The DA, somewhat against expectation, won a clear majority in the recent election in the Western Cape. It is now the sole province beyond the direct control of the ANC. Why?
While the exact reasons for this win are probably complex, it may be interesting to examine a slightly different perspective. In this view we are going to try and look at why Cape Town and not Johannesburg or Durban, for example, defined the ANC’s first breakaway region. It is tempting to simply point to racial demographics as the sole reason for Cape Town’s belligerent voting pattern. I think that this would be a mistake.
As per the 2001 census, the racial demographics of the Western Cape are given as follows:
Coloured — 53.91%
White — 18.41%
Black — 26.68%
Indian — 1.00%
So that’s 81.59% of the population that could be termed previously disadvantaged and would by the racial demographic argument not have voted for a party that the ANC takes delight in promoting as a rightwing white apartheid throwback. Clearly other forces and considerations made the voters pick a dynamic white granny to head up the improvement of their lives instead of Jacob Zuma.
In the field of geopolitics, it is broadly understood that geography affects politics. No surprise there. This means that the geography of a region may have certain underlying realities associated with it which make the human population that live there make certain political choices. People adapt to survive depending on their physical environment from basic day-to-day living to the higher-level social and political interactions.
A government in Sweden, for example, that seems to be unable to provide affordable energy for heating will swiftly be replaced by one that can (in fact Russia used almost exactly this tactic in Ukraine to destabilise the government there). The cold climate is a geographical reality that manifests in political decision-making. The two are inextricably linked. Understanding of geopolitical subtleties, therefore, may be an invaluable tool for political parties seeking to define and model their electorate.
The geography of the Western Cape, like many other things about the Western Cape is quite different from the rest of the country. Cape Town is isolated from the rest of South Africa and this has important geopolitical implications.
Johannesburg, the economic engine room of both South Africa and in many ways of Africa itself, lies at the business end of a fairly desolate 1400km road through the arid Karoo from Cape Town. The mining, financial and industrial giant that is the greater Johannesburg Pretoria mega city drives the economy. The raw materials and products needed and produced are shipped in and out via deep-water ports in Durban and Richard’s Bay and flown into and out of OR Tambo International airport.
Cape Town seldom forms a vital link in this commercial chain beyond companies with niche industries located there. The economy of the Western Cape is therefore based on different things. Tourism is paramount, as is the wine industry and other fruit farming, the fashion and textile industry as well as various service industries.
The Western Cape, in addition is climatically quite different to the rest of the country. It has a Mediterranean climate with dry hot summers and cool wet winters. It is so ecologically isolated that it has evolved its own unique and prolific floral kingdom quite different from anything else in South Africa and in fact the world.
Historically this climatic difference formed a barrier and halted western expansion by Nguni tribes whose cattle could not thrive in the Cape climate. It was therefore pure geography that ensured that European settlers did not run into the Xhosa armies when they landed at the Cape in 1652. Instead they encountered a scattered Khoisan population that posed no real threat to establishing a European presence at the Cape. This breathing space essentially lessened the colonial “cost” of making Cape Town into the outpost it became.
In addition to being largely free of hostile inhabitants, the Cape also provided European settlers with a climatic replica of home. Imported Mediterranean crops flourished, the wine industries of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal were soon replicated in the Cape and European crops were soon established in the fertile valleys. The Cape was viable. It had no malaria and was on a vital shipping route. Cape Town opened its doors for business to the outside world.
Essentially, the Cape did not need the interior of South Africa to do its trade. It forged links with the world by sea and was independent of the interior in almost all respects. Even as the interior of South Africa began to develop, Cape Town kept its direct links to the rest of the world wide open. European tourists still flock to Cape Town, barely bothering to stop over in Johannesburg which they vexingly must fly through to get there in most cases. I say most cases because certain airlines even offer direct flights to Cape Town.
