkels in praktyk weinig uitwerking sal hê, behalwe om respek vir die reg in Suid-Afrika verder te verswak.

Die FMF se nuutste beleidsvoorstel, “Liberty First: Legal System and Property Rights,” wat gerig is aan die Regering van Nasionale Eenheid (GNU) om ekonomiese groei en voorspoed te bevorder is ook gedurende die konferensie bekendgestel. Martin van Staden, FMF Beleidshoof, het verduidelik dat die integriteit van die regstelsel en respek vir eiendomsregte die grondslag van ekonomiese vryheid vorm.

Op 8 November het die Departement van Samewerkende Regering en Tradisionele Sake sy standaardkonsepverordening oor township-ekonomieë gepubliseer.

“Prakties gesproke is feitlik alles in die verordening reeds op een of ander manier in die reg vervat. Hierdie informele, dikwels ongeregistreerde winkels het eenvoudig nie die hulpbronne om nakomingsbeamptes of prokureurs aan te stel nie,” sê Van Staden. “Hulle voldoen reeds nie aan die vereistes van die reguleerders nie, so hoekom dink ons dat nóg ’n wet dit gaan verander?”

“Die antwoord lê in deregulering en liberalisering. Deur die nakomingslas te verminder, skep ons aansporing vir besighede om binne die grense van die reg op te tree,” het Van Staden voortgegaan. “Maar as dit so moeilik is om aan die reg te voldoen dat hierdie entrepreneurs dit eenvoudig nie kan doen nie, dan speel ons ’n kwaadwillig spel met ons wetgewing en regulasies.”

Die FMF se beleidsvoorstel verduidelik in detail hoe Suid-Afrika sy regstelsel kan verbeter, insluitend op die gebiede van politieke desentralisasie, regulatoriese sekerheid, en die versterking van strafregtelike instellings om gewelddadige misdaad te bekamp. Dit beklemtoon ook hoe privaat eiendomsregte vir alle Suid-Afrikaners versterk kan word.

Rakende regulatoriese sekerheid beveel die dokument aan dat die regering dit verpligtend maak om enige nuwe wetgewing, regulasies, of beleide aan neutrale en hoëgehalte-impakassesserings te onderwerp. Dit is klaarblyklik nie gedoen in die geval van die voorgestelde verordening nie.

“As daar ’n substantiewe, nie net ’n skyn, impakassessering van hierdie verordening was, sou dit ontdek gewees het dat dit óf geen werklike impak sou hê nie, aangesien hierdie besighede reeds die wet ignoreer, óf dat dit ekonomies skadelik sou wees deur nog meer mense in werkloosheid te dryf,” sê Van Staden.

Onder sy aanbevelings maan die dokument die regering om Suid-Afrika se strafregstelselinstellings toe te rus om op werklike kriminele gedrag te fokus, eerder as op polities-vervaardigde “oortredings” sonder sigbare slagoffers.

“Dit is hoe die spaza-winkelkrisis aangespreek moet word. Of dit nou opsetlik of deur kriminele nalatigheid was, iemand het die dood van dosyne onskuldige kinders veroorsaak. Ons fokus moet nie op anti-groei of xenofobiese regulasies wees nie, maar op die vervolging van die skuldiges, en om van hulle ’n voorbeeld te maak vir toekomstige oortreders,” sluit Van Staden af.

Klik hier vir ’n klankgreep deur Martin van Staden.

Klik hier om die volledige dokument “Liberty First: Legal System and Property Rights” te lees.

Einde.

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