Is secession the only way forward?: Mpiyakhe Dhlamini

Key topics:

• Government failures fuel calls for secession as reform hopes fade

• ANC dominance blocks decentralisation and policy change in GNU

• Secession seen as leverage to force reform and local autonomy

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By Mpiyakhe Dhlamini*

The idea of secession offends many South Africans; they see it as a traitorous idea to even entertain. Yet, we have a country where unemployment and crime are at crisis levels and getting worse. These conditions are a direct result of government policy. Why is this not as offensive to us as is the idea of secession?

To be clear, it is not my preference that this country should split apart. But if separation is what it takes to force government action to make the obvious reforms for the benefit of South Africans, I would reluctantly support it. We have a situation in this country where the biggest party and biggest cause of the problems we face has lost its majority but will be part of any coalition for the foreseeable future.

This is because there is no realistic scenario in which parties like the EFF and DA can work together. And because of this, the ANC knows that it does not need to undertake serious reform. They can continue the policies that lost their majority, and they’ll still have effective control of policy in this country.

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Under these conditions, it is natural that there will be people who rationally conclude that there is no prospect of solving our biggest problems as a united country. And at the same time, those who believe decentralisation is an alternative to secession, must face the reality that the ANC has no political pressure to yield on decentralisation. If you can force them to decentralise, why can’t you get them to deregulate the labour market?

In fact, devolution of more power to provinces is a DA policy. How far has their GNU coalition partner, the ANC, compromised on this since the GNU was formed? What about DA labour and economic policy? The truth is, there has been very little movement on these fronts. In fact, this carries serious risk for the non-ANC parties in the GNU - voters may conclude that their policies are also unable to solve our problems. After all, you’re in coalition, but I still can’t get a job and my neighbourhood is still as dangerous as it was, likely even worse.

On the other hand, secession puts the fate of a community in its own hands. A strong secessionist movement does not require permission from the government; all you need to become your own country is the will of the people in that region and international support. You can even become de facto independent like Taiwan and Somaliland, if the central government is weak enough.

At this moment, I challenge anyone to show me any other ray of hope apart from secession. And this does not necessarily mean a successful secession movement needs to end up leaving the country. The end state of such a movement may be to force the central government into making concessions, this is exactly what has happened in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada, where secessionist movements (Scottish and Quebec independent movements being the most prominent) led to concessions on decentralisation.

The government needs to face the real prospect that it may lose part of the territory it controls if it does not concede on devolution. In Canada, Quebec even has some control over its foreign policy.

Everyone immediately assumes secession is a white Western Cape idea, but there are many parts of South Africa that chafe under the impositions of the central government. Everything from boundary changes that serve ANC/central government power at the expense of communities (Matatiele, Vuwani, etc.) to water and mining rights have been a cause of friction. 

In addition, some communities have taken steps to gain a measure of autonomy from central government (I am not saying these communities are fighting for secession): the Royal Bafokeng in the North West, Orania in the Northern Cape, traditional councils in places like the OR Tambo District of the Eastern Cape, Makhanda Citizens Front in the Eastern Cape etc. There is clearly a desire by many communities (not just the Western Cape and KZN) to gain greater control over their own fates.

In addition, many communities have some form of neighbourhood watch program, the richest parts of the country use private security to  replace police functions while poorer areas have vigilante groups which are often supported by the community. In fact, I don’t know of any community that doesn’t have some sort of attempt to replace police functions, yet the government refuses to decentralise policing.

This becomes more important if you think about what happened in KZN in July of 2021. Communities had to stand against mobs of rioters and looters on their own. In fact, they saved the government itself by preventing a complete breakdown of law and order. And what did the government do to thank these law-abiding citizens? It immediately tried to disarm these people, even though legal gun ownership was key to stopping the unrest and protecting communities.

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The sooner we abandon the delusion that the government is trying to do what is in our best interests and just doesn’t know better, the sooner we can get to the actual solutions to our problems. The truth is, there are many communities in this country that have the capability to take control over their own fate, but they first must get rid of the stigma of secession and embrace it as the only viable tool that can be used to extract concessions from the government.

Support for secession is not racist, it’s not traitorous (if patriotism means loving your people instead of a government that takes every opportunity to show you it doesn’t love you back), it makes economic sense and it is completely within our control as citizens unlike almost every other proposed solution. The only question is, will we love our country enough to realise this?

*Mpiyakhe Dhlamini is a libertarian, writer, programmer and an Associate of the Free Market Foundation.