‘Get bent f**kwad,’ ZACP’s Cabanac tells Twitter critic

Roman Cabanac, a legal consultant, co-host of podcast The Renegade Report and one of the leaders of the newly formed Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP), lashed out at one of his critics on Twitter.

Along with many laughter emojis, a Twitter user advised Cabanac to “Go back to podcasting – politics is not for small boys.

“This thing will chew you and spit you out,” he added.

This follows the party, which was only contesting the national vote, having achieved 12,848 votes at the time of publication, at which point over 90% of votes had been counted, in a showing News24 reported was “dismal“.

Cabanac appears to disagree with this take on how the party fared.

“8000 votes in 51 days based on a digital campaign where most of the population is offline and liberal ideas are deemed ‘western’,” he tweeted in response to his detractor, before adding: “Get bent f**kwad.”

WARNING: The tweet below contains strong language. 

8000 votes in 51 days based on a digital campaign where most of the population is offline and liberal ideas are deemed “western”.

Get bent fuckwad. https://t.co/9aHMsTriHi

— Roman Cabanac (@RomanCabanac) May 9, 2019

The party had high hopes for their first attempt to end up in parliament, having said on multiple occasions that they had set their sights on gaining 10 seats.

“We hope to get at least ten MPs into the national assembly,” the party’s official website says.

“This will need about 45,000 votes per candidate or about half-million votes in total. We believe this is realistic.”

Party leader Kanthan Pillay also claimed in a debate with eNCA that it was relatively easy for smaller parties to get into parliament in South Africa.

The party’s official Twitter account makes it clear they will not be throwing in the towel, and are “in this for the long haul”.

“We in the ZACP sincerely thank more than 12,000 fellow South Africans who believed in us and voted for our principles every [sic] though we were around for only 6 weeks. We are in this for the long haul. Expect announcements from us next week as to where we go next,” they tweeted.

We in the #ZACP sincerely thank more than 12 000 fellow South Africans who believed in us and voted for our principles every though we were around for only 6 weeks. We are in this for the long haul. Expect announcements from us next week as to where we go next. 💜🐄 pic.twitter.com/DB0oEJqEjg

— ZACP Capitalist Party of South Africa (@purplecowmobi) May 10, 2019

Nicknamed the purple cows, they formed just before registration for the 2019 elections expired and announced that they would be contesting only afterwards. They launched at the Rand Club in Johannesburg on March 17.

The party appears to have a significant following online, with vocal supporter as well as a notable number of detractors.

They campaigned with a manifesto consisting of 10 values: liberty, equality – individual rights before group rights; tolerance and absolute protection of freedom of speech; private property rights protected by law; rule of law; right to work; the right to be secure on your own property and to defend yourself against intruders; free markets and international free trade based on enlightened self-interest; firearms for self-defence; and fraternity – spontaneous order and civil society.

Cabanac’s inclusion as one of the party’s top 10 signified a change in his former beliefs, as he identifies as an anarchist and has in the past mentioned multiple times that he did not vote in elections.

The Citizen sent questions to both Pillay and Cabanac. Neither had responded at the time of publication. We will update this story with their response if and when we receive it.

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