Growing Anarchy in the Western Cape

The Western Cape is slowly beginning to resemble anarcho-tyranny. This may sound exaggerated, but once you understand the current developments in the province, this claim is difficult to ignore. At this point you will be stuck with a choice to stay apathetic or act, as Burke warned, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

What is anarcho-tyranny?

Anarcho-tyranny is a condition where the government fails to enforce basic order, yet aggressively regulates responsible citizens through selective power.

Anarcho-tyranny is a two-tier society, where one set of rules applies to some and not to others. Lawlessness is tolerated, and often indirectly incentivised, while responsible citizens are penalized through rates, taxes, fines, and compliance costs.

Let’s now see how this is taking root and growing in the Western Cape.

Government failure to enforce basic order

When it comes to the failure by the current Cape government to enforce law and order, the best place to look is at lawless land invasions and the growth of informal settlements. Efforts to combat this trend by the local government has been weak and ineffective. Statistically we see this reality in the shrinking rate of formal settlements from 85% in 2003 to 82% in 2013, and 80% in 2023. This means (based on population statistics from these years) that around 678,000 people lived in informal settlements in 2003, 1,080,000 in 2013, and 1,486,000 people in 2023. More people live in informal settlements today then in 2013.

To see the scale of lawless land invasion you don’t need data. Just open your eyes when driving on the N2 or N7. Examples include Tygerberg Raceway, Grabouw, Hermanus and Sandown Road N7. These pictures (sourced from Living Atlas) show the scale of the problem.

Hermanus informal settlement growth near Hermanus Beach Club

Tygerberg Raceway informal settlement growth

Grabouw informal settlement growth (Ou Kaapse Way meets N2)

Sandown Road off N7 informal settlement growth

For the average Capey it’s painfully clear that the current Western Cape government is increasingly unable to prevent lawless land invasions. These episodes show unchecked anarchy. Is this intentional or does it show a weak, irresponsible and apathetic government? The problem worsens when you consider the role of “free stuff” political movements, like the Land Party, who incentivise entitlement and lawlessness through promises of free stuff.

The Land Party

The Land Party emerged in Hermanus about a decade ago and has since remained locally active, currently holding two seats on the Overstrand municipal council. Its stated agenda centres on land expropriation, the transfer of state land to the “poor,” and aggressive rhetoric, including calls for AfriForum to be declared a terrorist organisation. While framed as pro-poor, their positions always concentrate power in the hands of a small leadership group typically led by a “Great Leader” and risk harming both genuinely poor residents and the middle class.

In December 2025, the Land Party claimed on Facebook that it had helped scrap municipal debts for over 20 000 households, raising serious questions about governance and financial accountability in Hermanus. If accurate, this would likely form part of the R53 million in irrecoverable debt written off by the DA-led Overstrand Council.

This point leads directly to the second element of anarcho-tyranny: shifting the problem onto responsible citizens.

Government penalizing responsible citizens

Municipal debt scrapping, such as what the Overstrand saw in 2025, does not remove the cost of services but shifts it elsewhere such as onto responsible ratepayers and property owners typically the middle class. This creates a two-tier system in which some residents receive services for free while others pay in full. This is financially unsustainable (unless money gets shuffled in from elsewhere) and it undermines trust in local government. This is anarcho-tyranny. The government fails to enforce basic order by collecting municipal bills, while at the same time penalizing the responsible citizens through rates.

While to my knowledge rates have not yet been increased in the Overstrand, they have been raised in the City of Cape Town, where areas such as Tygerberg Raceway and many other informal settlements are located.

The City of Cape Town has introduced above-inflation increases to property rates and municipal charges for the 2025/26 financial year, with the proposed property rate increase set at about 7.96 %. This adjustment applies to residential, commercial, and industrial properties.

Apart from standard rate hikes, Cape Town’s budget also includes new fixed charges, such as a city-wide cleaning tariff and fixed water and sanitation charges linked to property values, which have been particularly contentious and are being legally challenged by ratepayer groups.

We are told that City officials say that property rates are crucial for, among other things, “providing free or subsidized services…” Apparently non-profits and certain social facilities receive exemptions.

Remember that Anarcho-tyranny is a two-tier society, where one set of rules applies to some and not to others. Lawlessness is tolerated, and often indirectly incentivised, while responsible citizens are penalized through rates, taxes, fines, and compliance costs. Are the rate increases the penalizing of responsible residents for the government’s failure to collect from all citizens? Surely a functional, moral Cape Town is one where everyone contributes, not just a select group. Why extract from some and not others? Two-tier societies are immoral. This is in fact South Africa, an unethical two-tier system of anarcho-tyranny where one set of rules applies to some and not to others

Note that when it comes to collecting money for municipal services such as electricity, water, refuse removal and sanitation, South Africa’s local governments, including the City of Cape Town, rely on the “equitable share” to fund basic services and support indigent households. The equitable share is an unconditional transfer from national revenue to provinces and municipalities. Municipalities also administer indigent support programmes, offering free or subsidised services to qualifying low-income households. Well, it’s not really free because taxpayers and ratepayers have to fit the bill.

Here is the crux. When the national equitable share does not fully cover costs, municipalities must raise the difference through other revenue sources, such as property rates and service charges from the responsible residents. For example, if basic services for 5,000 registered indigent households cost R30 million annually, but the equitable share provides only R25 million, the municipality must raise the remaining R5 million locally. Typically, this involves writing off the debt as “irrecoverable,” balancing the books, and claiming a clean audit. Clever bookkeeping.

As elsewhere in South Africa, we can assume that corruption exists within the indigent system. Some households may be registered as indigent despite being able to pay, while others are no doubt genuinely in need. The challenge is that, in South Africa, corruption is rightly assumed.

Looking at the growth of lawless land invasions and informal settlements as well as the pressure being exerted on responsible citizens through rates, it is clear that the Western Cape is slowly beginning to resemble anarcho-tyranny.

Anarcho-tyranny is an immoral system doomed to failure, and it must be stopped before it’s too late. A fire is burning that must be extinguished swiftly. If those responsible fail to act, this situation will spiral out of control. In the long term, the Western Cape risks becoming a failed state; in the short term, it is already experiencing anarcho-tyranny, where lawlessness goes unpunished while responsible citizens are penalized through rates and other taxes.

This system is deeply unjust. Anyone complicit in raising taxes to fund free handouts should be ashamed, repent, and seek forgiveness from God. Leadership must restore order, punish lawlessness, and protect those who act responsibly.

What do we do?

The way forward is twofold. Firstly, we must all take this seriously and build independent institutions to mitigate against anarcho-tyranny. These groups should cover the following areas:

• Media
• Ratepayers and Property Owners (New)
• Business
• Security
• Resources
• Education

What can you build this year? Why not get involved with the Cape Indy newspaper?

Secondly we have to vote away from the golden cow who has and is overseeing the Cape’s drift into anarcho-tyranny. The golden cow is the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has led not only the province but many local municipalities, such as Overstrand and Cape Town, for many years now. Both provincial and local governments are political bodies because they are made up of politicians. This is certainly true at the top of the structure, less so at the bottom of the municipality. DA internal structures are separate, but the de facto reality is that a DA-led council is guided by the DA.

I will likely be accused of “misinformation”, “political bias” or “fear-mongering”. These are childish labels rather than serious arguments. The fact is that Caapmen must wake up now, before the fire of anarchy grows too large to contain. What are you going to do?