After the Great Trek, wars with the Xhosa, the Zulu and the Basotho, the Boer wars and all the other fighting had finally died down, South Africa as we know it was forged. The geography of the Reef and Kimberley had created a far more complex set of parameters affecting the politics of the country. The European expansion into the interior was driven initially by global power shifts and politics and finally by mineral extraction and all of the associated support industries that went with it. The geography of this mineral wealth as well as our bigger rivers defined our borders and our conflicts for the century to come. We could waffle on about race here but actually it has little to do with anything. The conflicts in South Africa had everything to do with geography and resources and who had the power to control them. It still does.
Even as part of one country, however, the Cape was still isolated and followed a different path of development to the rest of South Africa. Whether it’s wading onto the beach to save whales, protesting about the Seapoint promenade, issuing passports for Hout Bay, parading through the city at New Year with brass bands or washing penguins, Capetonians have a noticeably different outlook and culture to many of the rest of South Africa’s citizens. Its direct links to the international community and its melting pot of ethnicity have nurtured this uniqueness. Cape Town is the sum of its geography and its associated relationships.
Even when it comes to electricity and powering the Cape, for example, the standard technology does not apply. South Africa’s massive coal reserves lie neatly next door to Johannesburg and are expensive to truck all the way down to Cape Town. In addition, the distance from Witbank to Cape Town is around 1500km which presents some really big technical issues in running long transmission lines all the way there (1500km is the exact quarter wavelength of the 50Hz waveform leading to unstable standing wave conditions, if anyone was actually curious). Out of geographic necessity, Koeberg was born. Cape Town is nuclear because it is isolated from the reef and far from coal.
Now what does any of this have to do with the DA’s win in Cape Town?
Because of the Western Cape’s isolation, its greater links to the international community, its climate and its different cultural demographic, it was always going to have different requirements to the rest of the country when it came to governance. The geography of the Cape has subtly dictated its politics. From this perspective, it was, in hindsight, always going to be a province likely to vote in an opposition party more aligned with its own geopolitical needs and realities.
It’s no surprise then that it was a progressive locally-led party, more aligned with an international developed-world view that scooped the votes in the Cape. It was hidden in the geography. What is truly surprising and highly encouraging, however, is that a large proportion of previously disadvantaged voters decided to overlook Helen Zille’s colour and the ANC propaganda about the DA and voted for her anyway.
Perhaps an interesting related exercise is to try and estimate which province may be next to align itself with an opposition party better suited to its own particular geopolitical requirements? I think the two most likely candidates are the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (which was previously the only other province to buck ANC rule); both for completely different reasons. Although neither of these provinces represents as clear a geopolitical difference between themselves and the rest of South Africa as the Western Cape does, both have factors pointing to them being the next province to move away from ANC rule.
If the DA or Cope or perhaps in the case of KZN, the IFP, were to exploit these differences carefully, align their message to the geopolitical reality and work hard to engender themselves to the inhabitants, they may reap a province for their efforts in the next election.
Thank you, this is a fascinating perspective.
there’s a certain faction of the population in western cape which easily get fooled–and it always holds deciding vote.
a bulky of it has, in one way or the other, benefitted from the apartheid system, and they still see that race (which was at the centre of the apartheid system) as their gods.
what is astounding about this population is that it cannot even trust a person of its race (unlike indians in kzn, afrikaneers in orania, zulus in kzn, and tswanas (as in the case of lucas mangope) in nw).
rather, it rallies behind one race i.e. its former ‘gods’. thus it would always vote for any party led by the person of that race.
Stratfor would approve.
Siphiwo, were you ever in the local government administration in the Western Cape? That’s where I heard that argument before. Much embarrassment and resignations ensued due to racist and offensive nature of remarks.
Do you honestly believe that one ‘race’ has a monopoly on being gullible? Do you honestly believe that this non-white ‘race’ benefited from the apartheid regime or are you daring to introduce relativity into this debate. Don’t go the degrees of relativity route unless you want it to blow your entire belief system out of the water completely and be left, shamelessly naked, as a sacrifice before the altar of power.
