Let’s put this nonsense idea of secession of the Cape to rest, argues Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceofGasant. There is merit in arguing for a decentralised police service if it serves the people more effectively. But the DA should be careful of its new bedfellows and their agendas.
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
Living in South Africa is a lot! President Cyril Ramaphosa is running for the top job of the ANC again to pave the way for a second term. Eish! And apparently so is Jacob Zuma for a second coming of his own. Don’t be surprised if that happens.
Eskom can’t keep the lights on and its CEO Andre de Ruyter has found a bug in his car. (Tip, Andre: roll down the window. The bug will fly out of its own volition).
Also read: Eskom CEO De Ruyter suspects his car has been bugged
Some people desperately want out. Physically and literally. There are elements in the Western Cape who want to secede from Mzansi. No more Randelas, Springboks, Proteas, Bafana Bafana for you in the Republic of the Western Cape! We’re taking our biltong, boerewors, koesisters and gatsbys with us too.
It would be a good old joke if they weren’t being entertained by the governing party of the Western Cape, the Democratic Alliance. Or should that be the Devolution Alliance? Yes, we can argue that parties of common interest should band together around the right cause. And this cause, of decentralising policing to make it more effective, certainly is.
But it is the bedfellows of the DA that raises eyebrows.
The Western Cape Devolution Working Group the DA is working with reads like a band of misfits. They include the Freedom Front Plus (yikes), the anti-queer and anti-vaccine African Christian Democratic Party, Cape Independence Party (who want secession), Afriforum (eeuw, enough said), Cape Independence Advocacy Group (who want secession too) and two other organisations I’ve never heard of.
Helen Zille, the DA and other racist right wing groups are ready to re-establish legal apartheid in the Western Cape..
Black people in the WC are fcuked pic.twitter.com/6KvvfNlUw2
— Former Kleva Black?? ?? (@SneKhumaloSA) September 29, 2022
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It has been said that the establishment of a police force is the first step to preparing a region for secession. It is interesting that the DA, in its statement, left the door wide open. “The initial focus of the group will be on the devolution of policing powers to the province…”
A google search defines devolution as “the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by central government to local or regional administration.” Interestingly, it also defines it as “descent to a lower or worse state – the devolution of the gentlemanly ideal into a glorification of drunkenness”. Eina!
But the Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has quashed fears of us becoming a Republic. Ever the voice of reason, he assured citizens in an opinion piece penned for IOL: “We are not, and never have been, interested in seceding from South Africa. We are proudly South African.
“We support the Springboks, the Proteas and Bafana Bafana. We want to travel freely to friends and family in Johannesburg and Durban. And we feel kinship with all the diverse people of this beautiful land.”
I like the mayor. He told a radio station recently that he doesn’t take any meetings first thing in the morning because he wants to take his daughter to school before the business of the day starts. He is a guy who leads by example.
It is the other elements in his party I worry about.
Where did they get the mandate from to have a look beyond their ‘initial focus’ of policing? The people of the Western Cape need to be consulted before we have to get a visa to fly to Joburg. Heaven knows, the cost of a return flight to the City of Gold already costs the same as an international return flight.
Beyond the politics, Mayor Hill-Lewis’s call for decentralised policing for Cape Town is worth entertaining.
We haven’t had a solution to child murders, kidnappings of business people, killings and rape of young girls and women and gang violence. The refrain has been to call in the army but that in itself has challenging implications as armed forces are not trained to manage civilians.
Also read: Another kidnapping incident reported, Blackheath/Kuils River
It will be tempting for the DA to forge a broader coalition to hold on to the balance of power in the Western Cape and Cape Town. Indications are that they have lost ground in the city and province.
But they should be careful what they wish for.
It is one thing being run by The Smurfs. It is quite another having Bigot Smurf, Homophobe Smurf and Anti-Vaccine Smurf running around Council Chambers or the Western Cape Legislature as the price for political expediency.
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Picture: Facebook