It may have crossed a few people’s radar that Cape independence is now a majority-support issue. But as those of us with a bit of kennis understand, it is not the disorganised majority, but the organised minority that make decisions.

For the Cape independence movement, there are a number of rather dispersed strategies, from collecting pledges and personal data at CapeXit (useful for campaigning, internal polling and information sharing, with a >800k mailing list), to lobbying for policy changes and the referendum (CIAG; Devolution Working Group), and some youth organising (CYF).

Of course, the old CIP are still moribund, and are soon to be replaced by a fresh and professional Referendum Party, headed by Phil Craig of the CIAG. The funding and professional support are now lined up to challenge the DA’s electoral majority from two sides, with the VF+ attacking their conservative base among Coloured and White Afrikaans speakers, and the Referendum Party taking on the Liberal support.

Together, they can be expected to take around 10% of the vote, forcing the DA into a coalition on condition of delivering a referendum.

Phil has made a few waves by holding a press conference outside Parliament in the capital, handing Alan Winde an ultimatum to declare a date for a referendum. The launch of the Referendum Party is the stick at the end of this ultimatum.

In response, the DA have gotten their knickers in a twist. Likely initiated by the more brittle elements of the party like Leon Schreiber, DA rep for Stellenbosch and autoblocker of any Cape independence accounts on Twitter, they have sent cease-and-desist letters, threatening to sue the CIAG for copyright infringement for sharing memes which contain the DA logo, such as the ones below

This will likely backfire for them rather badly, since such an action is newsworthy enough that it will make News24’s cycle - after all, even the DA-friendly elements in the media are happy to include the hysterical shenanigans they get up to, and it will make them look weak and petty.

Here we have the DA's letter (ah, the hysteria), and the CIAG's response

After all, they don’t dispute the content, just the use of their logo, which they’re happy to see in news articles all over the shop, just not when in the hands of a genuine threat to their tenure as uncontested regional governors.

With only a 3% margin to the DA’s credit, this coming year will be fun on a bun.

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