Orania extends exclusion to poor whites

A few days before Christmas I took my ailing mom for a short walk in my small hometown, Petrusville, in the Northern Cape. As we passed a grocery store, we witnessed a confrontation at the store entrance between four white families and a group of known black locals. The scene was ugly as the black group had in their possession an empty wheelchair, while a middle-aged disabled white man lay on the ground.

Curious about the situation, I approached both groups to understand what was happening. The black group, animated and enraged, asserted that these whites had been expelled from Orania due to their social status, they were poor. They claimed that when these white families lived in Orania, they considered themselves superior to black people. They further informed me that these “poor whites” are now residing in an informal settlement in Uitsig, a neighborhood in Petrusville.

The group was adamant in their belief that these whites should return to Orania. One of the white guys acknowledged that they were indeed “armgate” (Afrikaans for poor bums) from Orania who could no longer afford staying there. After a struggle to convince them all that what should bind us together is our common humanity, not racial, tribal or ethnic affiliation, they returned the wheelchair and allowed the white families to make their festive purchases. As we departed the scene, my mom mentioned that earlier in the year, a white couple from Orania, who are beneficiaries of government social grants, had approached her about renting her old house, a request she declined because the house was being used by the grandchildren.

These encounters highlight the complexities of race and its intersection with the socio-economic situation in the country, exposing the unsustainable nature and indeed the folly of ill-conceived projects like Orania, which rely on exclusion to assert a false sense of racial purity and superiority. The alleged eviction of poor whites in Orania starkly illustrates its troubled history. It suggests a second wave of evictions subtly taking place in Orania: the first wave was the unlawful and inhumane evictions of black residents in 1991/92 following the purchase of the farm from the apartheid government’s Department of Water Affairs, and now the second wave is an immoral class-based displacement and eviction of armgatte, which are poor whites.

Having grown up in Petrusville, I have witnessed firsthand the repercussions of exclusionary approaches perpetuated in Orania. To provide context, it is essential to offer readers a brief geographical and historical exposition of my hometown Petrusville, located about 40 kilometres from Orania. Our neighboring towns include Keurkieskloof, Phillipstown, Hopetown, and Luckhoff. In the late 1980s, during my high school years, we often played weekend soccer games in Orania, which then contained around 100 black households and boasted two soccer teams: Orania Swallows and Orania Chiefs. I can fondly remember that after those thrilling soccer games, we would be hosted for a feast of porridge (pap), potatoes and cabbage with porcupine or warthog meat. At that time, Orania was a farm owned by the then Department of Water Affairs, acquired through land expropriation.

In 1964, the South African government expropriated the farm Vluytjeskraal (now known as Orania) to establish a town for government workers involved in the construction of the Orange River Development Scheme. There is no evidence or historical account indicating that compensation was paid for this expropriation or for many other parcels of land expropriated in relation to the scheme.

As part of the Orange River Development Scheme, Orania was developed into a farm town complete with housing, schools, and other amenities, all under state control. However, when government priorities shifted, Orania fell into neglect and became one of the many failed projects of the apartheid regime. Between 1979 and 1982, the government repeatedly attempted, though unsuccessfully, to close the town. During this period, many white residents left, resulting in Orania being almost entirely occupied by black families.

In 1991, Orania was sold to private individuals with the aim of creating an exclusive white enclave based on the egregious and immoral idea of a Volkstad. The late Professor Carel Boshoff and his associates purchased the farm town, encompassing 483 hectares for R1.3 million. This sale precipitated the mass eviction of about 100 black families who had been living there. Most of those evicted relocated to my hometown, particularly to an area known as Skitskraal (Transitcamp), while others moved to the neighboring towns of Keurkieskloof, Hopetown and Luckoff.

This wave of unlawful evictions in Orania and the surrounding farms impacted on the small receiving towns. In response to the fear accompanied by the 1990 unbanning of political parties, there were mass evictions of farm workers on the surrounding farms. The Petrusville Civic Organisation led by Mr. Bonakele Phuzi, where I was the Deputy Secretary, organized various marches to the police station, with one of the key grievances being a demand for an end to farm evictions, particularly in Orania.

The scale of evictions drew the attention of civil society organisations, including the Kagiso Trust, which deployed a social researcher to monitor the situation in Petrusville. In 1992, the Petrusville Civic Organization received funding from Kagiso Trust to establish an Advice Office with a specific focus on halting farm evictions. Alongside two other comrades, I was appointed as a Paralegal and underwent formal training specialising in eviction law.

