They claim the group calling for a so-called Sovereign State of Good Hope are being backed by right wingers, and don’t have the best interests of South Africa’s first people at heart. The leaders are from four tribes, representing customary structures within the Indigenous People’s Movement.

As the first people, they want their land. But they say king Calvin Cornelius and his followers are going about it the wrong way. They want the Western Cape to secede from the rest of South Africa.

Hennie van Wyk Kai Bi’a Gorachouqua says: “We know that Calvin Cornelius is being advised by the right-wing nationalists who had been responsible for the genocide poverty, crime, corruption and atrocities against Khoekhoe and Bushman people for the last 400 years.”

Meanwhile, outside Parliament, the group demanding a Sovereign State of Good Hope, continued with their protest and call for secession. This group says it represents all minorities. Cornelius, who they call their king through bloodline, was not available to comment. But they reiterated their position that secession is the only meaningful way to achieve real freedom.

Abra Barbier  |