The law states, “All peoples have the right of self-determination” and South Africa has sworn to uphold this right. What this means in practical terms is that all groups of people are collectively entitled to be in control of their own destiny and to be able to make decisions for themselves.
In the context of South Africa, this is a critical right since South Africa comprises many distinctly different population groups living together in one region. Without this right, the most powerful group will likely dominate the others and prevent them from making their own decisions. In a democracy, the most powerful group is the one with the largest population.
The Western Cape Constitution recognises the Western Cape people, who then by default have a right to self-determination.
The majority of the Western Cape people are drawn from minority groups. Without self-determination, they are not able to control their own destiny. This is because South Africa has a single national government which is chosen by national majority vote.
The Western Cape does have its own parliament and provincial government, but this government only has a very limited range of powers and in most areas, it is required to enact the policies of the national government even if the Western Cape people disagree with them.
The Referendum Party (RP) believes that the Western Cape people should formally claim their right to self-determination by passing a Western Cape Peoples Bill in the provincial parliament. This will then allow them to claim the power to make more decisions for themselves.
The Western Cape Peoples Bill will not dictate how the Western Cape people will exercise their right to self-determination, it simply records that they have this right and that they wish to be able to exercise it.
Self-determination can be exercised in a number of ways from claiming control over specific functions of government such as policing or taxation, right through to full federal autonomy or outright independence from South Africa.
How to exercise this right must be a decision for the Western Cape people to make for themselves democratically. The accepted way of asking them is by holding a referendum. A referendum is a special vote on a single important question. It does not involve political parties and is used to allow peoples to make major decisions.
To facilitate self-determination, the Referendum Party will promote the Western Cape Peoples Bill, a copy of which can be read here.