Below is an extract from the Don Caldwell Memorandum on Socialism and Racial Engineering in “Post-Apartheid” South Africa, presented by the Free Market Foundation (FMF) to American policymakers, federal government officials, and think tanks during a working visit to Washington DC and New York City in September and October 2026. This is a slightly edited version of David Ansara’s preface to the memorandum.

The FMF is a South African libertarian think tank and advocacy group, which promotes and defends the principles of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, and limited constitutional government.

Founded in 1975, the FMF has argued consistently for market freedom and individual rights in South Africa for over half a century. During the Apartheid period, the FMF was one of the most vocal critics of racial segregation and the dirigiste policies of the National Party government.

The FMF played a key role in the negotiated transition to democracy in 1994, and remains committed to non-racialism and free enterprise to this day.

The US and South Africa: Fixing a Broken Relationship

While the FMF has traditionally focused on domestic affairs, it has in recent years become increasingly engaged in foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on South Africa’s relationship with the United States (US).

While many South Africans and Americans enjoy strong commercial, cultural, and personal ties, the diplomatic relationship between the US and South African governments has dramatically deteriorated.

This breakdown can be attributed to what the Trump administration correctly identified in February 2025 as the “egregious actions” of the South African government, including threats to private property rights, violent political rhetoric, rural insecurity, highly racialised public policy, and South Africa’s alignment with US adversaries.

That the South African government refuses to abide by the wholly reasonable requests of the US government signals both its contempt towards its long-standing ally, as well as the South African people whose interests it ostensibly represents.

This memorandum seeks to provide a detailed understanding of the political and economic reality in South Africa for an American audience. Moreover, it offers concrete steps that US politicians, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and think tanks can take to help reset and improve US-South Africa relations.

The memorandum is authored by Dr Martin van Staden, head of policy at the FMF and a prolific commentator, legal scholar, and author. Dr Van Staden is also the editor of the well-known Index of Race Law.

The memorandum is named in honour of Donald Caldwell, an American economist, journalist, and author who relocated to South Africa in the 1980s. Don was a champion of liberty who worked closely with the FMF to promote a free, non-racial South Africa. Tragically, Caldwell died in a motor accident in 1992 at the age of 32.

This document is infused with Don’s freedom-loving spirit.

You can access the document here.

Unrealised Potential

South Africa occupies a strategically important geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. It is blessed with an abundance of mineral resources and a rich ecological diversity. Its 63 million people possess multiple cultural identities, speak a variety of languages, and adhere to different religious traditions.

Throughout the 20th century, mining and agriculture formed the backbone of the economy, supporting a strong manufacturing sector. However, since the 1990s, mining and manufacturing have both shrunk as a proportion of economic output, while the financial services and retail sectors have grown.

Unlike many of its African peers, South Africa boasts a mature banking system and liquid domestic capital markets. South African farmers remain globally competitive – despite ongoing political hostility and violent attacks – ensuring South Africa’s status as a net exporter of agricultural goods.

South Africa in 2026 is a mostly free society, with constitutional guarantees for private property rights, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and political representation. It consistently ranks in the middle of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) annual report, placing 83rd out of 165 countries for the past two years (down from a peak ranking of 47th in 2000).

Despite these advantages, South Africa has failed to fulfil its vast potential and is beset by significant problems. These include rampant violent crime (such as murder, armed robbery, and sexual assault), endemic government corruption, infrastructure collapse, water and electricity shortages, illegal property invasions, urban decay, chronic high unemployment, and accelerated deindustrialisation.

Once the darling of the Western world, South Africa is now sliding backward.

Self-Harm

All of South Africa’s problems are man-made. It has suffered neither from war nor natural disaster, but something far more damaging: political ideology.

South African politics is still dominated by the African National Congress (ANC), the liberation movement-turned-political party that has governed South Africa since 1994. Following a brief period of liberalisation and fiscal consolidation under presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, successive ANC governments since 2008 have imposed a highly statist and interventionist policy framework, often with a golden thread of racialism, on South Africa’s economy and society.

During the general election of May 2024, the ANC experienced a loss of its electoral majority. However, it soon formed the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), together with a broad coalition of former opposition parties.

Despite its declining electoral fortunes, the ANC has retained its hegemonic influence over policy formation and political discourse, much to the detriment of ordinary South Africans.

Socialism

In addition to a chauvinistic African nationalism, the ANC is rooted in the intellectual tradition of Marxist-Leninism, a byproduct of the enduring intellectual influence of the South African Communist Party (SACP). Together with the ANC, the SACP forms part of a broader “Tripartite Alliance” along with the major trade union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

The ANC sees itself not merely as a political party, but as a revolutionary movement committed to the pursuit of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR). The origins of this totalitarian ideological agenda – and its pernicious effects – are discussed at length in this memorandum.

Consequently, the ANC remains deeply ambivalent about private property rights and, in 2021, sought to amend section 25 of the South African Constitution, which guarantees just and equitable compensation for expropriation of property by the state.

Although it failed to secure the necessary parliamentary majority to affect this constitutional change, the ANC nonetheless pressed ahead with the passage of the Expropriation Act in 2024, which sought to make provision for “nil compensation” for property expropriated by the state. The FMF, together with various civil society organisations, has joined litigation against this odious legislation in the courts.

The presence of such laws should be of concern to the more than 500 American companies operating in South Africa. It also imperils South Africa’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), US legislation from which South African agricultural and manufacturing exporters benefit greatly.

Racial Engineering

Despite the formal end of Apartheid, South Africa remains, to paraphrase former State President and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk, the most race-regulated society in the world.

As Dr Van Staden meticulously chronicles in the Index of Race Law, 324 race laws have been adopted in South Africa since the formation of Union in 1910. Of these, 145 remain on the statute books, and 136 are still actively racial.

Policies such as black economic empowerment (BEE) and employment equity (EE) purport to uplift black South Africans by imposing race-based ownership, procurement, and employment policies on both public and private organisations.

In fact, such policies economically exclude and punish racial minorities while enriching a small, politically connected elite. Poor black South Africans remain no better off despite this assault on the liberties of their fellow countrymen.

There is no “white genocide” occurring in South Africa. Such statements are maliciously attributed to Afrikaans cultural and civil rights groups by a hostile local and international media. This is an attempt to discredit and silence these groups while ignoring their entirely legitimate concerns of racial persecution and rural violence.

Recommendations

As a South African think tank, the FMF welcomes the pressure that has been brought to bear by the US government on South Africa.

However, we believe that such actions should be rooted in a sound understanding of the reality on the ground – without causing additional harm to ordinary South Africans. A targeted, differentiated approach towards South Africa is needed, one which distinguishes the positions of the government from its people.

This is the message that Dr Van Staden and I have been presenting to US policymakers, government officials, and think tanks during our tour of Washington DC and New York City in September and October 2026.

In the absence of a responsible foreign policy posture by the South African government toward the US, it is incumbent upon civil society groups like the FMF to step into the breach. We do not take this responsibility lightly, and are glad to share it with other conscientious South Africans.

As South Africa once again finds itself at the crossroads, we invite our American friends to stand up for freedom and prosperity in South Africa.

Ansara is CEO of the Free Market Foundation.