Western Cape separatist delusions have endured since Jan van Riebeeck’s time
A colonial mentality is also to be found among ANC members with their ‘build a wall’ calls
Freedom Front Plus MP Corné Mulder recently told the Cape Town Press Club, “In the long run, an independent Western Cape is where our future lies.” This separatist delusion began with Jan van Riebeek imagining it might be possible to slice off the Cape peninsula from the rest of Africa. The mirage continues today with fanciful proposals to hive off the entire province, mostly punted by obscure groups that have never made any electoral impression. But now Mulder, his party’s Western Cape leader, insists “Western Cape independence impossible and unrealistic? Do not believe that for one minute. We are in Africa and in Africa anything is possible.”
It is astonishing that a party that represents mainly Afrikaners should, after the catastrophe of apartheid, continue to float white-driven experiments in a different form. With no apparent irony Mulder declared: “Morally and legally, all peoples have the right to decide how and why and by whom they want to be governed.” ..
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