The Referendum Party (RP) has recalibrated its mission and broadened its policy agenda ahead of the 2029 national and provincial elections, aiming to secure seats in both the Western Cape and National Parliaments.

While Cape Independence remains a cornerstone of its platform, the party has widened its focus to embrace the broader principles that underpin the independence movement. The RP’s initial priorities include advocating for a constitutional amendment to abolish race-based policies, pushing for provincial legislation to curb illegal land invasions in the Western Cape, backing the private referendum on Cape Independence organized by the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG), and promoting self-determination for minority and cultural communities across South Africa.

The party released a statement from its leader Phil Craig:

“The 2024 elections were disappointing for us. We know from polling that there are a huge number of people in the Western Cape who are very favourable to Cape Independence, but as a young party we were not able to convince them to vote for us or Cape Independence. The single-issue approach did not work and we must learn from that. We now have five years to prepare for the next provincial and national elections.

South Africa is in uncharted territory. For the time being at least, we have avoided the doomsday coalition and a meltdown, but we now have to come to terms with what the GNU means in practice. The reality is that for most of us, our nightmares have been avoided, but at the cost of us sacrificing our dreams. The ANC are still the dominant force in our national politics, and the sensible opposition parties have been co-opted into the system. This is very dangerous, but also offers significant opportunities to parties like the Referendum Party.

Our message is that South Africa does not have to exist as a country permanently trapped in a state of uncomfortable compromise. Communities can and should claim their legal right to self-determination and make decisions for themselves about how they are governed. If having done so, they then wish to cooperate on the basis of mutual benefit they can do so, but they will no longer have unacceptable compromises forced onto them against their will.

By championing legislation like our non-racialism bill and our illegal settlements bill, we will show people what is possible when they are willing to make a stand on the issues that are important to them.”

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