Cape Independence Advocacy Group and uMkhonto weSizwe meet to discuss self-determination, agree to public debate
The CIAG and MK have fundamentally opposing views on self-determination. MK has drafted a constitutional amendment which seeks to remove s235 from the Constitution, whilst the CIAG has drafted enabling legislation for s235 and seeks to operationalise the right, moving it beyond the abstract and grounding it in relatable issues such as devolved policing in the Western Cape and the protection of Afrikaans as a medium of education.
Mzwanele Manyi (MK) and Phil Craig (CIAG) met to discuss their differences and had an extremely cordial but frank exchange of views. In their discussion, self-determination was downstream of transformation. Both organisations shared a genuine desire for a fair, just, non-racial society, but they had radically differing views on how that could be achieved.
Mr Manyi was firmly of the view that non-racialism will only be achieved when South Africa achieves demographic representivity, and that pervasive state intervention, including the use of race, is essential to realising this goal.
In sharp contrast, Mr Craig was of the view that non-racialism must mean exactly that, and that addressing South Africa’s structural inequalities should be tackled using individual circumstance as opposed to the flawed proxy of race.
These starkly differing world views are highly significant when considering the importance of self-determination. South Africa’s national majority is imposing views similar to those held by Mr Manyi, but these do not have the democratic consent of all those they impact.
This is most clearly demonstrated in the Western Cape, where the majority of voters have habitually rejected this ideology and the national policies which seek to implement it. The right of self-determination is the essential democratic safety valve which protects sub-national communities like the people of the Western Cape from domination. In response, it is often said that if they disagree, they must vote for a different government — but the reality is that the majority of them have never once voted for their national government, and they cannot themselves vote to remove it. They are a national minority.
The CIAG argues that this is precisely the purpose of the right to self-determination: it is why it has become a non-derogable right of international law which South Africa is obliged to uphold, and why removing section 235 from the Constitution will not remove the right of all people to self-determination. A copy of the CIAG’s planned submission to Parliament explains why and can be read here.
The CIAG invites media houses which would like to host a debate between Mr Manyi and Mr Craig to get in touch.
DATE: 23 April 2026
