Be Relevant and be Fair
The debate on an Independent Cape is now in the mainstream.
We hope the Daily Maverick, as a widely read part of daily debate, now recognises this and becomes part of the discussion.
To be relevant it needs to look at the concept from the point of view of the Western Cape electorate and what is best for them because -like it or not - it is going to be their decision to make.
The earlier article by Pierre de Vos, ridiculing the concept and then refusing to publish the rebuttal is in our view not the way to become part of the discussion.
The recent article by Oscar van Heerden spewing racial invective with seemingly superficial prior research will follow the trend of making the Daily Maverick irrelevant on this issue.
Respect the 'Right to Reply'
The facts are that, at present, the push for Cape Independence is completely non-racial with support across all races in the Western Cape (our recent polling suggests that the racial profile of the group that supports Cape Independence is 56% coloured, 17% black and 27% white) and is driven by the steady descent of the rest of South Africa into a failed state.
It is therefore logical for the Western Cape people to consider other options to avoid being dragged down with the rest of the country.
We hope therefore that the Daily Maverick, in its own interests, doesn’t just publish articles that are so superficial as to become completely irrelevant to this important decision.
At the very least we would request the editors to publish rebuttals which will assist in raising the level of the discussion on your important platform.
Kind regards,
Neil Kisch
Neil is a member of the Executive Committee of the CIAG
