The Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) is planning to organise a people’s referendum on Western Cape independence. The planning process is expected to take approximately two years.
A series of opinion polls conducted by Victory Research between 2020 and 2023 have established that a clear majority of Western Cape residents support a referendum being held on Cape Independence. Both the national and Western Cape constitutions empower the Western Cape Premier to call such a referendum but Premier Alan Winde has consistently refused to do so despite promises to the contrary by his party, the DA.
There can be no doubt that the Constitution intended Provincial Premiers to exercise their right to call referendums on behalf of the people they serve and it cannot be appropriate for any Premier to use their powers to actively prevent the people being heard.
When the Premier steadfastly refuses to consult the people, one solution is for the people to organise their own referendum. As both the supreme courts of Canada and the UK have alluded to in landmark judgements, the power of a referendum lies in definitively establishing the will of the people and not in the letter of the law. Thereafter, any genuinely democratic order must take cognisance of the outcome.
In 2014, the Italian province of Veneto emphatically demonstrated this reality, Having been denied an official referendum, the people organised their own. As a result, the government was forced to heed the people’s wishes, ultimately leading to significantly increased provincial autonomy.
The CIAG intends to follow this example and is in touch with the organisers of the Veneto referendum.
The initial planning phase will focus on developing a technical process suited to the Western Cape’s specific circumstances, securing funding, and identifying credible independent observers.
The CIAG acknowledges that now is not the appropriate time to call a referendum on Cape Independence, and that the GNU should first be given the opportunity to demonstrate whether it can save South Africa or not. Should the GNU collapse however, Cape Independence is likely to become a matter of great urgency. Accordingly it is crucial that the planning process commences now. The Veneto referendum took two years to arrange. It is highly unlikely that the GNU will provide a long-term solution to South Africa’s problems given the vast ideological differences between the partners. Even in the best possible scenario, the Western Cape will still require significantly greater autonomy which will only realistically be achieved following a referendum.
For Cape Independence supporters, this is an extremely significant development. It overcomes one of the primary obstacles between the Western Cape people and their independence. The CIAG calls on all supporters of Cape Independence to get behind this historic initiative and to help make Cape Independence a reality.
DATE: 18 September 2024
Link to online press conference: An online press conference will be held at 10h00 on Friday 20 September 2024. It can be accessed using this link: https://youtube.com/live/94hbBlMbJ6E