If one-person one-vote doesn’t work for you, why did you want it so bad?
good article, interesting perspective on geopolitics.
standard response from S2, who really is frustrated that the WC is the only province in SA that follows a truly democratic model, where people vote for who can deliver..this doesn’t conform with the rabid anc supporters model of democracy, which is more aligned with the north korean idea of democracy, similar to the highlander view of “there can be only one”.
expect a similar standard of low intelligence response from Phillipa (“what about the obvious similarities between the DA & Nazis – although don’t expect elaboration on this) and Dave ‘its gone over my head again’ Harris.
Siphiwo…you are as racist as any of the groups of people you vilify…get off your hypocrasy pedestal and come down and join the real South Africa..
@Siphiwo squared – are you capable of thinking in terms other than race?
stick to elctronics…
Perspective is incorrect as it ignores history. PW Botha with his tricameral parliament looked for a way to split the previously disadvantaged. He succeeded the Coloured population fears not being black enough. That is a mpre accurate perspective than a geopolitical stretch, note the National Party in 1994 won 53% of the vote. The same story repeats.
Siphiwo Siphiwo – so coy not labelling the race groups you refer to and belittle. Perhaps it is this type of thinking by, to use your words, “a certain race group”, together with poor ANC service delivery and infighting, which lead to the loss?
As for the article itself – very insightful and interesting!!! Thank you.
Oh yes, Siphiwo. Voters in the W Cape (you mean coloured voters apparently) are deluded, dependent, and psychologically colonised. They clearly need their betters (you, apparently) to educate them about how to vote in their own best interests. How lucky for us that you’re around.
I’ll quibble with this though: “The conflicts in South Africa had everything to do with geography and resources and who had the power to control them. It still does”.
Not quite. One should rather say that in the evolution of racial capitalism in Southern Africa, the native races (black and brown) were forced into the category of “resources” except for the San who belonged rather more to “geography” and therefore could be hunted down along with the wildlife.
One cannot get away from the enormity of racism so easily. But I agree, it’s a fascinating perspective and certainly makes much sense from this side of the Karoo.
interesting thesis … up to the conclusions. you describe the geography and the economics but don’t link this – what exactly are its geopolitical needs and realities ? is your thesis that because they grow wine they must vote for a european ? surely not …
this thread is marginally less wayward than Siphiwo’s comment about “former god’s” ….
perhaps it comes down to service delivery and people in the wcape feeling disenfranchised from the power and control in SA ?
or maybe its a failure to identify with a zulu leader of the anc ?
or maybe its frustration with the failures of the Rasool led government ?
or maybe its something different … but i doubt tourism or the penguins have much to do with it …
Thank you Grant for providing us with this crucial information. I asked for this information immediately after HZ’s party won in the WC. It was on this suspicion that I predicted HZ party would be reduced to a very small representation in the next national elections unless she changed her strategy to include a diversified base of supporters beyond WC.
Mbenge Ziko
Siphiwo Siphiwo, don’t be too hard on the Coloreds in WC. Lets face it, the ANC disappointed everyone across the board in the last decade. Zille has managed to fool them (Coloreds) once in this election, I doubt that she will fool them again.
The DA has to walk the talk and place enough Coloreds and Africans in the upper echelons of their power structure to be truely representative of the voting population otherwise they (DA – NP-lite party) will be relagated to history. I sincerely hope that the DA will do the right thing and transform now – starting with a more gender balanced cabinet.
Clever article, factually based and well thought through. Shows how good the Engineering qualification is and how we don’t need to be specifically trained in politics and economics to contribute to public thinking.
Can’t say same for Siphiwo Siphiwo, who misses the point of the article – that people follow parties who articulate their local / real / physical needs, not just race. The implication for the ANC is that its obsession with national centralisation leaves the periphery open to capture.
It sounds rather like it to me. Do you think that the coloured people in Cape Town can’t see that Helen Zille is the best leader around?
