118-668: The Freedom Front Plus ( FF Plus or FF+ ; Afrikaans : Vryheidsfront Plus , VF Plus ) is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald . Since 2024, it is a part of the current South African government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance and other parties. The Freedom Front
236-509: A "widely ridiculed town" and a "media byword for racism and irredentism". An article in The Independent similarly writes that residents of Orania "have a reputation for being racists, and that the town attracts plenty of negative press". Benjamin Pogrund described Orania as a "curious hangover from the vanished terrible past". Vadim Nikitin, writing for The National in 2011, described
354-546: A clean criminal record, and sharing the community's values and goals. Afrikaner Calvinism is an important aspect of local culture. While the South African government has stated that it is opposed to the idea of a Whites-only community, it has generally ignored the town. The town's economy is focused on self-sufficiency and is largely based on agriculture, notably of pecan nuts. Orania prints its own money-like coupons which can be used to purchase in its stores and maintains
472-455: A decreasing number of first language Afrikaans speakers in South Africa from 13.5% in 2011 to 10.6% in 2022. The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) projects that a growing majority of Afrikaans speakers will be Coloured . Afrikaans speakers experience higher employment rates than other South African language groups, though as of 2012 half a million were unemployed. Despite
590-524: A lesser extent) Botswana , Zambia and Zimbabwe . It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland ( Hollandic dialect ) spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony , where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including German and
708-659: A list of candidates for the FF to the IEC, confirming that his party would take part in the elections. In the election, under the leadership of Viljoen, the Freedom Front received 2.2% of the national vote (with 424,555 votes cast), earning nine seats in the National Assembly , and 3.3% (with 639,643 votes cast) of the combined vote to the nine provincial legislatures. This suggested that many Afrikaners had split their vote. The party performed
826-558: A national, but not official, language. There is a much smaller number of Afrikaans speakers among Zimbabwe's white minority, as most have left the country since 1980. Afrikaans was also a medium of instruction for schools in Bophuthatswana , an Apartheid-era Bantustan . Eldoret in Kenya was founded by Afrikaners. There are also around 30.000 South-Africans in the Netherlands , of which
944-562: A nomadic lifestyle there. A number of late Stone Age engravings indicate the presence of the San people , who remained the main cultural group until the second half of the 1700s, with the arrival of European hunters, trekkers and the Griqua people . The earliest indication of the presence of Afrikaner people in Orania dates to 1762; in the early 19th century, many farmers moved seasonally back and forth across
1062-497: A paradox: "While Orania is the place Whites can go to undergo the regimen most explicitly designed to cleanse themselves of the sins of apartheid, it is also the place they can go to live most visibly like they did before it ended." Regarding the near-total segregation of the town and lack of any black residents, James Kirchick and Sebastian Rich of the Virginia Quarterly Review describe an uneasy relationship between
1180-513: A place to preserve themselves". Rebecca Davis of the Daily Maverick feels that, "What makes Orania different is that it makes no secret of its discrimination. Because of this, the town has come to occupy a place in the public imagination vastly out of proportion to its size". Most Afrikaners did not support the establishment of an Afrikaner state in the early 1990s, as they saw it as nothing more than an impractical pipe dream. Shortly after
1298-608: A second language. It is widely taught in South African schools, with about 10.3 million second-language students. Afrikaans is offered at many universities outside South Africa, including in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Russia and the United States. In Afrikaans grammar, there is no distinction between the infinitive and present forms of verbs, with the exception of the verbs 'to be' and 'to have'. In addition, verbs do not conjugate differently depending on
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#17328527349561416-576: A single entity under the name Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus or FF+), led by Mulder. Later, the Federal Alliance also joined the VF+/FF+. Under Mulder's leadership the party's support remained relatively stable. In the 2004 general election , support for the Freedom Front Plus rose slightly to 0.89% (139,465 votes cast). The party won one seat in most of the provincial legislatures, and four seats in
1534-553: A single negation. Certain words in Afrikaans would be contracted. For example, moet nie , which literally means 'must not', usually becomes moenie ; although one does not have to write or say it like this, virtually all Afrikaans speakers will change the two words to moenie in the same way as do not is contracted to don't in English. Orania, Northern Cape Orania ( Afrikaans pronunciation: [ʊəˈrɑːnia] )
1652-568: A stronghold for the Afrikaner minority group, the Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture through the creation of an Afrikaner state known as a Volkstaat . The town is generally described by outside observers and scholars as "Whites-only" and as an attempt to revive apartheid , although the community denies this. Living in the town requires application, and acceptance is dependent upon being Afrikaner, demonstrating fluency in Afrikaans ,
