Western Cape Independence and the South African Constitution

by Des Palm, CapeXit
30 June 2020

By way of this introduction CapeXit NPC wants to explain to the reader, your embedded rights, as contained within in the South African Constitution and International Articles concerning succession. The first in a series of articles will look at our rights as per the South African Constitution.

THE SA CONSTITUTION

The articles contained in this document, where there is an implied or direct reference to independence and/or the rights of minorities or a group of people is as follows:

Chapter 1.

The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values:

Human dignity, the achievement of equality, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms.
Non-racialism and non-sexism.
The supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.
Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters roll, regular elections, and a multi-party system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness, and openness.

There often is confusion as to the meaning of the opening line of this section and there is the misconception that it means no part may secede from SA.

Sovereignty is the full right and power of a governing body over itself, without any interference from outside sources or bodies.

Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to choose their governing legislation.

It should be clear that this section does not prohibit the secession of a portion of SA as it is sanctioned by the following chapters from the SA constitution.

We are often asked if what we are doing. i.e driving for independence can’t be seen as unlawful or criminal. I extract the following from the Constitution:

Chapter 19. Political rights

Every citizen is free to make political choices, which includes the right
to form a political party;
to participate in the activities of, or recruit members for, a political party; and
to campaign for a political party or cause.

Section 19 (c) gives us a constitutional right to campaign for a cause.

Chapter 235. Self-determination

The right of the South African people as a whole to self-determination, as manifested in this Constitution, does not preclude, within the framework of this right, recognition of the notion of the right of self-determination of any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity in the Republic or in any other way, determined by national legislation.

This section makes it abundantly clear that the right to self-determination does not only vest in the South African nation as a whole, but in peoples who share a common cultural and linguistic heritage.