I have never read such absolute tripe!
It is obvious you live in Gauteng and have no clue about the Cape.
The coloureds voted for Helen because they have been humiliated, taunted and insulted by the ANC for 15 years, and I could give you many examples.
And you have to go much further South than the Fish River to hit the Mediterranean climate,pal. Further proof that you don’t know the Cape. I live near Plett. Not a Mediterranean climate at all – more like Hawaii.
The Cape does not like racisn. It never has. It has voted against black racism, like it previously voted agsinst white racism
Anf the coloureds (and whites like me) abandoned Patricia De Lille because she went back on her word and supported the ANC mayoral choice for Cape Town.
We want no unity governments in the Cape. Let the ANC enforce those in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
And the indigenous people of South Africa are the Khoisan, not the Nguni or Bantu or the whites. THIS is their homeland.
Even Shaka,himself, said that he descended from a chief that came from the Congo in the 16th century.
So do archeological, historic and linguistic records show. The “blacks” of Africa all came from Central Africa on the Niger Congo Delta. The rest of Africa was brown – until the Arabs started the slave trade in about the 9th century and dispersed blacks all over the continent.
Grant
Here is an example for you. The Teachers Union just trashed a school in Soweto. Why?
The parents and Governing Body of the school want a coloured teacher appointed principal because he is the better teacher ( over 70% on his performance grading). The Court has ordered the Department of Education to appoint him, but they have not obeyed the order.
Why? Because the Union wants the black teacher ( performance just over 50%) made principal – because he is black not coloured.
Hey, I could pull out a few obscure geopolitical facts and historical records to explain why the DA controls the Western Cape. ‘But most of this nonsense is pure speculation, even based on non sequiturs. The writer’s opinions do not qualify as fact. Hardly. In other countries, they conduct opinion polls, even exit surveys from voters leaving the booth at the time of the elction. The HSRC may even have some useful stats to browse through to help the writer make a stronger and more carefully researched hypothesis.
There, one could perform a more plausible analysis, comparing stats and weghing many variables, amongst them, age, race, sex, income group, political affiliation, etc. ‘But no, the writer had to go for this half-baked Matric-level essay of made up, loosely assembled facts to support a preconceived notion, presented misleadingly as a hypothesis, that the Western Cape is predisposed to vote DA. What if the voters decide to go ANC in the next election ? Are you going to revisit your geopolitical and historical models ?
Don’t be lazy; just because you could be right doesn’t mean that you are. Do the proper research to back your suggestions. A quick scroll through your SA history books doesn’t cut it. This newspaper, and you the writer, could do better.
“Even as the interior of South Africa began to develop, Cape Town kept its direct links to the rest of the world wide open.”
This sentence is the essence ofthe article. The pikkewyne are just an anecdote.
Good read.
@lyndall B – you are ranting. What exactly are you disagreeing with???
This report would all be logical if it were not for the fact that the DA’s vote comes from the racial groups that identify the least with the ANC. Race has to be a factor in analysing the split in the vote within the Western Cape. Why do most so-called coloured voters vote DA and why do black people mostly not vote DA? However much we would like race not to be a factor as it reduces us to stereotyping and generalisation, we are bound to do that by the perceptions of many voters in the Western Cape that political parties represent races in some way. Ugly but true. Until we have a party that tries to go beyond race as a means to reach out to its broad support this will go on. The DA will do no better job of helping people in Khayelitsha than the ANC have done, and people who live there know that, but they many who live there still see the ANC as ‘their’ party. Southern suburbs dwellers in Cape Town don’t believe the ANC can help them with basic everyday worries that the ANC seem to ignore.
