South African Enclave Orania Upholds White-Only Policy 32 Years After Apartheid's Fall
Residents of the secluded town defend their ethnic-based community as cultural preservation, while critics condemn it as a remnant of apartheid.
In Orania, a town in South Africa's Northern Cape province, entry and residency are exclusively granted to Afrikaners, an ethnic group descended from Dutch settlers. Founded in 1990, shortly before the end of apartheid, the community of approximately 3,000 people is situated on 8,000 hectares of farmland along the Orange River. Residents, like 26-year-old Frans de Klerk, assert that Orania is not driven by white supremacist ideology but by a desire for cultural preservation and a place to call home.
De Klerk, who intends to spend his life in Orania, describes the town as a project for Afrikaners to build their own freedom and make their own decisions. The community boasts two schools, a college, shops, bars, and churches, and is increasingly attracting young Afrikaners seeking to reconnect with their roots and identity. To be admitted, applicants must be Afrikaner, possess a clean criminal record, and be fluent in Afrikaans.
Many Orania residents cite a feeling of safety and security as a primary draw, contrasting it with what they perceive as a more dangerous outside world. De Klerk claims that Afrikaners are a persecuted minority in South Africa, echoing rhetoric previously used by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who initiated a refugee resettlement program for Afrikaners he stated were fleeing a "white genocide." The South African government has criticized this stance, with a judge dismissing the notion of white genocide as "clearly imagined."
Official data indicates that while white South Africans constitute 7% of the population, they hold three-quarters of privately held land and control about 60% of top corporate management jobs. Conversely, about 38% of black South Africans are unemployed, compared to 9% of white South Africans. Average white households still hold 20 times more wealth than average black households.
De Klerk argues that race-based laws have shifted, and he believes South Africa now has a discriminatory legal system against white people. He points to the town's own calendar, which includes holidays like April 6, Founder's Day, commemorating the establishment of Cape Town by Dutch colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck, and the Day of the Vow, marking a 19th-century Afrikaner victory over a Zulu force.
The town's leadership, including spokesman Joost Strydom, is planning for significant growth, with the college aiming for an intake of 800 students within four years. However, job opportunities remain scarce outside the immediate community.
Critics, such as ActionSA's chief whip Lerato Ngobeni, have denounced Orania and similar enclaves like Kleinfontein as "sanctuaries of apartheid nostalgia" rather than cultural sites. Ngobeni stated that children in these communities are taught to "fear difference, to internalise racial superiority, and to live apart rather than together."
Orania's origins are tied to fears among some Afrikaners about losing their way of life following the end of white minority rule. A group, including Hendrik Verwoerd's daughter and son-in-law, Carel Boshoff, purchased land, displacing an existing community of 500 black and mixed-race squatters. According to historian Edward Cavanagh, this eviction was one of the final large-scale evictions under apartheid, involving violence.
De Klerk rejects the characterization of Afrikaners as colonialists and maintains that while discrimination exists in South Africa, it is not solely a historical issue and may even be more prevalent against white people today than during apartheid. He views Orania's separatist model as a potential blueprint for other countries seeking to preserve their cultures and identities.