The Freedom Front Plus has proposed the Western Cape People’s Bill in the legislature in a bid for self-determination in the Western Province.
For the bill to pass it would require the support of the DA among others.
The DA described the referendums in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation as a sham. Irrespective of whether the territory was annexed by Russia or not, the people of this region had the right to exercise self determination.
The referendum was a culmination of a breakaway from Ukraine by Donetsk and Luhansk after a democratically elected government of Ukraine was overthrown in the 2014 coup.
There is a pattern whereby the DA’s position on international issues is in line with the West, but domestically its position is different. It describes Ukraine as a democracy but the Ukrainian government has outlawed opposition, clamped down on freedom of the press, freedom of expression and freedom of religion by taking punitive action against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
If the ANC were to do the same, the DA would be up in arms in defence of democracy but it turns a blind eye to Ukraine’s antidemocratic behaviour.
If the DA supports the FF+ bill this would be another instance where the DA’s international stance would be at odds with its domestic stance.
It does not support selfdetermination for the people of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia but would support it for the people of the Western Cape.
* Ghalied Geduldt, Maitland.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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