PRESS RELEASE: State Capture was inflicted on the Western Cape against its democratic will. Cape Independence would have prevented it.
The release of the ‘Judicial Commission of Inquiry Report: Part 1’ has once again forced South Africa to confront the pervasive and brazen nature of government sponsored corruption. As ordinary South Africans endure record levels of unemployment and languish in poverty, the politically connected elite have never had it so good.
In his scathing report, Judge Raymond Zondo states that there is a clear link between the corrupt granting of tenders and party-political financing (page 802) before singling out the ANC. He goes on to state that this represents an ‘existential threat to our democracy’.
South African voters are not however innocent. Judge Zondo makes it clear (page 772) that the foundations of state capture pre-dated the election of President Zuma.
In 2009, South Africa knowingly elected a corrupt president. Even as state capture unfolded, it re-elected Zuma, whilst the ANC defeated five successive motions of no confidence in him which had been brought before parliament. As the State Capture Commission drew to a close, with the ANC’s absolute complicity in rampant corruption laid bare, 46.1% of South African voters still voted ANC. This was more than double the amount of support for any other party.
Phil Craig, spokesperson for the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG), says that for Western Cape voters this was anything but democracy in action.
“Thomas Jefferson famously said, ‘The government you elect is the government you deserve’, but for voters in the Western Cape this simply isn’t true. They rejected Zuma from the outset. By the conclusion of the State Capture Commission they had rejected the ANC in six successive elections. Their elected representatives voted to remove Zuma in each of the 5 motions of no confidence. Instead, State Capture was inflicted upon them despite their protests and against their democratic will. The political system rendered them powerless and their wishes redundant.”
This was not the first investigation into widespread government corruption, and it is highly unlikely to be the last. In between, not much has changed. Only when the people of the Western Cape can elect and remove their own government, can Kaapenaars protect themselves. That means Cape Independence.
DATE: 06 January 2022
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