A recent poll of Western Cape residents found that more than a third backed the independence of the province.
The poll, which had over 800 respondents, was commissioned by the Cape Independence Advocacy Group which is working for the secession of the region.
It found that 35.6% of those polled supported an independent Western Cape. Nearly two thirds of white people polled backed independence, 39% of coloured people, and 16% of black respondents. There were similar differences in party political support. Over half of DA supporters backed independence, against 21.8%% of ANC voters, and only 12% of EFF voters. The highest levels of support for independence were found among FF+ voters (nearly 90%) and those who supported GOOD (63.3%).
There was a higher level of support for a referendum to settle the independence question, with 47% of respondents backing a plebiscite.
Respondents were also asked whether South Africa as a whole was going in the right direction – less than 20% of respondents thought this was the case. Even amongst ANC supporters polled, only a third believed South Africa was moving in the right direction.
Broken down by race, a quarter of black respondents did not think the country was going in the wrong direction, compared to 18% of coloured respondents and 11% of white respondents.
Calls for Cape independence are becoming louder as the South African state continues to fail, although others have pointed out that the economy of the Western Cape is heavily dependent on the rest of South Africa in many ways, which could make the creation of a sustainable independent state at the Cape difficult.