The Referendum Party (RP) and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) have announced plans to merge.

The two parties jointly announced this development this week, which could give new impetus to the Western Cape independence movement.

The RP was formed in 2023 in order to push for a provincial referendum on Western Cape independence, with Phil Craig as its leader. At the time it launched, the party said that its strategy was modelled on that of the Brexit Party in the United Kingdom, which had been formed with the primary objective of pushing for a referendum in that country on whether it should stay in the European Union.

According to a survey commissioned by the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG), an organisation with which Craig is also involved, and conducted by Victory Research in 2025, more than half of people in the Western Cape supported a referendum on independence for the province. According to the survey, 51% of respondents said they supported a referendum and 43% said they supported outright independence.

However, in the 2024 provincial elections the RP won only 5 110 votes, or 0.26%. The party came 18th out of the 21 parties that contested the provincial ballot in that year. It did not contest the national ballot.

The FF+, however, is a party with significantly more support than the RP, and it has also been supportive of increased Western Cape autonomy, and potentially independence.

In the 2024 provincial elections the FF+ won nearly 30 000 votes in the Western Cape, or 1.45% of the vote, giving it one seat in the 42-member provincial legislature. On the national ballot it won 1.36% of the vote, enough for six seats in the national legislature.

In 2023 the party tabled a Western Cape People’s Bill, which called “for the recognition of the people of the Western Cape as a distinct people with the right to self-determination”.

Furthermore, in the FF+’s 2024 election manifesto the party said: “It is important that registered voters in the Western Cape are afforded the opportunity to express their views on the path of self-determination that they wish to take to greater independence and decision-making about their future, which could ultimately lead to autonomy and possible independence.”

Phil Craig told The Common Sense: “I am delighted with the merger – it was an initiative that I instigated. The CIAG formed the RP to create political leverage when our negotiations with the [Democratic Alliance] reached a long-term deadlock. RP wasn't able to secure direct political representation in 2024 and our best-case scenario was that we might be able to do so in 2029. This deal delivers us political representation now. The CIAG and FF+ have worked closely together for five years, on the Cape Independence Forum, on the Western Cape Devolution Working Group, and we authored their Western Cape People’s Bill. This was a logical step.

“The CIAG remains independent, but will act as a think tank for the FF+ and has signed a cooperation agreement.

“We need to break the power of centralised government and the destructive majoritarianism which accompanies it. Self-determination is [the] solution – be that in the form of devolved powers, federalism, cultural autonomy, or sovereign independence.

“Self-determination allows communities to assert a non-derogable right upwards without the consent of the national majority – in practical terms, this is the key to decentralised government – something which is essential in a country as large and diverse as South Africa,” Craig said.

The FF+ also said it “welcomes” the move.

Dr Corné Mulder, leader of the FF+, told The Common Sense: “It is well known that self-determination, more autonomy, federalism, devolution of powers are all important principles that we support and subscribe to. We need to find solutions for all our challenges in South Africa. Different challenges ask for different solutions. Increased Western Cape autonomy will be strengthened by this move.”

The merger could mark an important step in moving the Western Cape independence cause from the margins towards the political mainstream. The RP has brought single issue focus and activist energy to the question, but the FF+ brings an existing voter base, representation in both the provincial and national legislatures, and the credibility of an established party with experience in formal politics. That combination could give the independence movement a far stronger platform from which to argue for greater autonomy and potentially eventual formal independence.