The fact that these class differences coincide with racial differences is a legacy of apartheid but it cannot be ignored. To pretend that race has little to do with the DA’s popular vote and give Cape Town an almost mystical ‘detachment’ from the rest of South Africa is fantasy.
god, lyndall, not again.
one of the *nice* things about american [as in united states] racism was rules regarding hypodescent: one drop made you black; one-eighth made you legally so. the us census split hairs between the two until the first census after puerto ricans became us citizens [that would be 1920, if you wanted to know].
because listening to lyndall whine about “brown” [where i'm from that's black, for the most part, btw] is getting really annoying. and it’s nearly as racist as siphiwo, just in another way.
underlining differences in melanin being used, yet again, as an indicator of superiority. but south african racism, and south african affirmative action; both have “white is better” as an undercurrent. such sentiment is Just Not Tolerated[tm] in my house.
if the effort that i had to make just to undo the white-is-right brainwashing of my son is any indication, i’m glad that i’m doing well to make as minimal contact with south africans as possilbe during my sentence in this place.
[this boy cried when i told him that afrikaans was the slave language. refused to believe it. actually told his principal to tell me i'm wrong.]
it reminds me of a recent post written by a friend of mine who would be “coloured” or “mixed-race” in almost any country except the one in which he was born — the usa.
http://fly-brother.blogspot.com/2009/05/black-like-me.html
Coloured — 53.91%
White — 18.41%
Black — 26.68%
Indian – 1.00%
Who gave the DA that 51%?
ex-Zimbabwean
Actually the British had all kinds of laws protecting the Khoisan – even that farmers had to shoot game to feed them
And they found they could not be imprisoned or they died (like the Masai) which was a problem as stock theft was their favorite hobby.
So a Christian family offered to have any prisoners on parole in an outbuilding in their home.
Luckily for history – because the recordings of what they wrote down are now being analysed and we are beginning to understand the Khoisan rock paintings.
And because they were protected – is why one township in the Karoo found the population is almost pure Khoisan (DNA testing)
So I think BEE should be based on DNA and only Khoisan blood should qualify.
Dave….*yawn*…move on.
Grant, you might be interested in Mr. Kaplan’s latest article – The revenge of geography.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4862
See critics of the geopolitical (his)approach respond:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4979
The Khoisan were indeed the indigenous people of South Africa – they were at the Cape long before the Bantu and Nguni and Europeans arrived in South Africa. The coloureds are the offshoot of the Khoisan, thus they are the indigenous SAfricans. This is well documented. Black racism (ANC style) is as bad as white racism (NP style). Coloureds should be proud of who they are. Thank God for the Western Cape! Viva Democracy!
Lyndall Beddy how can you quote Shaka whwn you was not there. What is “black” to you or “brown” as you put it? By the way before the white man came there was no borders so dont start on this story of South Africa being so and so’s homeland.
Walliser makes a few minor errors, but Lyndall Beddy is the one who demonstrates less understanding of the Cape, despite the fact that she lives here. What is important is not so much the extreme Mediterranean climate, which is indeed much further south and west, but the Summer/Winter rainfall divide, which runs on a line roughly from PE through Upington through Windhoek. Blacks could not live west of this line until opportunities were available beyond raising cows and summer crops. That’s the key to the demographics. Lyndall Beddy should know that her summer rainfall in Plett is part of a unique micro-climate, caused by the fact that the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains run very close to the sea at that point. Drive over the pass to Awontuur or Joubertina and I promise you it’s nothing like Hawaii at all.
People opposed to the ANC often times suprise me. They seem to associate deomcracy with views counter to the ANC.
In Limpopo voters chose the ANC. For them that is the party that delivers – houses, water, roads food etc.
