ActionSA rejects Referendum Party’s application to join Multi-Party Charter

16 February 2024               

At a meeting of the Multi-Party Charter For South Africa (MPC) last night, it was brought to ActionSA’s attention that the Referendum Party (associated with the Cape Independence Movement) had applied to join the MPC.

The Cape Referendum Party’s correspondence with the MPC indicated that their letter of application had been shared with the media. ActionSA will, accordingly, respond in kind.

ActionSA rejected the proposal outright and informed the MPC that we were not willing to be associated with the Referendum Party. ActionSA would sooner leave the MPC rather than being associated with the Cape Independence movement. We were pleased that we did not stand alone in this position and, because the Charter operates by consensus, the application of the Referendum Party was rejected.

ActionSA’s reasons for adopting this position are shared below in the interest of transparency:

The MPC, co-founded by ActionSA, is the “Multi-Party Charter for South Africa” – founded on the basis that South Africa is a sovereign state of nine provinces governed by the Constitution. Any party that challenges the fundamental principles of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa has no place in the MPC and there is no such body as the Multi-Party Charter for the Western Cape.

The notion of the Western Cape seceding from the Republic of South Africa is constitutionally offensive, exclusionary, and based on the absurd notion that the Western Cape is economically, historically or socially distinct from the rest of South Africa. Given the rich history of South Africa’s development as a nation, any claim to Cape independence is offensive.

The idea of Cape Independence is motivated by a misplaced view of Western Cape exceptionalism and a dislike of the ANC rather than by the merits of a claim to independence under International Law. The solution to this problem is not to further divide our nation, but to unite in removing the ruling party that has undoubtedly failed South Africans in all 9 provinces.

When the Charter was formed, it was explicitly agreed that parties that apply to join must adhere to the Constitution and share similar values on how South Africa is to be advanced. It is patently clear that the Referendum Party would never meet this standard given their only idea is to divide the country that the Charter is committed to unite.

The reason the Referendum Party’s values are incongruent with the Charter is because they are not interested in fixing South Africa. Their only idea for improving the lives of residents of the Western Cape is through secession from South Africa. They are fundamentally wrong.

There is no denying that ANC governance holds back all South Africans. This is evident across South Africa, not just in the Western Cape, and nothing demonstrated this as powerfully in recent days as the fictional character of Tintswalo told by a deluded President. But the failures of the ruling party do not amount to a justification for secession.

The only solution to failed governance is the Multi-Party Charter For South Africa and, explicitly, its commitment to unseat the ANC. That is the only viable way to improve the lives of South Africans living in all nine provinces, including the Western Cape.

As it stands, the Charter has adopted a set of governing principles which includes the need to decentralise national government functions to the lowest level of effective government. A multi-party coalition arising from the Charter in the upcoming 2024 elections will implement this as a principle across South Africa.

ActionSA is proud to stand with a group of parties who, despite having disagreements on many matters, are united behind the need to fix South Africa by taking the first step of removing the ANC from national government. The Charter now represents the biggest voting bloc outside of the ANC in democratic history and does so at a time in which the ANC’s loss of a governing majority is certain.

ActionSA reaffirms its commitment to the South African people that we will be instrumental in the MPC’s removal of the ANC from national and provincial governments – and this without any South African ever having to present a passport to enter the Western Cape.

Issued by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson, ActionSA, 16 February 2024