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. 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.

Following his emigration from the United Kingdom to South Africa in 2004, Craig co-founded in the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) in 2020. 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, along with the opposition of others like the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, Craig more recently has advocated for a referendum on Cape independence to be held privately, using the 2014 Venetian independence referendum as a comparison. In April 2025, Craig also led a delegation to the United States to lobby the American government on the issue of Cape independence.

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, 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.