Orania - Ons Ideaal snoer ons saam

We decided to go and have a look at the Controversial town of Orania as we were heading back from the Drakensberg to Cape Town

This town was formed in 1990 and was headed by Carl Boshoff for the purpose of creating a town where the preservation of the Afrikanerdom’s Cultural Heritage would be strictly observed and Afrikaner selfwerksaamheid (self-reliance) would be put into practice. Only white Afrikaners live in this town based in the Northern Cape next to the Orange River.

We arrived in Orania just before 5pm and caught the Museum open. Koki De Kock is the museum caretaker and tour guide and showed us around. All the controversial bronze statues of previous Apartheid leaders, old South African Flags and other Anglo Boer war artifacts are stored and looked after in this dark building. Koki took pride in the heritage preserved in the building. While we were given a lecture on guns (I hate Guns) I sneaked away to capture one photo in a museum where photo’s were prohibited.

It’s strange that the Museum is the only building in town with an alarm system. I assume they have crime under control or this could be all they have to look back on.

Koki told us that there are currently about 700 people living in Orania and that the School is active as well as the Church (almost all small towns have active Churches). People that live here are mainly pensioners. It is hard to make a sustainable income in such a small town and even though they strive to be self-reliant, they remain dependable on the outside. It’s possible to live here and have an internet based job, but the majority of the people are here because they are strong believers in an Afrikaner State or their car broke down from Danville to Reiterwaght. They even have their own currency that is linked to the Rand.

Through out the town you will find motivational billboards encouraging and reminding the people of their ideological believes. There was one positive ideological view that these people shared and that was recycling. Now that’s the only sign I witnessed of moving forward in a town that’s stuck in the past.

I feel sorry for the young people growing up here as they are being indoctrinated to follow an ideology that had ‘died’ years ago. I only saw two school girls puffing a cigarette behind the school building. I might start doing hard drugs if I lived here. The other people looked like they had never been out of the sun. Those ones that look like their wearing dust on their face for life. Some of them are more colored than the farm workers they dislike living on the platteland.

I found the visit to be interesting, but it is not for me. Living in a town separated from diversity would kill me. If all of South Africa could work together like the people in Orania we would have a bling tower of Babel, but we all differ and I prefer Chicken to Beef.