Wexit: Should the Western Cape become independent?

About two weeks ago I was driving past Sun Valley Mall in the far southern corner of Cape Town and there they were.

A group of (mostly white) people were handing out pamphlets at the traffic lights and for good measure, a little gazebo next to the road proudly proclaimed independence to the Western Cape. Well, it seems the Cape Party is already out of the blocks for the local government elections.

Seeing their slogan, I was reminded of the Independent Republic of Hout Bay, which had its own passport, flag and anthem during the 1980’s and 90’s. This was a tourism stunt started by the Lions and Rotary Club to raise funds. Capetonians enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek campaign and lots of passports were sold. There is even a story of someone travelling overseas on this passport.

However, the Cape Party insists that they are no joke. They are seeking independence for the Western Cape. And, to be honest, they want a little more than the Western Cape. They also want the Northern Cape, except for one district… (shame, what is wrong with that district?) and three districts in the Eastern Cape and one in the Free State.

 Of course, one should really just have a laugh and then ignore them. The problem is that this not just innocent politicking – it is dangerous. It is also misleading.

The chance of this being constitutionally allowed is almost certainly zero.  The Cape Party rightly points out that the Constitution guarantees in Chapter 14, section 235 “the right of self-determination of any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity of the Republic…” However, they then state: “The Cape fulfills all of the necessary criteria to achieve self-determination (independence)”.

Really?

I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I can’t for the life of me see how you can claim that the Western Cape has a common cultural and language heritage. To do that you would have to cut out Khayelitsha, Langa, Nyanga, and all the other townships, because they sure as hell won’t agree that they share a common cultural or linguistic heritage with the white or Coloured members of the Cape Party.

Good luck also if you are going to try and convince the majority of the Coloured people in the Western Cape that they share a common heritage with the whites. For that, the memories of - amongst others - District 6 are just too raw.

As so many constitutional experts have pointed out, this is a non-starter and to suggest otherwise is dishonest.

While I’m on the topic of dishonesty: On their pamphlet, the Cape Party states that “The ANC has never won the Western Cape.” Although it is true that the ANC had never achieved an outright majority (over 50% of the vote), they did win the Western Cape in 2004 with 45% of the vote. The DA had only 27%. The ANC then formed an alliance with the New National Party (all of whom eventually joined the ANC) to have 56% of the votes and the ANC’s Ebrahim Rasool became Premier.

Factual inaccuracies aside, the Cape Party’s main arguments are around the economy. They make all kinds of statements about how much the Western Cape pays into the national fiscus and how little they get back. I hate to break it to you guys, but this is how a progressive tax system works. It takes from the wealthy in order to provide for the poor.

It might be true that there are challenges in the so-called equitable share and how that is calculated. However, as much as a billionaire won’t be allowed to opt-out of income tax on the basis that s/he can pay for their private schooling and medical aid, etc., neither can the Western Cape keep the revenue for themselves and say: “stuff the rest of the country.”

While we are on the rest of the country, one has to wonder if they would put up border controls to prevent people from other provinces moving to the Western Cape - presumably, the Western Cape would also need its own army to defend its borders?

My guess is they don’t really know how any of it would work. In their pamphlet, they suggest that the answer to the question “Why vote for the Cape Party?” is the following: “All votes for us will be used to keep the ANC out. All votes for us will be used to keep the DA accountable. SA can’t be saved so we must push towards an independent Cape.”

Clearly, they don’t have any plans of governing – their sole purpose is to keep the ANC out and shout at the DA.

The problem is that this “ideology” stinks of racism and privilege, and this is how the majority of South Africans and even Capetonians would see it. Can it be that this is just a crude attempt to keep the Western Cape culturally and linguistically in the hands of the more privileged minorities?

These kinds of narratives are hugely damaging – especially in the current climate.

They add to the already heavy burden of pain and anger that the majority of South Africans carry. It is of course the democratic right of anyone to form a party, but those considering supporting them should think carefully about the dangerous message it sends out.