South Africa is a nation rich with potential but burdened by economic stagnation. With an unemployment rate of 43% by some measures, millions of South Africans—especially young people—are locked out of opportunity. Growth has remained below 1% for a decade, a level that IRR strategic engagement manager Makone Maja describes as “a ticking time bomb… especially because the youth in particular are most affected” .
In this challenging landscape, an Atlas Network partner organization, the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has emerged as a leading force for reform. Their groundbreaking Champions for Growth project—winner of Atlas Network’s 2025 Africa Liberty Award—is changing how South Africans think about prosperity, freedom, and the policy choices that shape both.
Diagnosing South Africa’s Crisis
The IRR’s work begins with clear-eyed analysis. South Africa’s growth and investment performance, they argue, has been “dismal,” coming in far below its middle-income peers. In their award-winning Blueprint for Growth papers, the IRR explains that the country’s malaise stems from “a profoundly statist inflection in official thinking” and a deep regulatory burden that suffocates enterprise instead of empowering it .
As Makone notes, even South Africa’s relative wealth masks a crisis: “South Africa is often referred to as being fairly wealthy, but it’s failing its people… Our GDP per capita has stagnated since 2008.” The result, she warns, is widespread disillusionment: “People are looking around and saying democracy hasn’t actually delivered because it was sold in connection to economic freedom.”
Challenging Race-Based Barriers to Growth
A central theme of the IRR's reform agenda is its opposition to race-based bureaucracy, including Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation and the Employment Equity Act. While originally framed as measures to redress the legacy of Apartheid, Makone argues these policies have devolved into tools of patronage: “BEE has become a patronage trough for the ANC… It benefits the politically connected while keeping the economy from growing.”
She explains that foreign and local investors face an increasingly hostile regulatory maze: “Are you going to come to South Africa, which wants to tell you who you must hire, how much you must pay them, what color they must look like—or are you going to go elsewhere?”
The IRR’s consistent stance against race-based legislation, dating back to its 1929 founding, positions it uniquely to challenge these policies. Their proposed alternative to BEE—Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged (EED)—bases assistance on socioeconomic need rather than race. It includes vouchers for schools, healthcare, and housing, giving families real purchasing power and choice.
As Makone emphasizes: “EED is for the ordinary South African… It puts real power and autonomy in people’s hands.”
Inspiring a Movement for Change
Through relentless media engagement, high-quality research, and grassroots activism, the IRR has successfully elevated growth to the center of national debate. Their No More Race Laws petition has gathered more than 12,000 signatures, indicating rising public opposition to racialized policy approaches.
Makone sees growing momentum, especially among young people hungry for opportunity: “South Africans are bold, outspoken, decisive people… and they are desperate to see the country realize its potential.”
The IRR’s flagship proposal—a 7% annual growth target—is deliberately ambitious. Achieving it, they argue, would double the size of South Africa’s economy in ten years. With such growth, Makone says, “South Africa would look nothing like it does today… We could finally attract investors, deal with crime and poverty, and bring millions into the economy.”
The Institute reinforces this vision by pointing to global examples. In a key insight of their Champions for Growth initiative, IRR CEO Dr. John Endres notes that in 1950, countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone were wealthier per capita than Taiwan or South Korea, but 60 years later the latter had multiplied their incomes 30-fold, driven by economic freedom and sustained growth .
To the IRR, winning the 2025 Africa Liberty Award is a recognition that their ideas—grounded in evidence, non-racial principles, and a commitment to economic freedom—offer one of the most credible paths toward South Africa’s renewal. As Makone puts it: “We’re not just crazy liberals wagging our tongues. These are genuine solutions, and winning this award shows the world agrees.”