1770-511: Is "a pure and proper language" for religious purposes, especially among the deeply Calvinist Afrikaans religious community that previously had been sceptical of a Bible translation that varied from the Dutch version that they were used to. In 1983 a fresh translation marked the 50th anniversary of the 1933 version. The final editing of this edition was done by E. P. Groenewald, A. H. van Zyl, P. A. Verhoef, J. L. Helberg and W. Kempen. This translation
1888-549: Is a groundswell movement within Afrikaans to be inclusive, and to promote itself along with the indigenous official languages. In Namibia, the percentage of Afrikaans speakers declined from 11.4% (2001 Census) to 10.4% (2011 Census). The major concentrations are in Hardap (41.0%), ǁKaras (36.1%), Erongo (20.5%), Khomas (18.5%), Omaheke (10.0%), Otjozondjupa (9.4%), Kunene (4.2%), and Oshikoto (2.3%). Some native speakers of Bantu languages and English also speak Afrikaans as
2006-631: Is a local political and cultural organisation that promotes Afrikaner history and culture. Cultural institutions include the Orania Kunsteraad met orkes en koor (arts council with orchestra and choir) and the Orania Kultuurhistoriese museum (cultural history museum). Exhibits housed in the museum include the Felix Lategan gun collection and a Vierkleur flag carried by Jopie Fourie . The Koeksistermonument, erected in 2003, celebrates
2124-604: Is a white separatist South African town founded by Afrikaners . It is located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province. The town is situated on the R369 highway , and is 871 kilometres (541 mi) from Cape Town and approximately 680 kilometres (420 mi) from Pretoria . Its climate is semi-arid . The town was founded with the goal of creating
2242-512: Is absent from the other West Germanic standard languages. For example: Both French and San origins have been suggested for double negation in Afrikaans. While double negation is still found in Low Franconian dialects in West Flanders and in some "isolated" villages in the centre of the Netherlands (such as Garderen ), it takes a different form, which is not found in Afrikaans. The following
2360-469: Is an example: Compare with Ek wil dit nie doen nie , which changes the meaning to 'I want not to do this'. Whereas Ek wil nie dit doen nie emphasizes a lack of desire to act, Ek wil dit nie doen nie emphasizes the act itself. The -ne was the Middle Dutch way to negate but it has been suggested that since -ne became highly non-voiced, nie or niet was needed to complement
2478-507: Is considered further to the right than many other parties, however holds significant vote share with the Democratic Alliance (DA), many voters of which moved toward the FF Plus at the 2019 election . Both parties' voters also hold some crossover on policy matters, such as Cape independence and federalism . As of 2021, its stated policy positions include abolishing affirmative action and replacing it with merit-based appointments, and opposing
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#17328527349562596-555: Is neither a creole nor a direct descendant of Dutch, but a fusion of two transmission pathways. Most of the first settlers whose descendants today are the Afrikaners were from the United Provinces (now Netherlands), with up to one-sixth of the community of French Huguenot origin, and a seventh from Germany. African and Asian workers, Cape Coloured children of European settlers and Khoikhoi women, and slaves contributed to
2714-528: Is seen as the dawn of a new era in Afrikaans cinema. Several short films have been created and more feature-length movies, such as Poena Is Koning and Bakgat (both in 2008) have been produced, besides the 2011 Afrikaans-language film Skoonheid , which was the first Afrikaans film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival . The film Platteland was also released in 2011. The Afrikaans film industry started gaining international recognition via
2832-405: The -ne . With time the -ne disappeared in most Dutch dialects. The double negative construction has been fully grammaticalised in standard Afrikaans and its proper use follows a set of fairly complex rules as the examples below show: A notable exception to this is the use of the negating grammar form that coincides with negating the English present participle . In this case there is only
2950-588: The Evangelie volgens Markus ( Gospel of Mark , lit. 'Gospel according to Mark'); however, this translation was never published. The manuscript is to be found in the South African National Library, Cape Town. The first official translation of the entire Bible into Afrikaans was in 1933 by J. D. du Toit , E. E. van Rooyen, J. D. Kestell, H. C. M. Fourie, and BB Keet . This monumental work established Afrikaans as 'n suiwer en ordentlike taal , that
3068-612: The Los Angeles Times described it as a "Zealots' Dream" and "a bastion of intolerance". A year later the Chicago Tribune saw it as "the last pathetic holdout of the former ruling class of South Africa", continuing that "the Afrikaners who once forced blacks to live apart from the rest of society are now living in their own prison". Bill Keller dubbed Orania "the racist Camelot". A Mail & Guardian article describes it as
3186-538: The African National Congress (ANC) to create a Volkstaat making the party lose its importance. It would also receive increased competition from new parties such as the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging . In the 1999 election their support dropped to 0.8% (127,217 votes cast) with three seats in the National Assembly and between 1 and 2% in its stronghold provinces. This represented a respectable portion of
