RP: DA’s Economic Plan Won’t Rescue South Africa – But Could Save the Western Cape ‍

The following is a press release from the Referendum Party:

The Referendum Party (RP) welcomes the DA’s newly announced economic plan, describing it as a credible set of reforms – but warns it will never be implemented nationally while the ANC controls the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Since joining the GNU, the DA has suffered defeat after defeat: the ANC stacked the Cabinet, the BELA and Expropriation Acts were signed into law, whilst key appointees like Andrew Whitfield and Emma Powell have been neutralised.

RP Leader Phil Craig said: “The DA’s plan looks good on paper, but in the GNU they can’t even win the small fights – never mind the big ones. The DA warned about a ‘doomsday coalition’ last year – and then walked straight into it. Everything they said would happen, has happened, under their watch. That’s not rescuing South Africa – that’s enabling the ANC to drive it off a cliff.” 

The RP says the problem is not the plan itself, but the political reality. South Africa is divided by irreconcilable ideologies – non-racialism versus African nationalism and open markets versus patronage politics – and nationally, the DA and the values they represent are in the minority. In the Western Cape, however, there is a clear majority for reform, and the DA already holds the mandate to govern.

Craig added: “Cape Independence, or even meaningful autonomy, would allow the DA to implement their plan tomorrow in the Western Cape. But instead of empowering Cape voters to decide their own future, they have repeatedly refused to hold a referendum – even though it’s the only way to make their own promises real.” 

RP maintains that Cape Independence is the only way to unleash the Western Cape’s full economic potential, shield it from the ANC’s disastrous economic agenda, and give its people the freedom to build the prosperous future Pretoria will never allow.