As for the uniqueness of WC, I think the demographics say a mouth full. The majority coloured people can not like “Die Swaartes”. It was not only in th WC where this view is held. Eesterust in Tshwane was awash with th “Stop Zuma” posters prior to the elections. I venture to say that would have been also the case in Reiger Park, Eldos, Rieverelee and others. The tricameral parliament residues are still obviuos there.To think that they will change is rather asking too much of them.
um, lyndall –
the only parts of hawaii that have similar weather to plett are at 6,000 feet — and almost nobody lives at that altitude there.
i’m taking it that you’ve never been there.
btw, mediterranean includes, oh, the south of france and and the dalmatian coast as well as, you know spain, portugal and greece.
having, oh, you know, lived in both nice and genoa, i can pretty much tell you that it is similar weather. [it actually snowed in marseille this year, for only the sixth time in 100 years.]
there’s a reason that the same grapes grow both in le midi as here. similar-ish sandy soils, similar weather. only thing missing are lots of rivers that flow year-round, but a high water table makes up for this.
and dave harris:
where were you complaining — i missed it when both rasool and brown had cabinets that contained, including the premier, exactly two and one women, respectively?
also, with all this whinging about this white woman making such a “pale male” executive, i don’t see why the anc didn’t make ina cronje premier in kzn. i mean, given the way that anc likes to make cheap shots, that would have been the easiest way to point-score, right?
Although the article makes the suggestion that the Wetern Cape has unique needs, by virtue of its geographical setting, you do not offer any evdience of the DA having tailored their manifesto to these unique geographical demands.
1. Can you please cite one example of something that the DA promised or campaigned around, that is unique to the needs of the Western Cape, at the exclusion of the rest of the coutry.
2. I am not necessarily a DA supporter, I would put it you though, that the DA won the Western Cape to the increased service delivery in Cape Town while Helen Zille was the mayor there.
In other words, a track record of performace and delivery will be appealing to voters, irrespective of their geograhpical positioning and/or needs.
Great, geopolitical angle. However keep in mind the following three developments in the Western Cape the 2 or 3 years prior to the previous election.
1) Ex-mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo , her side-kick Blackman Ngoro and Mcebisi Skwatsha’s “africanist” cabal kicked the Colourds out of the ANC in the Western Cape. Thereby ensuring that they lose more than 25% of the vote in the WC. The whole thing played out in the local newspapers.
2) Patricia de Lille, who’s party were heartedly welcomed in 2004, supported Mfeketo in 2006 for Mayor of Cape Town against Zille, not realizing how despised Mfeketo was amoungstmost of her (Patricia’s) own, and potential new, supporters. (Because of the Ngoro saga) De Lille lost masses of her supporters and potential new ones on the spot, say 15% of the vote in the WC. Every local newspaper carried the story daily.
3) Helen Zille is perceived to be a good leader. She, and her party, is not corrupt, she has an excellent non-racist background and don’t play the race card. She gets things done. The DA picked up the 25% mentioned in 1) and the 15% mentioned in 2) above.
That, plus their old support base gave the DA a majority. Patricia can’t undo what she did. The ANC might, but does not have the will or the skill to play nicely, without making race, instead of corruption, crime and delivery their cornerstone.
The elephant in the room which Mr. Walliser is trying to hide is the fact that the ANC got 47% of the vote in 2004 (considerably more than the DA), and got 40% of the vote in Cape Town in 2006 (just 2% less than the DA).
There’s been no objective change since then. Rassool’s government was not notably inept in the Western Cape, while Zille’s government in Cape Town had some extremely dodgy passages (her association with protection racketeers in Mitchell’s Plain and her links with organised crime via the Fivaz organisation) and hasn’t been brilliant from a working-class perspective (although the rich have done very nicely under her short rule).
No, to my mind the big achievement of the DA in the Western Cape was attained by Jacob Zuma, in firing Rassool, disbanding the two most effective ANC districts, and putting violently anti-coloured racists in charge of the ANC’s provincial election campaign.
All rise and salute the great Zuma! It woz the Zum wot wunnit!
No doubt Nomainda and Wallace are missing their R600/person breakfasts brought in from the Radisson every morning.
Blackman Ngoro!! How could I forget about him? And yet, I had, until Vic took us down Memory Lane. The horror…But had I been a “coloured” voter I doubt if I’d forget being told that I was culturally inferior to black people and would die a drunken death along with my race group, if I didn’t undergo “ideological transformation”.
