Former finance minister, Tito Mboweni has issued his opinion concerning the Cape Independence proposal. He has said that this proposal will only divide the country further, saying that South Africa is a “united country and not a federal state”.
Mboweni called on the DA to “clearly pronounce themselves” on the idea of Cape Independence, saying that, “We need to politically deal with this Cape Independence group quickly. The DA must clearly pronounce themselves on this. Nip it in the bud. We are one united country, not a federal state.”
Last week, DA leader John Steenhuisen said that the idea of Cape Independence was a “waste of energy”.
Steenhuisen added that people should be focusing on other things instead of trying to break the province away from the rest of the country.
“We’ve said we don’t support Cape Independence, but people should have a right to a referendum to make choices going forward. We believe in a devolution of power to provinces. We think fighting for [Cape] independence is a waste of energy. What we should be doing is focusing on fighting for more powers [at a local level] for policing, transport, economic development, taxation, local government, water and electricity,” he said.
The Cape Independence campaign gained more momentum earlier this year when a non-political movement called CapeXit became involved. The movement is seeking to obtain the support of 1.6 million people to request a referendum on whether the Western Cape should be separated from South Africa.
According to the group, it has at least 820,575 members to date.
Sources: Times Live, World News
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