The Kleinzee Concept -Summary

by Trevor Watkins   30/10/2019 (edited two pages only with suggestions by Ron Weissenberg 11 Nov 2019)

Most people Identify themselves as fair and freedom loving individuals. Most people are polite and respectful of each other and their property. And yet most people live within a state that is neither fair nor free nor respectful of them and their property.

The individualist movement seeks to give a home and a voice to those individuals who insist on independence and respect. The individualist manifesto defines how we expect to be treated and how we agree to treat others. But how is this vision to be manifested in a country and a world that seems to be overrun by authoritarian statists?

An increasingly popular approach is for a group of individuals sharing a common philosophy to live separately from the dominant state within which they live. There is a long list of successful city-states that have separated themselves from the nation states in which they are embedded, such as Monaco, Lichtenstein, Singapore and  Hong Kong. In South Africa, we have thousands of de facto separate intentional communities. These can be as simple as a sectional title or Home Owners Association providing security and common-area cleaning or more involved such as Lifestyle estates. These predominate in urban environments and provide a ‘town’ within a city offering shopping, schooling, health practitioners, water and sewage reticulation (and even generated electricity) within secure gated areas. Fourways Gardens Estate and Steyn City are examples, but they come at a hefty price. If you are really looking for self-determination and independence, Orania and Xhosa community equivalent Mnyameni in the Eastern Cape are good examples.

This document describes a plan for implementing a seceded state in the town of Kleinzee on the north west coast of South Africa.

Motivation

 At the end of 2019 the situation in South Africa is rapidly becoming untenable. There's no gas left in the economic tank, said Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in the medium-term Budget statement. There is a looming debt trap, unsustainable state-owned enterprises, difficult decisions, major sacrifices and serious conflicts ahead.. 

Crime and corruption are out of control,  health services and schools are a disaster,  infrastructure is in shambles, civil unrest is widespread.  South Africa will become a Zimbabwe or a Venezuela in the short to medium term. 

Many thousands of the most wealthy and productive citizens have emigrated.  The options are bleak for those who can't afford the cost of emigration.  

The secession of the Western Cape has  gone from a pipe dream to a popular idea in recent years,  with at least five different organisations claiming support levels of several hundred thousand.  The South African constitution specifically allows for secession by identifiable cultural groups. However, most of these groups are looking at unrealistically large tracts of land, generally including the whole of the Western Cape and surrounding areas. In addition, most of these groups do not subscribe to classical liberal principles or show much respect for the rights of individuals.

The Individualist Movement believes that a geographically small area with already existing infrastructure is populated by a group of people sharing a common philosophy towards governance.  Kleinzee fits this description well. 

The DA is attending from our side to this, indeed, very serious matter. We

have written to the Minister of Police , as well as the Minister of Mining

to intervene.

We will continue to do what we can to assist the community of Kleinzee and

residents and we do not support the illegal mining that is happening. See

media statement of today.