And, to add to the shame, I think he might even be a fellow Zimbabwean. Oh…my…gosh. I wonder where he is now? Back in Japan, maybe, after not even being ashamed to drag his little boy into the public mess by naming him a “proud Coloured” (his mother being Japanese).
As for the last post: It seems a bit ridiculous to say that Helen Zille has “links with organised crime”. You may be the Creator but you still need to provide some actual facts if you want to attract believers.
Mundundu
You have made my point – thank you!
Hlabira
I saw “Stop Zuma” as “Stop 2/3rd for the ANC and Protect the Constitution”
So did other people WHO LIVE HERE IN THE WESTERN CAPE.
Ant Wilson says it better.
Race will continue to play a big part in the way we vote, or even interact in South Africa. Anybody who keeps on wanting to discount that is just delusional.
I am a black South African, and the last time I was in Cape Town was 9 years ago for work.
By the anecdotal evidence I get from other black south Africans, nothing has changed much.
Will I be seen in Cape Town soon? sorry!
Europeans are more welcomed and loved than us locals there.
Thanks for all of your comments. There has been the predictable regression into race-based hysteria and a few shirty calls of ‘tripe’ by those who seem to have missed the point of the article in their haste to get a discussion on race going.
Race is no doubt important in current South African politics. This article, however, attempted to delve deeper and discuss WHY the racial demographic is what it is, WHY certain races that were previously disadvantaged have dropped the liberation party and are voting DA. I may be wrong but I believe that it has everything to do with the geography of the Cape which has dictated its relationship with the rest of the world which has affected its racial demographic AND the way that demographic views itself and the world. To focus purely on race therefore is missing most of the picture.
Perhaps another way to put this is that the racial bias and sevice delivery issues are the conscious issues pertaining to voting while the geography has subtly influenced the subconscious pattern.
In essense then, I believe that due to its geography, Cape Town has strong links with the outside world which have tempered the outlook of its citizens making them more likely to be receptive to Eurocentric proposals in the voting booth…regardless of race.
mundundu
I used to be a very keen gardener (when I had a garden ).
Get a SA gardening book with maps out from the libary – and you will see what I mean about what grows where (which is what the “geography” was supposed to be about)
Mundundu
Just THINK about it!
If there was a “geographic” barrier, how come the boers trekked OUT of the Western Cape and FARMED in the rest of the country?
There are no doubt tribes that farmed in Africa – there are over 1000 cultures in Africa. The Nguni were not among them, not until they were confined in the amount of land they had. They migtated with their herds.
Somehow, interesting article.
It must be noted that regardless of Apartheid’s oppression, the coloureds of the Cape were there before the ANC bused in Xhosas en masse, settling them between Cape Town and the International airport in squatter camps and from one Xhosa I knew he said his family had good land in the Transkei and were fooled into coming to the Cape with all kinds of unfulfilled promises but they were given low-paying jobs that belonged to the indigenous Afrikaans-speaking Cape populace.
You can’t expect the majority of the Cape to accept that kind of ANC “freedom and democracy” for too long till they finally vote their own way.
Afrikaans language and culture was created in the Cape between the indigenous Khoisan and white Protestants and Asians.
We coloureds were the first Afrikaners.
YOU GUYS CAN STOP IT NOW!!!! We in the WC is all for service. The ANC messed up and now we want another party to rule. We are not so dumb as the black people that see the ANC is taking them for a joke and yet they still vote, coz they affraid that the white man will bring aparthied in again.Please guys, grow up! Apartheid can never be again. Yes, the WC is way different then the rest of South Africa, but we are all south Africans and one thing is sure, I know I see no colour, only people. Now. we voted for DA to make our life better, lets see if they can do it, if not, then I’ll vote COPE next time, maybe they can do a better JOB, but we need to give people a chance to do the job. ANC had 15 years and clearly they can only deliver for Black people, well, times have changed and peoples eyes has opened up. Lets see what Helen Zilla can do. I Salute you ALL, Cape Coloured 4ever.