3304-678: The Arabic alphabet : see Arabic Afrikaans . Later, Afrikaans, now written with the Latin script , started to appear in newspapers and political and religious works in around 1850 (alongside the already established Dutch). In 1875 a group of Afrikaans-speakers from the Cape formed the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaaners ('Society for Real Afrikaners'), and published a number of books in Afrikaans including grammars, dictionaries, religious materials and histories. Until
3422-469: The Conservative Party , FF Plus's position has shifted to being more moderate and populist since its beginning, particularly under the leadership of Pieter Groenewald , who has campaigned to alleviate issues within both Afrikaner and Coloured communities, particularly within the Cape provinces ( Northern Cape , Western Cape , Eastern Cape ). Within the South African political landscape, the FF Plus
3540-401: The Democratic Alliance (DA) after the 2016 municipal elections to govern Johannesburg , Tshwane and several other municipalities. In 2016, Pieter Groenewald took over leadership of the FF Plus. He oversaw a pivot of the party away from being an exclusive abode for Afrikaners to that of one for all minorities, with a special focus on Afrikaans-speaking minorities. This was highlighted when
3658-530: The Khoisan languages , an estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary of Afrikaans is of Dutch origin. Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form . The name of the language comes directly from the Dutch word Afrikaansch (now spelled Afrikaans ) meaning 'African'. It
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3776-467: The Orange River in search of better grazing. An 1842 Rawstone map shows the Vluytjeskraal farm, on which Orania would later be built. The first known inhabitant of what is today Orania was Stephanus Ockert Vermeulen, who purchased the farm in 1882. The Department of Water Affairs established the town as Vluytjeskraal in 1963 to house the workers who were building the irrigation canals connected to
3894-509: The Patriotic Alliance party, visited the town. A policy shift was announced in 2014. Acknowledging that early growth expectations had not been met, the town's chief executive argued that Orania should employ its limited resources to grow into a 'city' of around 50,000 inhabitants. Urbanisation was deemed necessary to strengthen cultural institutions, deliver services and make possible an adequate standard of living for residents. However,
4012-716: The Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, were involved. Afrikaans descended from Dutch dialects in the 17th century. It belongs to a West Germanic sub-group, the Low Franconian languages . Other West Germanic languages related to Afrikaans are German, English, the Frisian languages , Yiddish , and the unstandardised language Low German . Afrikaans is also widely spoken in Namibia. Before independence, Afrikaans had equal status with German as an official language. Since independence in 1990, Afrikaans has had constitutional recognition as
4130-515: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war , the party expressed support for Israel. These tables show the electoral performance for the FF Plus since the advent of democracy in 1994: Afrikaans language Afrikaans ( / ˌ æ f r ɪ ˈ k ɑː n s / AF -rih- KAHNSS , / ˌ ɑː f -, - ˈ k ɑː n z / AHF -, - KAHNZ ) is a West Germanic language , spoken in South Africa , Namibia and (to
4248-576: The Senate , in which the Afrikaans language was declared a variety of Dutch. The Constitution of 1961 reversed the position of Afrikaans and Dutch, so that English and Afrikaans were the official languages, and Afrikaans was deemed to include Dutch. The Constitution of 1983 removed any mention of Dutch altogether. The Afrikaans Language Monument is on a hill overlooking Paarl in the Western Cape Province . Officially opened on 10 October 1975, it
4366-528: The Synod of Dordrecht of 1618 and was thus in an archaic form of Dutch. This was hard for Dutch speakers to understand, and increasingly unintelligible for Afrikaans speakers. C. P. Hoogehout, Arnoldus Pannevis [ af ] , and Stephanus Jacobus du Toit were the first Afrikaans Bible translators. Important landmarks in the translation of the Scriptures were in 1878 with C. P. Hoogehout's translation of
4484-456: The Vanderkloof Dam . It was part of a bigger scheme to bring water to the semi-desert central parts of South Africa. Other comparable construction towns like Vanderkloof and Oviston were also established. The Department of Water Affairs changed the name to Orania, a variation of the Afrikaans word oranje , referring to the adjoining river, after it was chosen in a competition. By 1965, it
4602-636: The Volkstaat concept until 1993, shortly before converging with other right-wing organisations into the Afrikaner Volksfront . Even then, their plan involved separating parts of Transvaal Province , including Pretoria, to form a state where the many black residents would have only limited voting rights. Negotiations to this end were conducted with the African National Congress, but were inconclusive. In 2010, Marida Fitzpatrick, journalist for
4720-464: The Volkstaat , he thought that it was essential Afrikaners have this option, since it would make them feel more secure, thereby reducing tensions in the rest of South Africa. In December 1990, about 40 Afrikaner families headed by Carel Boshoff bought the dilapidated town of Orania for around R1.5 million (US$ 585,000), on behalf of Orania Bestuursdienste (OBD) from the Department of Water Affairs. In
