Capetonians ‘have tasted good service delivery’ - Steenhuisen
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says residents of Cape Town want to be separate from the rest of the country due to the party’s track record on service delivery in the province.
Steenhuisen made the remarks during a protest in Mitchell’s Plain.
The party is objecting what is deems Police Minister Bheki Cele’s efforts “to hijack local law enforcement”.
But he admitted fighting for the Western Cape's independence would be a waste of time.
“We’ve said that we don’t support independence. We however do believe that people should have a right through referendums to make choices going forward. We believe in a devolution of power to the province.
“We think that fighting for independence is a waste of energy. What we should be doing is focusing on fighting for more powers policing, transport, economic development, taxation, local government water electricity to be devolved to citizens that can do the work properly. We believe that if you did that right.
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“The only reason why you have an independence movement is because people in the Western Cape have tasted the DA government.”
The DA is not the only party that believes that the Western Cape should be given more autonomy.
Civil Rights group AfriForum has also headed to the Constitutional Court in a bid to force Parliament to change South Africa’s referendum legislation.
This will give premiers legislated powers to call for a referendum.
