Immigration exposes free-marketeer bias

Are free markets for things or people? If for people, all people or just those who happen to be born in a particular place? Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba was on radio last week defending his comparison between immigrants who lack government papers and criminals. He insisted he was not hostile to foreigners. The law must be obeyed, he said; people could not work anywhere they liked without the right papers. Mashaba has been denounced by the ANC, but no political party has supported the free movement of people. His remarks deserve attention because he is a former chairman of the board of the Free Market Foundation (FMF) who went to court to prevent bargaining agreements being extended to employers who were not party to wage negotiations. This violated his and the FMF’s support for free labour markets. It can be assumed Mashaba’s enthusiasm for implementing laws that allow only people with the right documents to live and work somewhere would disappear if they applied to business people o...