ANC Prevents Public Participation on Provincial Powers Bill

The Referendum Party (RP) condemns the ANC’s conduct at Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill (WCPPB) public hearings, which can only be seen as an attack on democracy. These actions are a clear attempt to undermine the democratic will of the Western Cape people, who support greater autonomy.

Since the start of the week, two public hearings have been scheduled, with both being shut down by the ANC. These disruptive activities follow a similar call from the SACP last week, where they threatened to make the Western Cape “ungovernable”.

RP leader Phil Craig says, “The ANC’s actions are despicable and anti-democratic, but unfortunately are not surprising. The ANC have made their position clear that they will stop at nothing to prevent the devolution of power to the provincial government.”

The WCPPB seeks greater devolution of power for the Western Cape provincial government, but is unlikely to achieve its objectives while the ANC is still in power nationally. In 2019, Alan Winde was elected on a manifesto of fighting for policing and rail devolution. However, despite having the democratic mandate to pursue these policies, the ANC has rejected all calls for devolution to the Western Cape and Winde has been unable to deliver them.

These disruptions once again prove that devolution is not a viable solution. If the people of the Western Cape want greater autonomy, they are going to have to vote for Cape Independence in 2024.

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Photo by Anastassia Anufrieva on Unsplash