4838-553: The constitution of the Western Cape , which went into effect in 1998, declares Afrikaans to be an official language of the province alongside English and Xhosa . The Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine Huisgenoot has the largest readership of any magazine in the country. When the British design magazine Wallpaper described Afrikaans as "one of the world's ugliest languages" in its September 2005 article about
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4956-519: The monument , South African billionaire Johann Rupert (chairman of the Richemont Group ), responded by withdrawing advertising for brands such as Cartier , Van Cleef & Arpels , Montblanc and Alfred Dunhill from the magazine. The author of the article, Bronwyn Davies, was an English -speaking South African. An estimated 90 to 95 percent of the Afrikaans lexicon is ultimately of Dutch origin, and there are few lexical differences between
5074-452: The "language of the white oppressor" by some, pressure has been increased to remove Afrikaans as a teaching language in South African universities, resulting in bloody student protests in 2015. Under South Africa's Constitution of 1996, Afrikaans remains an official language , and has equal status to English and nine other languages. The new policy means that the use of Afrikaans is now often reduced in favour of English, or to accommodate
5192-746: The Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger , praised the town for its safety and environmentally friendly approaches to living, but also wrote that overt racist ideas and ideology still underpinned the views of many residents. Members of the AfriForum group who visited Orania in February 2015 came back with mostly positive impressions of the town, comparing it to a Clarens or Dullstroom of the Karoo. In 2018, Afrikaans trade union, Solidariteit , and civil rights group AfriForum named Orania as one of their 30 "anchor towns" to which Afrikaner migration should be encouraged with
5310-712: The Afrikaner Volkswag was to put the ideas of the SABRA into practice. Boshoff regarded contemporary plans of the National Party government to retain control through limited reforms as doomed to fail. Believing that black-majority rule could not be avoided, he supported the creation of a separate, smaller state for the Afrikaner nation instead. In 1988, Boshoff founded the Afrikaner-Vryheidstigting (Afrikaner Freedom Foundation) or Avstig. The founding principles of
5428-401: The Afrikaner vote, but nowhere near earlier levels. The party's support remained relatively stable in all national elections held during the next twenty years. In 2001, Viljoen retired and Pieter Mulder was elected as leader. In 2003, shortly before the 2004 general election , the Conservative Party , the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging and the Freedom Front decided to contest the election as
5546-661: The Arabic script. In 1861, L.H. Meurant published his Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar ( Conversation between Nicholas Truthsayer and John Doubter ), which is considered to be the first book published in Afrikaans. The first grammar book was published in 1876; a bilingual dictionary was later published in 1902. The main modern Afrikaans dictionary in use is the Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT). A new authoritative dictionary, called Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT),
5664-484: The Avstig were based on the belief that since black majority rule was unavoidable, and European minority rule morally unjustifiable, Afrikaners would have to form their own nation, or Volkstaat , in a smaller part of South Africa. Orania was intended to be the basis of the Volkstaat , which would come into existence once a large number of Afrikaners moved to Orania and other such 'growth points', and would eventually include
5782-730: The Boers and their servants." In 1925 Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a distinct language, rather than simply a vernacular of Dutch. On 8 May 1925, that is 23 years after the Second Boer War ended, the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 was passed—mostly due to the efforts of the Afrikaans-language movement —at a joint sitting of the House of Assembly and
5900-567: The Constitution and the Charter of Human Rights is viewed by the government as a legitimate ideal". On 14 September 2010, the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma , visited Orania. He said that he was "warmly welcomed", that Orania had "interesting ideas", and, "the Oraniers were prepared to live in South Africa, but wanted a place to exercise their culture". In May 2023, Gayton McKenzie , leader of
6018-624: The DA. The FF Plus continued their gains in the Western Cape as a result, being in the kingmaker position in over 6 districts. In 2022, FF Plus member Manicks Mpunwana became a city councilor in Bela-Bela , becoming the first black South African to serve as a councilor from the FF Plus. In the 2024 general election , the FF Plus gave up many of the gains it had previously made against the DA, winning only six seats in Parliament (National Assembly) with 1.36% of
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#17328527349566136-399: The Dutch Cape Colony between 1652 and 1672 had a Dutch father. Sarah Grey Thomason and Terrence Kaufman argue that Afrikaans' development as a separate language was "heavily conditioned by nonwhites who learned Dutch imperfectly as a second language." Beginning in about 1815, Afrikaans started to replace Malay as the language of instruction in Muslim schools in South Africa, written with
