The Referendum Party (RP) is a

secessionist Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

political party in South Africa established to compete in the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. The party was founded by members of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) in November 2023 in response to Western Cape premier

Alan Winde Alan Richard Winde (born 18 March 1965) is a South African politician and businessman. He is the 8th and current Premier of the Western Cape, having held the position since 2019. He has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament si ...

refusing to call a referendum on

Cape independence Cape independence (Afrikaans: ''Kaapse onafhanklikheid''; isiXhosa: ''inkululeko yaseKapa''), also known by the portmanteau CapeXit, is a secessionist political movement that seeks the independence of the Western Cape province (alongside Afrika ...

in October 2023. The Referendum Party does not seek to remove the Democratic Alliance (DA) from the Western Cape government, but to push the DA into adopting more radical policy positions, including calling a referendum on independence and ban the use of racial laws and categories. The party is led by Phil Craig, who was previously involved in the founding of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group. According to Craig, the Referendum Party is styled after the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

and Brexit Party members were consulted to help inform the party's policies.

History

Formation

The Referendum Party has its roots in the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG), a political lobby group set up to lobby the DA-led Western Cape government to hold a referendum on independence. After years of negotiations the CIAG together with other organisations which included the Freedom Front Plus, CapeXit, the Swartland Aksie Groep and others sent an ultimatum to Alan Winde with the backing of 30k signatures. It asked the premier to either call a referendum on independence or ask the president of South Africa to call one. The Premier refused. As a result, the CIAG launched the Referendum Party, to provide a safe haven for DA voters who also want a referendum on independence. The party was launched as a

single issue Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea. Political expression One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of faction ...

party solely focused on calling for a referendum on independence.

2024 South African General Election

In 2024, the party attempted to join the DA's Multi-Party Charter (MPC) national alliance, however the party's application was rejected due to the party's singular support for Cape independence. This is despite fellow MPC member the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) also being in favour of Cape independence. The FF+, RP and CapeXit NPO separately signed a joint electoral pact binding the parties to require a referendum on independence as part of any coalition condition in the Western Cape. The party failed to win any seats in the general election.

Extra parliamentary period (2024-present)

The RP stoped being singular issue after its disappointing electoral results and adopted a more broadly radical political stance in general. In late 2024, RP launched a non-racialism campaign which was aimed to raise awareness for its extra-parliamentary submitted amendment to the constitution to ban the use of racialised laws, and racial categories in general, in South Africa.

Election results

National Assembly elections

, - ! Election ! Party leader ! Total votes ! Share of vote ! Seats ! +/– ! Government , - !

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, Phil Craig , 3,834 , 0.02% , , New ,

Provincial elections

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, 0.26% , , 0/42

References

External links

Referendum Party

Cape Independence Advocacy Group
{{Use South African English, date=January 2023 Independence movements 2023 establishments in South Africa Political parties established in 2023 Political movements in South Africa Single-issue political parties in South Africa Politics of Africa Separatism in South Africa Western Cape Political parties of minorities in South Africa