The Western Cape is a South African province with coasts bordering the Indian and Atlantic oceans. It’s known for the port city of Cape Town, set beneath Table Mountain, part of a national park of the same name. In Table Bay, Robben Island is the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, and is now a living museum. Farther afield, winelands surround historical towns like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl.
The Western Cape (Afrikaans: Wes-Kaap [ˈvɛskɑːp]; Xhosa: iNtshona-Koloni) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of 129,449 square kilometres (49,981 sq mi), and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020.[4] About two-thirds of these inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town, which is also the provincial capital. The Western Cape was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province. The two largest cities are Cape Town and George.
In the 1994 election, the Western Cape was one of two provinces that did not elect an African National Congress (ANC) provincial government (the other being KwaZulu-Natal). The National Party (NP) won 53% of the votes and 23 seats in the 42-seat provincial legislature, and Hernus Kriel, a former Minister of Law and Order, was elected Premier. He resigned in 1998 and was replaced by Gerald Morkel.
The 1999 election marked the beginning of a period of great turbulence in Western Cape politics. No party achieved an absolute majority in the provincial parliament, as the ANC won 18 seats while the New National Party (NNP), successor to the NP, won 17. The NNP went into coalition with the Democratic Party (DP), which won 5 seats, to form a government, and Morkel remained Premier. In 2000 the DP and the NNP formalised their coalition by forming the Democratic Alliance (DA).
In 2001, however, the NNP broke with the DA over the removal of Peter Marais from office as Mayor of Cape Town by DA leader Tony Leon. The NNP instead went into coalition with the ANC; Gerald Morkel, who was opposed to the split, resigned as Premier and was replaced by Peter Marais. In 2002 Marais resigned as Premier due to a sexual harassment scandal, and was replaced by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk. During the 2003 floor-crossing period four members of the provincial parliament crossed to the ANC, giving it an absolute majority of 22 seats in the 42-seat house. However, the ANC remained in coalition with the NNP and van Schalkwyk remained as Premier.
Jan van Riebeeck’s arrival on 6 April 1652 established the VOC Cape Colony, the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony.
In the 2004 election, there was again no absolute winner in the provincial parliament; this time the ANC won 19 seats, the DA won 12, and the NNP won 5. The ANC-NNP coalition continued in power, but van Schalkwyk took up a ministerial post in the national cabinet and was replaced as Premier by the ANC’s Ebrahim Rasool.
The NNP was finally dissolved after the 2005 floor-crossing period and its members joined the ANC, again giving that party an absolute majority of 24 seats. In the 2007 floor-crossing period the ANC gained a further three members of the provincial parliament. In 2008 Rasool resigned as Premier due to internal party politics, and was replaced by Lynne Brown.
The 2009 election marked a significant change in Western Cape politics, as the Democratic Alliance won 51% of the votes and an absolute majority of 22 seats in the provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 31% of the vote.
The DA leader Helen Zille was elected Premier. In 2010 the Independent Democrats, which had won 3 seats with 5% of the vote, merged with the DA. In the 2014 election the DA won 59% of the votes and an absolute majority of 26 seats in the provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 32% of the vote. In 2018 King Khoebaha Cornelius III Declared the independence of the “Sovereign State of Good Hope”.
In the 2019 election, the DA retained their majority in the province, but with a reduction in support. It had won 24 seats with 55%. Helen Zille was term-limited and the DA premier candidate Alan Winde succeeded her. The ANC also lost support. It had received 12 seats with 28% support, its lowest showing since 1994. Veteran politician Peter Marais returned to the provincial parliament as the sole representative of the Freedom Front Plus. Patricia de Lille formed another party, Good, and it achieved a seat.
Since the late 2000s there has been growing support for Western Cape, or Greater Cape, independence from South Africa. Political parties such as the Cape Independence Party and organizations such as the Cape Independence Advocacy Group and CapeXit, wish to bring forth the constitutional and peaceful secession of the Cape. The Freedom Front Plus and Cape Coloured Congress have also stated that they support Cape independence.
There is substantial support for the idea with CapeXit garnering over 800,000 signed mandates in May 2021.[31] A poll conducted in 2020 indicated that 36% of the Western Cape’s population would support independence, while 47% would support a referendum on the issue. In 2021, a new poll indicated that 58% of the population would now support a referendum on independence, and 46% would support outright independence.
The Western Cape’s total GDP for 2008 was R268bn, 14% of the country’s total GDP, and R97,664 per capita.[38] Provincially, it is the third highest contributor to the country’s GDP behind Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
It also has one of the fastest growing economies in the country, growing at 4% in 2008.[39] At 19.3% the province has a lower unemployment rate than the national average standing at 20% in 2018.
The Western Cape’s Human Development Index is the highest in South Africa at 0.741 compared to the South African average of 0.705 in 2018.
The biggest sector in the Western Cape’s economy is the financial, business services and real estate sectors contributing approximately R77 billion in 2008. Manufacturing was the second largest contributor valued at R43.7 billion in 2008 with the agricultural sector being the fastest growing at 10.6% in the same year. High-tech industries, international call centers, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance.
The city of Cape Town accounts for roughly 80% of the Western Cape’s GDP. 95% of wine produced in South Africa is produced in the Western Cape. South Africa is the 7th largest wine producing region in the world.
Types of cuisine originating from the Western Cape include Dutch and Malay cuisines. Other types of South African cuisine are also found and commonly enjoyed in the province. Over 50% of all cheese in South Africa is produced in the Western Cape.
Four of the top ten entries in Trip Advisor’s Best Fine Dining Restaurants – Africa list for 2021 are in the Western Cape.
The Western Cape is known for its wine production and vineyards. The winelands are divided into six main regions: Boberg, Breede River Valley, Cape South Coast, Coastal Region, Klein Karoo and Olifants River. Each has unique climate, topography and fertile soil. Distilled wine or brandy is produced in the Cape Winelands, Overberg, and Garden Route districts of the province. Brandy from these regions is regarded as amongst the best in the world due to the high, legally-enforced distilling standards in the region, technically making it equivalent to Cognac.