Phil Craig (South African politician)

Phil Craig is a South African politician, entrepreneur, and key figure in the Cape independence movement. In April 2020, Craig helped found the Cape Independence Advocacy Group, a non-profit advocacy organization.^[1] Later in November 2023, Craig founded the Referendum Party to compete in the 2024 general election and the 2026 municipal elections, a party for which he currently serves as leader.^[2]

Following his emigration from the United Kingdom to South Africa in 2004, Craig co-founded in the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) in 2020.^[3] Since 2020, the CIAG's primary function has been lobbying the Democratic Alliance and Alan Winde, the premier of the Western Cape, to facilitate a referendum on independence in the Western Cape. However, due to Winde's opposition to the process of a referendum,^[4] along with the opposition of others like the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis,^[5] Craig more recently has advocated for a referendum on Cape independence to be held privately, using the 2014 Venetian independence referendum as a comparison.^[6] In April 2025, Craig also led a delegation to the United States to lobby the American government on the issue of Cape independence.^[7]

In November 2023, Craig founded in the Referendum Party to contest in the 2024 general election, with the party advocating for self-determination, non-racialism, a referendum vote on independence, and positioning itself as an alternative to voters unsatisfied with the DA's opposition to a referendum vote. In 2024, the Referendum Party obtained 0.26% of the provincial vote in the Western Cape,^[8] a result which Craig publicly considered to be disappointing but also attributed to the party being less than a year old. Since then, the Referendum Party has broadened in policy agenda in preparation for the 2026 municipal elections and the next general election.^[9][10]