A visit to Orania

​​Defined on wikipedia as "an Afrikaner-only South African town located along the Orange River in the arid Karoo region of Northern Cape". 
If you've never heard of this place you're probably thinking "but how can there be an 'Afrikaner-only' anything in this country given South Africa's apartheid history? How can there be a place in SA where certain racial groups aren't welcome to live." Orania spokesperson James Kemp says these claims are false and that "Everyone of any racial group is welcome to visit and live in Orania, as long they are going to embrace the Afrikaner culture and way of living".

James Kemp
Orania Spokesperson

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Then maybe Orania isn't a racist town, they just want to preserve the Afrikaner culture, history and way living.  "The reason Orania exists is to create a town where the preservation of Afrikanerdom's cultural heritage is observed and Afrikaner selfwerksaamheid ("self reliance") is an actual practice." 
While the self reliance ideology might be an admirable one, why does the Afrikaner community need to live in isolation to realise these goals? Maybe it has something with what Hendrik Verwood once said; "if mixed development is to be the policy of the future of South Africa, it will lead to the most terrifying clash of interests imaginable. The endeavours and desires of the Bantu and the endeavours and objectives of all Europeans will be antagonistic. Such a clash can only bring unhappiness and misery to both." The architect of apartheid himself felt blacks and whites could never co-exist. 

I raise this because I don't know about you but I don't buy the "Everyone is welcome in Orania" story because firstly how does someone who isn't white or Afrikaner embrace the culture? is it by speaking the language, eating the food, going to church, wear the clothes and then even Julius Malema is welcome? 

It's all just a loophole to exclusion like how certain universities use language of instruction to exclude people but say all are welcome. Another example is how some companies advertise a internship position for "all" to apply but applicants must have their own vehicle to be eligible for the job, really? For an internship?

Hendrik Verwoord busk next to a statue of the Orania mascot,
​ placed on a hill over looking Orania.

Orania was a established in 1991 and in my opinion it has successfully done what they set out to do in their goals of self reliance and preservation of the Afrikaner culture. Walking around the town, meeting and interacting with people, I saw a functioning town that had a sense of community. Yes, I did feel awkward racial tension that I sometimes brushed off my shoulder with the thought that "Argh, I'm sensing tension because I'm expecting tension" but then you know what they say about your gut feeling. 

Orania has issues that its dealing with such as poverty, They have built male and female hostels to house the homeless on condition that when offered work like gardening, farming etc. they take the work on a pay of between R200 -R250 a day, so says Pieter Krige, community development officer who heads up this programme. The idea here is everyone must work towards building the community, from the needy to the wealthy. A commendable ethos, but just like the apartheid government, it's a lot easier solving problems for people if you're going to be selective about who you help.