6254-407: The FF Plus and the Bruin Bemagtiging Beweging (Brown Movement) – an interest group focused on Coloureds led by Peter Marais , the former premier of the Western Cape – formed an official alliance. This ultimately led to Marais being elected as the party's candidate for premier of the Western Cape for the 2019 elections. FF Plus voter support increased substantially in the 2019 general election , with
6372-409: The National Assembly. In the 2006 municipal elections , the FF Plus received 1% of the popular vote (252,253 votes cast). In the 2009 general election , the party received 0.83% (146,796 votes cast) and retained its four seats in the National Assembly but lost its seats in the provincial legislatures of North West, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape. After the elections, the FF Plus's leader Pieter Mulder
6490-447: The Orania Movement made a Facebook post about how Afrikaners should develop their own sport institutions in view of government controlled sports organisations being hostile to Afrikaners. Facebook removed this post as hate speech , according to their new policy of "banning praise or support for White separatism" from their platform. In response the Orania movement created a channel on Telegram. The Orania Beweging (Orania Movement)
6608-491: The Western Cape People's Bill) calling for a recognition of Western Cape self-determination. The party is critical of what it regards as South Africa's contradictory foreign policy under the governing African National Congress (ANC). The FF Plus supports the strengthening of relations with countries that "promote self-determination within their own borders", as well as countries with whom South Africa has strong existing trade ties. The party has called on South Africa to criticize
6726-425: The abandoned land. The Department of Water Affairs completely abandoned Orania in 1989. The idea that Afrikaners should concentrate in a limited region of South Africa was first circulated by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA) in 1966. By the 1970s, SABRA advocated the idea of transforming South Africa into a commonwealth, where different population groups would develop parallel to each other. At
6844-413: The aim of becoming the majority population in these areas, making self determination possible. Initially the presence of residents with politically extreme views hampered early attempts to gain broader acceptance for the community. Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) members made up a sizable minority of the population. In July 1991, one resident publicly threatened to resort to terrorism unless Orania
6962-415: The area of traditional Boer republics in the Transvaal and the Free State, which encompass the economic heartland of South Africa and much of its natural resources, instead focusing on an economically underdeveloped and semi-desert area in the north-western Cape. This desert state, Orandeë , because of its very inhospitableness would not be feared or coveted by the South African government. Proponents of
7080-421: The best in the rural areas of the former Transvaal and Orange Free State , and was noted by the new deputy president Thabo Mbeki as representing possibly as much as half the Afrikaner voting population in these areas, with the strongest support among farmers and the working class. Freedom Front support gradually eroded in the coming years, as the party was strung along in ultimately fruitless negotiations with
7198-401: The challenges of demotion and emigration that it faces in South Africa, the Afrikaans vernacular remains competitive, being popular in DSTV pay channels and several internet sites, while generating high newspaper and music CD sales. A resurgence in Afrikaans popular music since the late 1990s has invigorated the language, especially among a younger generation of South Africans. A recent trend is
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#17328527349567316-416: The community. In November 2005, around 20 coloured families who lived in Kleingeluk before 1991 lodged a land claim with the government for around 483 hectares (1,190 acres) of land within Orania. It was settled in December 2006 when the South African government agreed to pay the claimants R2.9 million in compensation. Some black people from neighbouring communities feel that they are not welcome to visit
7434-465: The conventional narrative about Orania as the last bastion of apartheid, and a "pathetic outpost of embittered racists" who refuse to live in equality with black South Africans. Nikitin notes that Orania lacks some of the conventional indications of privilege found in other post-apartheid White South African suburbs, such as black servants and some material luxuries. Eve Fairbanks, writing for Witness , describes Orania's heavy emphasis on self-reliance as
7552-762: The course of the 18th century. As early as the mid-18th century and as recently as the mid-20th century, Afrikaans was known in standard Dutch as a 'kitchen language' (Dutch: kombuistaal ), lacking the prestige accorded, for example, even by the educational system in Africa, to languages spoken outside Africa. Other early epithets setting apart Kaaps Hollands (' Cape Dutch ', i.e. Afrikaans) as putatively beneath official Dutch standards included geradbraakt , gebroken and onbeschaafd Hollands ('mutilated, broken, or uncivilised Dutch'), as well as verkeerd Nederlands ('incorrect Dutch'). Historical linguist Hans den Besten theorises that modern Standard Afrikaans derives from two sources: So Afrikaans, in his view,
7670-445: The development of Afrikaans. The slave population was made up of people from East Africa, West Africa, Mughal India , Madagascar , and the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). A number were also indigenous Khoisan people, who were valued as interpreters, domestic servants, and labourers. Many free and enslaved women married or cohabited with the male Dutch settlers. M. F. Valkhoff argued that 75% of children born to female slaves in
