Below is the full text of a speech delivered by David Ansara – CEO of the Free Market Foundation (FMF) – at the relaunch of the Free Speech Union-South Africa on 27 May 2026 in Johannesburg. Watch the video of the speech here.

It is my pleasure to welcome you on this cold winter’s night to Northwards House, the home of the Free Market Foundation (FMF). Here on the ridge in Parktown the flame of freedom burns bright like a beacon of light for all to see.

Tonight, we will be discussing one of the most important civil and political rights of all: freedom of speech.

Your ability to exchange ideas, to debate and to remonstrate, to challenge power, to poke fun and to articulate an alternative vision for society. All this rests on your right to express yourself without hindrance by the state or your fellow citizens.

Free speech matters. For everyone. It is a foundational right, without which other rights cannot exist.

Freedom of belief requires tolerance for a diversity of views and the ability to dissent.

The media, which we rely upon to understand the world around us, can neither be independent nor truthful without vigorous protections for free speech.

Academic enquiry is hindered when scholars fear the repercussions of their research or saying something controversial in a lecture.

Freedom of association rests on free speech. If you cannot speak freely, you cannot organise politically. You cannot oppose those in power or kick the rascals out without resorting to force.

Freedom begins with free speech. It is the bedrock of a free society.

What is the Free Speech Union?

The Free Speech Union (FSU) was founded in February 2020 by Toby Young, a prominent British journalist and civil society activist.

He did so in response to growing government restrictions on speech in the United Kingdom (UK), which has seen a dramatic rise in prosecutions for so-called “speech code violations.” It is not uncommon these days for ordinary Brits to receive a knock on the door by a policeman after being reported for a “non-crime hate incident.”

Unfortunately, threats to freedom of speech are not confined to the United Kingdom. This is a global phenomenon.

Following the success of the FSU-UK, several Free Speech Unions were founded in other parts of the world under the umbrella of the FSU-International. In fact, South Africa was one of the first jurisdictions to open a local FSU chapter.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sara Gon, who we are delighted to have here with us tonight. Sara founded the FSU-South Africa in June 2022, when she was still working full-time at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).

Late last year, Sara voluntarily stepped down after accepting my proposal for the FSU-South Africa to be transferred to the Free Market Foundation. I want to thank Sara, the IRR, and the members of the original board of advisors for catalysing this important initiative, for which we feel a special duty of care.

The new FSU-SA leadership team consists of Adv Mark Oppenheimer as Executive Director with myself, Dr Martin van Staden, and Gail Day as Directors.

The various chapters of the FSU-International operate in different ways.

In the United Kingdom, the FSU advocates broadly for free expression, but also operates as a legal insurer. Like a trade union, members pay their dues and are supported by the FSU when their speech rights or even their livelihoods are threatened.

If you are a journalist, a comedian, an artist, or an intellectual who has fallen foul of the mob or the nanny state, the FSU can come to your aid and defend you in court.

Domestic threats to free speech

Here in South Africa, we enjoy a robust culture of free speech that has withstood various forms of censorship both during and after apartheid. South Africans have a healthy irreverence towards authority and an argumentative spirit which lends itself to free expression.

Sadly, however, South Africa has lately experienced a narrowing of the window for free speech.

Consider a few recent cases:

In March 2025, comedian and influencer, Anton Taylor, posted a clearly satirical video to Tik Tok in which he pretended to be a criminal who had bribed suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu, with “A BMW and three prostitutes.”

Soon thereafter, Mr Taylor’s Cape Town home was raided by the Hawks. In news reports at the time, Mr Taylor alleged that Hawks Captain Solomon Moloto specifically told him that he had been charged because “I had insulted the police minister, and he couldn’t let that slide.”

Mr Taylor noticed the letters CATS printed before the case number of the minister’s criminal complaint: "Crimes Against The State."

Fortunately for Mr Taylor, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute under the Cybercrimes Act, citing “a lack of reasonable prospects of successful prosecution.”

Mr Scebi Nene was not so fortunate.

It was almost a year ago to the week that the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court sentenced Mr Nene, a then 36-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal to five years direct imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to cyber forgery, cyber uttering, and disclosing intimate data images.

Mr Nene’s crime? Downloading digital images of President Cyril Ramaphosa, former police minister Bheki Cele, and former National Police Commissioner Khehla Sithole (amongst others) and superimposing their faces onto pornography and distributing it.

It seems South African police ministers do not take kindly to being ridiculed. They are more than happy to send their goons to intimidate others.

In December 2025, there was an attempt to prevent popular musician, David Scott (AKA The Kiffness) from performing at a concert in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (a state-owned premises) due to his strong views on the conflict in the Middle East.

The FSU-South Africa worked behind the scenes to lobby the concert organisers to resist calls to cancel their agreement with Mr Scott. Fortunately, the show went ahead as planned (with a handful of protestors exercising their free speech rights on the lawns outside the venue).

At the University of Cape Town (UCT), the Council of the University passed a boycott in 2024 prohibiting UCT academics from collaborating with Israeli scholars. Professor Adam Mendelsohn, a historian at UCT, has taken the university to court, arguing that the so-called ‘Gaza Motion’ is an unreasonable infringement on his academic freedom.

I should add that Adv Mark Oppenheimer and I serve on the UCT Council, and have both steadfastly opposed the motion for similar reasons as Professor Mendelsohn. I should also add that our views expressed here tonight do not represent those of the university.

Civil rights groups, Solidarity and AfriForum, some of whose leaders are here this evening, were recently investigated for “high treason”, after campaigning in Washington DC for recognition of the scourge of farm attacks and race-based laws.

Earlier this month, Mark Saltzman, a member of the family which founded retail group, Dis-Chem, apparently called journalist Redi Tlhabi a “bitch” in a heated exchange on social media. Not a very nice thing to say, but certainly not worthy of the subsequent investigation launched by the Human Rights Commission.

In many of the above examples, people have said things that might be uncouth, uncomfortable, or even untrue. But that does not justify limiting their free speech rights.

A brief word on hate speech

In South Africa today, there is a pattern of organs of state targeting private citizens for speech violations and making an example of them while ignoring genuine hate speech uttered by powerful politicians like Julius Malema. You may recall that the Constitutional Court simply declined to hear the case brought against him by AfriForum in the “Kill the Boer” matter.

The FSU-South Africa is not a free speech “absolutist” organisation. We recognise that there may be instances in which expression cannot enjoy legal protection: primarily incitements to violence.

Sometimes, however, false allegations of hate speech are used to suppress speech that is perfectly lawful. Our concern is to push back against the double standards which are evident in our law.

Join us

The FSU’s work will be narrowly focused on upholding and defending free expression against threats of censorship or other forms of state sanction. The FSU-South Africa will not advocate for any underlying cause, or a particular social or political grouping.

While our work will initially focus on advocacy, we will be on the lookout for litigation opportunities, either as a friend of the court or through direct applications. Such litigation will be dependent on external funding and an alignment with the FSU’s core objectives.

While the FMF remains ideologically committed to free enterprise and limited constitutional government, it will fight these battles with the other weapons in its arsenal.

However, as a member of South Africa’s rich and diverse civil society, we also know that the FMF’s broader work will be impossible without free speech. This is why we have adopted the FSU as an initiative of the FMF.

I invite you to join our campaign to preserve the greatest freedom of all: your right to speak.

Ansara is CEO of the Free Market Foundation and a director of the Free Speech Union-South Africa. Ansara is also a member of Council of the University of Cape Town. His views do not represent those of the university.