 Map indicating Orania's location
 Afrikaner cultural celebration at Orania Orania is a South African town located along the Orange River in the Northern Cape province in the arid Karoo region. Orania is unique among South African cities as it is the only all-Afrikaner enclave in South Africa. Image File history File links Oraniakaart. ...
Image File history File links Oraniakaart. ...
Image File history File links Oraniaday. ...
Image File history File links Oraniaday. ...
The Orange River is the major river in South Africa. ...
Northern Cape is a province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. ...
The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. ...
See Also: List of cities and towns in the Eastern Cape, List of cities and towns in the Free State, List of cities and towns in Gauteng, List of cities and towns in KwaZulu-Natal, List of cities and towns in Limpopo, List of cities and towns in Mpumalanga, List...
Afrikaners are an ethnically distinct group of Caucasian descendants of European settlers, arriving in modern day South Africa on and after 16 April 1652. ...
Critics claim that it is an attempted to revive Apartheid, even though Orania strongly prohibits the exploitation of black labour, which was common practice under Apartheid. A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...
Beginnings
In December 1990, about 40 Afrikaner families, headed by Carel Boshoff, the son-in-law of former SA prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, bought the dilapidated town for a price of around US$200,000. This was a few months after the repeal of apartheid laws and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison. The town is privately owned by the Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok ("literally: whistle corral share block") company, and the town is managed by it. The name "Vluytjeskraal" derives from the name of the farm on which the town was founded, and the "Aandeleblok" refers to a certain type of company, allowing people to buy shares in the company and obtaining the right to stay on and work a piece of ground within the property of the company. The shareholders thus own the company, which in turn owns the property. The chairman of this company, Dr Manie Opperman, acts as de facto mayor. The town was bought from the then Department of Water Affairs, which built the town for the workers building a canal network utilising the water in the Orange river, when the project was completed. This article is about the year. ...
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 - 6 September 1966) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 to 1966, when he was assassinated. ...
A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...
Mandela redirects here. ...
Orania's purpose The purpose of Orania, according to its founders, is to create a town where the preservation of Afrikanerdom's cultural heritage is strictly observed and Afrikaner selfwerksaamhied ("self reliance") is an actual practice, not just an idea. All jobs, from management to manual labour, are filled by Afrikaners only; non-Afrikaner workers are not permitted (elsewhere in South Africa it is still common to consider some manual labour jobs to be "black jobs" that are to be avoided by white South Africans). "We do not want to be governed by people who are not Afrikaners", said Potgieter, the previous chairman. "Our culture is being oppressed and our children are being brainwashed to speak English." Image File history File links Oraniastreet. ...
Image File history File links Oraniastreet. ...
Cultural heritage (often just termed heritage) consists of a nations historic buildings, collections, monuments, etc. ...
Past movements The idea of a strictly Afrikaner settlement in modern South Africa is not new. In the 1980s, a group of right wing Afrikaners, led by HF Verwoerd's son formed a group called the Oranjewerkers. They also planned a community based on "Afrikaner self-determination", and attempted to create a neo-"boerstaat" (Afrikaner state) in the remote Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) community of Morgenzon. Its failure was possibly due to the fact that South Africa had an Afrikaner government at the time and so few would perceive any benefit from this community. MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 - 6 September 1966) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 to 1966, when he was assassinated. ...
Flag of Transvaal The Transvaal (lit. ...
Mpumalanga, (name changed from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995), is a province in South Africa. ...
Orania today Today, Orania is home to about 500 to 600 Afrikaner families. Many of the poorer arrivals to Orania take up residence in small tract houses located in downtown Kleingeluk ("small luck/happiness"). Many of the more wealthy residents, including the city's founders, live in the nearby neighbourhood of Grootdorp ("big town"). The media has reported that there has been some friction between the two groups particularly since the poorer group has to perform the lower paying manual labour jobs viewed as "black jobs", this has however proven to be only a minor dispute as stated by Frans de Klerk, CEO of the Orania Movement, who also resides in Kleingeluk.
Orania's school system is unorthodox by South African standards with teachers acting as guides rather than lecturers. There are two schools, "Die Volkskool Orania" (school for the people) and the "CVO Skool Orania". CVO stands for "Christelike Volks-Onderwys" and means that the school is based on Christian and Boer values, and "Onderwys" means "Education". Both schools underwrite these values, although there are differences in their teaching methods.
The "Volkskool" is based on the "Kenweb"-system, which utilizes computers in the classroom for repetitive learning, and puts the child in the centre of the learning process. Children plan their own schedules, in accordance with "goal sheets" which ensure that they cover the entire curriculum. They are then responsible for reaching the goals, on which they are tested every week. There are 2 written examinations per year, and numerous tests in between. The school is also different in that they allow each pupil 15 leave days per year. In addition there are normal school holidays, which are a bit shorter than those of other schools.
The "CVO"-school is run more on conventional lines. Although the official curriculum is followed, it is enriched with Afrikaner history and special emphasis on the Christian religion.
Orania is on the forefront of farming technology - the most recent project being a massive pecan nut plantation that is hoped will dominate the South African market.
 Annual crop festival at Orania During April 2004, Orania launched its own monetary system, called the Ora, based on the idea of discount shopping vouchers. The Orania local banking institution, the Orania Spaar- en Kredietkoöperatief ("Orania Savings and Credit Co-operative") is in charge of this initiative. The benefits of its own "monetary system" are that money is locked in to Orania to a certain extent, and it builds people's pride in their own culture. Image File history File links Oraniashow. ...
Image File history File links Oraniashow. ...
A monetary system secures the proper functioning of money by regulating economic agents, transaction types, and money supply. ...
The Ora is the currency of Orania. ...
In 2005 the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa shut down Orania's unlicensed Radio Club 100 radio station, after citizens of Orania accused it to be racist [1]. The station's equipment was seized. No criminal charges was laid against the operators of the Radio station, who claim that the radio station broadcasted harmless news about birthdays and social events. Management of the radio station claimed that they repeatedly applied for a radio licence in order to be a community broadcaster like other radio stations in the country. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is the regulator of the telecommunications and the broadcasting sectors in South Africa. ...
An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water cooler at a racially segregated street car terminal in the United States in 1939. ...
With the perceived marginalization of the Afrikaner community since the advent of multi-racial democracy in South Africa, the founders of Orania believe that they have the key to a future for Afrikaners, by Afrikaners, without oppressing others.
See also Defined as regions with limited to full self governance within sovereign countries which were created based on the demographic or ethnic composition of the particular area. ...
A homeland is the concept of the territory to which one belongs; usually, the country in which a particular nationality was born. ...
Volkstaat (Afrikaans for Peoples state) is a proposal for an independent state in South Africa or Homeland by a minority of Afrikaners through cultural separatism. ...
Map of the black homelands in South Africa as of 1986 Map of the black homelands in Namibia as of 1978 Bantustan refers to any of the territories designated as tribal homelands for black South Africans and Namibians during the apartheid era. ...
Separatism involves setting oneself or others apart. ...
Amish couple in a buggy in rural Holmes County, Ohio, which has the worlds largest Amish population The Amish are a Mennonite Anabaptist denomination found primarily in the United States and Ontario, Canada, known for restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and electricity. ...
External links - Orania web site in Afrikaans and English. (Official website of the Orania community)
- BBC Whites-only Money report.
- M-Net story about Orania's unique school.
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