7788-446: The dullest, most achingly pointless places in Christendom". Professor Kwandiwe Kondlo, a professor in political economy at the University of Johannesburg , said that Orania served as an important safety valve for Afrikaners in transition, and that "The Afrikaners are very forward-thinking people. Orania was established as a tactical strategic exit for the Afrikaner, should the new South Africa run into serious crisis. They will then have
7906-409: The early 20th century Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect , alongside Standard Dutch , which it eventually replaced as an official language. Before the Boer wars , "and indeed for some time afterwards, Afrikaans was regarded as inappropriate for educated discourse. Rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as 'a kitchen language' or 'a bastard jargon', suitable for communication mainly between
8024-418: The end of apartheid, in 1995. Construction on an irrigation scheme to cover a 400-hectare (990-acre) area began in 1995 and was completed in October 1996. In a conciliatory gesture, President Nelson Mandela visited the town in 1995 to have tea with Betsie Verwoerd , widow of former Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. Orania grew to 200 permanent inhabitants in 1996. By 1998 R15 million had been invested in
8142-435: The first residents arrived in 1991, many Afrikaners derided the project as unrealistic, with even right-wingers rejecting it for its location in barren territory, far from traditional Afrikaner states. Two decades later, a survey of Beeld readers (in 2010), found that 56% of respondents would consider moving to a Volkstaat. The largest right-wing party in apartheid-era South Africa, the Conservative Party , did not support
8260-473: The government for Afrikaans, in terms of education, social events, media (TV and radio), and general status throughout the country, given that it now shares its place as official language with ten other languages. Nevertheless, Afrikaans remains more prevalent in the media – radio, newspapers and television – than any of the other official languages, except English. More than 300 book titles in Afrikaans are published annually. South African census figures suggest
8378-455: The government for a compromise on Orania's municipal status should take place; until such an agreement can be reached, the status quo would remain. In May 2005, a dispute arose with a faction of residents who claimed the town was being run like a 'mafia', with a number of lawsuits being filed as part of the dispute. A raid on the town's radio station in November 2005 was linked to a tip-off received from internal dissenters; they ultimately left
8496-403: The idea conceded that this model would demand significant economic sacrifices from Afrikaners who moved to the Volkstaat . The model is based on the principle of 'own labour', requiring that all work in the Volkstaat be performed by its citizens, including ploughing fields, collecting garbage and tending gardens, which is traditionally performed by blacks in the rest of South Africa. The town
8614-406: The increased availability of pre-school educational CDs and DVDs. Such media also prove popular with the extensive Afrikaans-speaking emigrant communities who seek to retain language proficiency in a household context. Afrikaans-language cinema showed signs of new vigour in the early 21st century. The 2007 film Ouma se slim kind , the first full-length Afrikaans movie since Paljas in 1998,
8732-529: The language distance for Anglophones once remarked that the differences between (Standard) Dutch and Afrikaans are comparable to those between the Received Pronunciation and Southern American English . Afrikaans is an official language of the Republic of South Africa and a recognised national language of the Republic of Namibia. Post-apartheid South Africa has seen a loss of preferential treatment by
8850-576: The language of instruction for half the subjects taught in non-White schools (with English continuing for the other half). Although English is the mother tongue of only 8.2% of the population, it is the language most widely understood, and the second language of a majority of South Africans. Afrikaans is more widely spoken than English in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, several hundred kilometres from Soweto. The Black community's opposition to Afrikaans and preference for continuing English instruction
8968-497: The last transitional representative council in South Africa, but receives no national funding. The town has pursued energy independence primarily through solar power , constructed its own sewage works , and has experimented with introducing its own cryptocurrency as a replacement for cash. In 2022, Orania's landfill site was the only one in the Northern Cape region to fully comply with government environmental and health regulations. Two South African presidents have visited
9086-403: The lead-up to the move-in, some 500 black and colored people still lived in Orania (then called Grootgewaagd). 64 families were evicted by the Department of Water Affairs in early 1991, in one of the last largescale forced removals of Apartheid. The families were provided newly built homes, but were taken more than 100 km (62 mi) away to Warrenton, Northern Cape . Grootgewaagd village