Unfortunately, our intervention came too late to effectively halt the evictions in Orania, which were rapid and overwhelming for those black families – truly a blitzkrieg. The funding we received from Kagiso Trust enabled us to visit the families who had been evicted, documenting their experiences.

All the evicted families left their relatively habitable houses and relocated to informal settlements and shanties in nearby towns, with the majority settling in Petrusville. As an Advice Office, we aimed to litigate for these evictees, but our efforts were thwarted when the office was closed in 1993 due to the discontinuation of funding by the Kagiso Trust.

Orania is an aberration of a democratic country based on the principles of human dignity, equality and freedom. The narrative used to justify the continued existence of Orania ignores the historical context of apartheid and the ongoing impact of systemic racism in South Africa. Excluding black people from Orania perpetuates racial segregation and inequality.

Right-wing Afrikaner nationalists argue that Orania is a safe haven for their community, to preserve their culture and traditions. This is a pretext for the reincarnation of apartheid to perpetuate white supremacy. White supremacy in South Africa is an addiction, like heroin, leading to racial polarisation and exclusion. We are a human rights-based country and South Africans have a right to stay wherever they want to in the country, and any move for cultural

preservation that undermines this inalienable right of South Africans is frankly, perverse.

Orania was established as a shareblock company. It restricts residency based on racial criteria, maintaining a homogenous community that perpetuates an exclusionary legacy. Orania (mis)uses Section 235 of the Constitution that allows cultural communities the right to self-determination. The application of this section in Orania contradicts the broad transformative aims of the Constitution by excluding other racial groups. This exclusion highlights the tension between cultural identity and the imperative for inclusivity in a democratic society, revealing the limitations and contradictions inherent in the current approach of the Orania model to the race question in the country.

This exclusionary legacy in Orania now involves targeting poor whites whose precarious socio-economic position threatens the economic security of the town. The same racial group in Orania is divided by class with a clear gap between the working class and the more affluent managerial class.

This class divide manifests spatially, socially and economically. This class divide is exacerbated by the fact that Orania is an attraction to many poor Afrikaners from across South Africa who go to the town seeking work. I understand that these poor whites are the major drivers of Orania’s recent population growth and stay in a residential area called Kleingeluk (small happiness), which lies about 1.5 kilometers from the main town called Grootdorp. Kleingeluk is the poorer side of Orania and those living there are referred to as “armgate”. This is just a representation of the class stratification and hierarchy of Orania that begins to haunt the town, resulting in eviction of the “armgate” to Petrusville informal settlements. This marks the second wave of evictions.

Orania celebrates the grotesque aspects of apartheid colonialism, even prominently displaying the apartheid flag. Apartheid was the pinnacle of colonial aggression, oppression and dispossession. The town celebrates the architects of this inhumane system, featuring a collection of busts of Afrikaner leaders on Monument Hill, including the Hendrik Verwoerd Museum, dedicated to the prime architect of apartheid who deemed black people as subhuman. Just a few months back, Orania unveiled a bronze replica of the statue of Paul Kruger, originally from Pretoria, which further cements the commitment of the town to honouring colonial and apartheid-era figures.

Kruger’s domestic policies were steeped in rigid racial hierarchies and driven by white supremacy. This bold expression of white supremacy in a predominantly black country like South Africa is unsustainable and will inevitably backfire, ultimately shaming its architects. Those behind apartheid were under the delusion that they were creating an invincible system. However, history teaches us that there is no amount of injustice that can unendingly prevail over the collective agency of the people. Apartheid crumbled under this collective agency.

I foresee similar outcomes for Orania, as this apartheid prototype can never withstand the tides of justice and equality. The call by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Reconciliation Day emphasised the importance of unity among South Africans, highlighting the fact that the strength of South Africa is derived from its diversity. He called on every South African to embrace this diversity rather than exclusion based on perceptions of racial superiority, which only serves to weaken our collective identity as one nation.

The focus should be on constructing an egalitarian society that affirms the previously disadvantaged and rejects discrimination in all its forms and manifestations. White South Africans, as direct beneficiaries of the evil apartheid system, have a crucial role in promoting unity and respect across all racial groups. Whites must move away from the

victim mentality, which triggers exclusionary practices to perpetuate racial divisions. Instead, we must work together towards a more equitable South Africa where mutual respect and our rich diversity lead to a stronger nation. Building positive relations and understanding among all communities will foster the spirit of nationhood that is necessary for progress.

Through a collective embrace of our shared humanity and a recognition of our uniquecontributions to the current state of the country, we can advance towards a united and prosperous future for everyone.