Yesterday on Faith Mangope’s drivetime show on MetroFM, Cameron Dugmore was interviewed on the Referendum Party’s recent publicity stunt at the eastern border, where they erected a boom gate and a sign announcing the entrance to the independent Cape republic.

Dugmore asserted that it was illegal for anyone to block traffic. He called the Democratic Alliance hypocritical for criticising the ANC and taxi cartels’ protests, but not the Referendum Party’s publicity stunt.

Dugmore said that this demonstration was a crime scene, and that the ANC would be investigating the incident and charging the people involved. He said that national government would be brought in to prosecute the party members.

This firm stance on a nonviolent and noncoercive trivial political stunt, which didn’t in any way prevent any vehicle from passing through, stands in contrast to the ruling party’s continuing tolerance for violent and coercive blockades on public roads.

Dugmore demonstrated hesitance to use legal force to prosecute the RP, but accused them of imposing apartheid by campaigning for secession, and “causing pain” to black people, and sending a “racist message”.

Mangope made her hostility to the movement transparent, and in her ignorance, claimed that the entire party were foreign nationals from Britain, and contacted the City of Cape Town to comment on their bylaws, despite the stunt having taken place hundreds of kilometers from the metropolitan district.

She aggressively questioned the legitimacy of the demonstration, and pressed Dugmore on why the police had not yet arrested the Referendum Party, and expressed her wishes to hold those who failed to have the RP arrested accountable.

Mangope and Dugmore also cast aspersions on the polling methodology of the opinion polls conducted on the public support for the movement, but demonstrated no understanding of the basic principles of statistical sampling.

The show devolved into a steady attack on the DA and the government of Cyril Ramaphosa. Mangope stated that secessionists should not be allowed to speak publicly, and should be arrested, as did several callers.

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