IRR launches #WhatSACanBe Pledge: an uncowed vision for SA’s future

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has launched the #WhatSACanBe Pledge, a national call to action to drive economic freedom, non-racialism, and prosperity in South Africa.

With the country stuck in a cycle of economic decline, failing governance, and rising unemployment, the IRR is stepping forward with a practical, growth-first blueprint to reclaim South Africa’s future.

The #WhatSACanBe Pledge is a direct challenge to the stagnation and state-driven inefficiencies that have crippled the country. It commits signatories to championing policies that promote 7% annual GDP growth, secure property rights, an end to race-based policies, lower taxes, private-sector-driven solutions, the dismantling of state monopolies, and individual choice in healthcare and education.

Says Hermann Pretorius, IRR Head of Strategic Communications: “For too long, South Africans have been promised ‘New Dawns’ and reformist ‘resets’ that never materialise. The #WhatSACanBe Pledge is a declaration of intent – South Africans taking ownership of their future by rejecting central planning failures and embracing real pro-freedom, pro-growth solutions.”

The IRR’s #WhatSACanBe campaign is based on the organisation’s Blueprint for Growth series, which, in eight annually updated papers, lays out clear, research-backed policies to achieve economic expansion, job creation, and prosperity. As highlighted in The IRR’s Blueprint for Growth: Arming SA’s Pro-Growth Forces, a commitment to free enterprise, individual liberty, and secure property rights is essential for breaking South Africa’s economic stagnation. The IRR’s research has shown that an economy growing at 7% per year doubles in size every decade—the kind of transformation South Africans desperately need.

The #WhatSACanBe campaign aims to create a new political and public narrative, forcing politicians, businesses, and civil society to answer a simple question: Do you stand for growth and freedom, or for state failure and economic decline?

The IRR will take the #WhatSACanBe Pledge nationwide, mobilising citizens, businesses, and organisations to publicly back pro-growth policies. It will also apply political and legal pressure to push forward new #WhatSACanBe Bills, which will demonstrate the benefits of placing property rights, value-for-money spending, and ending race-based regulation at the centre of law-making.

Says Pretorius, “South Africa needs a new narrative, a new mission – one focused on wealth creation, not redistribution; on empowerment through ownership, not government dependency. South Africans deserve to hear that their socio-economic aspirations and basic values are what can make this country great, not what’s holding us back. People deserve to hear that wanting to own a home, wanting to earn an income, wanting to build wealth, wanting to get along with and not hate the people around us – these are decent, admirable, pro-freedom, pro-growth aspirations shared by the vast majority of South Africans. The decisions that matter and the laws under which we live need not be the sole province of the political classes. That is why we will be putting forward new legislation directly to the people of South Africa – it is their support that, at the end of the day, matters in deciding what our country can be.”

Over the coming weeks, the IRR will be publishing the first three #WhatSACanBe Bills. The IRR invites all South Africans who believe in a future of non-racialism, opportunity, security, and prosperity to sign the #WhatSACanBe Pledge and join the movement to reshape the country’s trajectory.

For more information on the pledge and to sign it, visit https://irr.org.za/whatsacanbe/join-team-whatsacanbe

Media contact: Hermann Pretorius IRR Head of Strategic Communications Tel: 079 875 4290 Email: hermann@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za