9204-513: The likes of big Afrikaans Hollywood film stars, like Charlize Theron ( Monster ) and Sharlto Copley ( District 9 ) promoting their mother tongue. SABC 3 announced early in 2009 that it would increase Afrikaans programming due to the "growing Afrikaans-language market and [their] need for working capital as Afrikaans advertising is the only advertising that sells in the current South African television market". In April 2009, SABC3 started screening several Afrikaans-language programmes. There
9322-530: The majority are of Afrikaans-speaking Afrikaner and Coloured South-African descent. A much smaller and unknown number of speakers also reside in the Dutch Caribbean . Contrary to popular belief, the majority of Afrikaans speakers today are not Afrikaners or Boers , but Coloureds . In 1976, secondary-school pupils in Soweto began a rebellion in response to the government's decision that Afrikaans be used as
9440-541: The museum's director considers a "traitor" for his part in the country's transition to democracy. Leon Louw , the executive director of the South African Free Market Foundation , questioned the perception that the town is a refuge for racial bigots. Gavin Haynes from Vice News said that, "If you're a certain way inclined, Orania is probably a nice place to live. It's very neighbourly. It's also one of
9558-599: The nine provincial legislatures. Its new supporters were largely Afrikaners and Coloured voters from the Western Cape who had previously supported the DA. Following the 2019 general election , the FF Plus won three wards from the Democratic Alliance (DA) in municipal by-elections in the North West Province and continued to show growth in various other municipal by-elections in Gauteng , Limpopo and Mpumalanga . In
9676-514: The other official languages. In 1996, for example, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reduced the amount of television airtime in Afrikaans, while South African Airways dropped its Afrikaans name Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens from its livery . Similarly, South Africa's diplomatic missions overseas now display the name of the country only in English and their host country's language, and not in Afrikaans. Meanwhile,
9794-410: The other way round. Mutual intelligibility thus tends to be asymmetrical, as it is easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch. In general, mutual intelligibility between Dutch and Afrikaans is far better than between Dutch and Frisian or between Danish and Swedish . The South African poet writer Breyten Breytenbach , attempting to visualise
9912-417: The party growing its vote total by 250,000, to 2.38% of the national vote, earning ten seats in the National Assembly. This was more than the nine seats that the old Freedom Front had received in 1994. Additionally, it gained eight seats in the provincial legislatures, for a total of eleven. In the 2014 general election, the FF Plus won seats in three provincial legislatures, in 2019, it won seats in eight out of
10030-411: The past tense is also often replaced with the perfect.) When telling a longer story, Afrikaans speakers usually avoid the perfect and simply use the present tense, or historical present tense instead (as is possible, but less common, in English as well). A particular feature of Afrikaans is its use of the double negative ; it is classified in Afrikaans as ontkennende vorm and is something that
10148-523: The proposed expropriation without compensation land reform movement to protect the rights and interests of minorities, especially Afrikaners and Afrikaans -speaking Coloureds. The party also supports greater self-determination for minorities throughout South Africa, and has adopted Cape independence as an official party position. In this regard, the party has put forward legislation in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (known as
10266-485: The run up to the 2021 local government elections , the FF Plus adopted Cape Independence as an official party position. They and CapeXit had a joint election campaign in the Western Cape to highlight the party's stance on Cape Independence. Over 60% of the FF Plus's ward councillors standing in the Western Cape were Coloureds, with Lennit Max being the party's candidate for mayor of Cape Town. The party claims that their candidates are selected purely on merit in contrast to
10384-484: The status quo while working together with Orania for the benefit of Thembelihle. In 2009 the EFF's future leader, Julius Malema, visited Orania. In 2019, Malema indicated that he agreed with the idea of moving landless black people to Orania. In June 2020, Gauteng ANC MEC for education, Panyaza Lesufi , said that Orania had to fall as it is neither a symbol of inclusivity nor democracy. "We understand why that institution
10502-442: The subject. For example, Only a handful of Afrikaans verbs have a preterite , namely the auxiliary wees ('to be'), the modal verbs , and the verb dink ('to think'). The preterite of mag ('may') is rare in contemporary Afrikaans. All other verbs use the perfect tense, het + past participle (ge-), for the past. Therefore, there is no distinction in Afrikaans between I drank and I have drunk . (In colloquial German,
10620-527: The time, mainstream Afrikaners supported the bantustan policy, which allocated 174,307 square kilometres (67,300 sq mi) for the 15 million black Africans living in South Africa at the time. (See also: ethnic groups in South Africa . ) May 1984 saw the establishment of the Afrikaner Volkswag , an organisation founded by Carel Boshoff , a right-wing academic and the son-in-law of former South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd . The goal of
10738-499: The town authorities of rejecting the Rainbow Nation concept and trying to recreate apartheid -era South Africa within a White ethnostate . Residents argue that they wish to preserve their own Afrikaner cultural heritage and protect themselves from crime in South Africa . They also reject the "White" label as meaningless. The Orania region has been inhabited since about 30,000 years ago when Stone Age hunter-gatherers lived
