ActionSA urge Home Affairs Minister to reject application for citizenship by leader of Cape Independence Advocacy Group

The Parliamentary Chief Whip of ActionSA,Lerato Ngobeni has decided to write to the Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber pertaining the application for citizenship by Phil Craig,the leader of the Western Cape secession movement known as Cape Independence Advocacy Group.

She reveals in the letter that ActionSA became aware of Mr Craig's application for citizenship in comment he gave in The Citizen newspaper published on 25 March 2025.

She tells the Minister that Phil Craig does not mean the requirements for the citizenship which are set out in the South African Citizenship Act,1995.

"ActionSA implores you to reject Mr Craig's application for citizenship as he does not meet the requirements as set out in the South African Citizenship Act,1995('the Act'),Section 5 of the Act gives the minister a discretionary power to grant,and therefore to not grant,to a foreigner,a certificate of naturalisation as a South African citizen based on variety of factors;"

"ActionSA is of the view that Mr Craig does not meet certain the requirement of Section 5,specifically section 5(1)(d) which requires the applicant to be a person of good character,nor does ActionSA believe Mr Craig meets the requirement of section 5(1)(e),which states the applicant must intend to reside in the Republic,"said Ngobeni in the letter she wrote to the Minister.

She highlighted to the Minister that Craig does not meet the requirement of a good character considering his ongoing campaign which aimed for the breakaway of the Western Cape and that shows that he had no good intentions for South Africa.

"ActionSA is of the view that any individual who advocates for the secession of the Western Cape and actively undermines the unity of the Republic of South Africa('the Republic') is not an individual of good character as is required by the Act.Moreover,if he advocates for the secession of the Western Cape,he clearly does not wish to reside in the Republic.

"ActionSA believes that any individual who sows such disunity amongst South Africans and who clearly wishes for the Western Cape not to be part of the Republic should certainly not be given the privilege of being given South African citizenship as he clearly wishes not to be part of a unified South Africa,"she adds.

In the letter,she informed the Minister that if he decides to approve Craig's application as ActionSA will pursue legal route to nullify that citizenship.

She said in the event you approve Mr Craig's application,ActionSA will consider its legal options in this regard.

It was reported that Phil Craig is a British citizen which has been living in South Africa for more than 20 years and he busy lobbying for South Africa to be partitioned in two parts while he is not a South African citizen.

The Cape Independence Advocacy Group(CIAG) has revealed that informed the President of South Africa,Minister of International Relations and Cooperation,and Premier of Western Cape that are planning to visit United States of America in two weeks time and nobody responded to them to raise any legal objections.

The CIAG is sending the delegation to the U.S. to seek diplomatic support for its campaign to force the Western Cape Premier to call a referendum on Cape Independence.