DA not VF Plus misleading voters over Cape Independence referendum

The Referendum Party (RP) challenges claims reportedly made by DA-chairperson Dr. Ivan Meyer in Netwerk24 that the DA cannot call a referendum on Cape Independence and that the VF Plus is misleading voters by suggesting that they can. If Meyer has been quoted correctly, then at best he is being economical with the truth, whilst at worst, he is lying.

Meyer asserts that legislation is needed before a referendum can be called, that the DA has already tabled this legislation in parliament, and infers that until this legislation has been passed a referendum cannot be called.

He further asserts that election results prove that there is no support for the idea of Cape Independence.

Referendum Party leader Phil Craig says,

“Both of these claims are inherently dishonest and form part of a concerted DA campaign of misinformation designed to contain public support for Cape Independence which continues to gain steam.

We directly challenge Dr. Meyer to answer the following questions truthfully in order that voters can see for themselves what is really going on here:

1. Does Dr. Meyer concede that the Western Cape Premier is in possession of at least one legal opinion which clearly states that he can call a referendum now should he so wish? (RP acknowledges that he may have another opinion which says he may not, but this is not the question).

2. Does Dr. Meyer concede that after the DA had published its intention to table the referendum legislation and called for public comments (which were overwhelmingly positive) the DA secretly canceled its own legislation whilst informing the public it was still going ahead, and that the bill was only finally tabled after the DA’s deception had been discovered?

3. Does Dr. Meyer concede that the reason the DA canceled its own legislation was because in the DA’s own words, it feared a Brexit scenario (i.e. a situation where voters forced their agenda onto the ruling party) and that this then conclusively disproves Dr. Meyer’s stated claim that there is little support for Cape Independence, and that the DA know this not to be true but are choosing to present a false narrative to the public?

4. Does Dr. Meyer concede that the whole purpose of referendums is to establish the democratic will of the people on a single issue, that this is fundamentally different from elections where people vote across a balance of issues and along party lines, and therefore to deny a referendum which polling consistently shows has majority support based on election results in democratically inappropriate?”

The Referendum Party has documentary proof to support each of these claims.

Under the circumstances, it was therefore disingenuous of Meyer to accuse the VF Plus of misleading the public. The VF Plus is correct, the DA can call a referendum on Cape Independence, they just don’t want to. That they are using misdirection to hide this fact from their own voters speaks volumes.