By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has criticised the Cape Independence Advocacy Group for planning to meet US officials in April.
The meeting will seek to raise awareness of the campaign for Cape independence and provide key insights into its vision and objectives, including those which are likely to be perceived as beneficial to the US.
“We wish to firstly raise funds to scale up our promotion of the Cape Independence in South Africa, and then to request diplomatic support from the US, including placing pressure on the Western Cape government to respect democratic principles and to call a referendum on Cape Independence, group’s leader Phil Craig said.
The meeting will also touch on the challenges faced by South Africans, at the hands of the current government.
Craig said he anticipated a “very positive reception in the US”.
The Cape Independence Advocacy Group’s trip to the US follows visits by AfriForum, Solidarity, and the DA to Washington.
Dirco’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri criticised the group over its intention to meet with US officials amid tension between Pretoria and the US.
Phiri said, the group wants to undermine the country’s constitutional values.
Relations between the US and South Africa have become increasingly strained since Donald Trump became president in January.
Tensions between South Africa and the US spiked in January, when President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill allowing the state to seize land without compensation, provided it was in the “public interest”.
The move followed years of calls for land reform, with activists and politicians seeking to redistribute farmland from the white minority.
Meanwhile 70,000 South Africans have expressed interest in moving to the US following Washington’s offer to resettle people from the country’s Afrikaner community.
The South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA (Saccusa) said its website received tens of thousands of registrations from those seeking more information.
Saccusa said that in a “pivotal step”, it has handed the list of interested individuals to the US embassy in Pretoria.
Saccussa – a group representing South African businesspeople living in the US – said most of those who expressed interest in migrating were aged between 25 and 45 and had between two and three dependants.