Coloured South African Nationalists Want a 'Wexit' for the Western Cape

The desire for an autonomous Western Cape province is not a new one. It was expressed circa 2007 particularly by Coloured and White Afrikaans South Africans. More recently, according to the Mail&Guardian, the Colored nationalist group Gatvol Capetonian has reinvigorated the desire for a Wexit amid climbing racial tensions in the province.

The Western Cape is one of South Africa's nine provinces and is home to the notable coastal city of Cape Town. The province is largely populated by Colored South Africans, a mixed racial group arising from White and non-White South Africans. The Western Cape also has quite a heavy White Afrikaans presence - white South Africans who are descendants of the Dutch colonizers of the country.

The group Gatvol Capetonian (fed-up Cape resident), which initially planned on contesting in the upcoming 2019 elections but recently withdrew, is once again urging for the Western Cape to become politically and economically independent from the rest of the country.

The leader of Gatvol Capetonian Fadiel Adams said:

"I'm not going to take offence if you call me a Colored nationalist because nobody cares about the so-called Colored people. We care about Capetonians. We don't care about your race, your religion or your sexual orientation."

This comes after increasing racial tensions which are a result of the Colored community feeling entirely neglected by the current ruling Black government, the African National Congress (ANC). Colored people have, following Apartheid years, become the grey area in a South Africa that is so often strictly black and white.

The Cape Party, a minor opposition party as well as infamously racist Afrikaans musician Steve Hofmeyr, are just some of the supporters of Wexit. Major opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which governs the Western Cape, opposes Wexit and has said that the move would be selfish and a return to a province that 'only wants to enrich itself'.