10856-474: The town for expenses including the upgrading of water and electricity supply, roads and businesses. On 5 June 1998, Valli Moosa , then Minister of Constitutional Development in the African National Congress (ANC) government, stated in a parliamentary budget debate that "the ideal of some Afrikaners to develop the North Western Cape as a home for the Afrikaner culture and language within the framework of
10974-442: The town's residents and the country's apartheid history. Orania's strict ethnonationalism and anti-globalization are incompatible with both apartheid and the rainbow nation of modern South Africa. Despite this, Orania maintains several monuments of the apartheid which had been discarded from other places. The Orania Cultural History Museum includes busts of every apartheid president of South Africa except for F. W. de Klerk , whom
11092-537: The town, to buy in local shops or to use petrol stations. In 2016, prior to the 2016 local elections , the Thembelihle branch of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) campaigned on a platform of ending the autonomous status of Orania, saying that Orania's autonomy would no longer be tolerated in an EFF-run municipality. After a visit to Orania, Thembelihle's EFF mayor, Danny Jonas, said he wanted to retain
11210-563: The town. Nelson Mandela visited in 1995, and Jacob Zuma in 2010. The town has also received visits from tribal leaders from the Xhosa and Tswana people. The town has grown at an annual population growth that was estimated at 10% in 2019. The population increased by 55% to 2,500 from 2018 to mid-2022, and to 2,800 in July 2023. In 2023, the town council wanted the population to grow to 10,000 as soon as possible. The stated goal of Orania's founders
11328-591: The towns of Prieska , Britstown , Carnarvon , Williston and Calvinia , reaching the west coast. On 23 April 1994, the Freedom Front , the African National Congress and the National Party (South Africa) signed the Accord on Afrikaner self-determination . This led to article 235 of Constitution of South Africa , which guarantees the right of self-determination for cultural groups. Boshoff's plans excluded
11446-537: The two languages. Afrikaans has a considerably more regular morphology, grammar, and spelling. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, particularly in written form. Afrikaans acquired some lexical and syntactical borrowings from other languages such as Malay , Khoisan languages , Portuguese, and Bantu languages , and Afrikaans has also been significantly influenced by South African English . Dutch speakers are confronted with fewer non-cognates when listening to Afrikaans than
11564-486: The ultimate objective remains self-determination, similar to the small countries of Lesotho and Eswatini , which are also situated inside South Africa. Carel Boshoff IV rejected the word Volkstaat , arguing that repeated use with no grounding in reality had led it to become an abstract term. While regarding an Afrikaner nation as desirable, he felt the word carried too much baggage, connected to unrealistic and anachronistic expectations. The vision of an Afrikanerstad
11682-550: The vote. In June 2024, Freedom Front Plus agreed to join the ANC-led government of national unity (GNU). The leader of the FF Plus, Pieter Groenewald, became Minister of Correctional Services in the new Cabinet. FF Plus is a right-wing , conservative political party with its beliefs and ideals largely centred around Afrikaner interests' and Afrikaner nationalism with an orientation around Christian values. With its origins in Afrikaner Volksfront (Afrikaner People's Front) and
11800-758: The women who baked and sold koeksisters to collect money for charity and is one of the town's tourist attractions. The town also houses the Irish Volunteer Monument, dedicated to the Irish soldiers who fought on the Boer side during the Boer War (see Boer foreign volunteers ). Jan van Wijk, who created the Afrikaans Language Monument in Paarl , designed the monument. It was moved from Brixton, Gauteng in 2002 by
11918-464: Was a revelation to me. I was enormously impressed by its success, decency, safety, modesty, friendliness, cleanliness, by its spirit of goodwill, by its egalitarian attitudes and, above all, by its prevailing philosophy of freedom". In 1991, the New York Times was not as impressed when it said that Orania was a "ghost town where White supremacists dream of carving out an idyllic homeland". In 1994
12036-468: Was appointed as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries by the new President Jacob Zuma . In the 2014 general election , the FF Plus increased its vote slightly to 0.9%. It retained its 4 MPs, and also regained a seat in the North West. The party also enjoyed consistent landslide victories in the Afrikaner enclave Orania . Along with other parties, the FF Plus entered into coalition with
12154-574: Was erected on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Real Afrikaners , and the 50th anniversary of Afrikaans being declared an official language of South Africa in distinction to Dutch. The earliest Afrikaans texts were some doggerel verse from 1795 and a dialogue transcribed by a Dutch traveller in 1825. Afrikaans used the Latin alphabet around this time, although the Cape Muslim community used
12272-497: Was established in February 1992. A journalist for the Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant , visiting in 1993, noted that houses had been repaired, but the town lacked any meaningful economic activity. There were few jobs available, and no money for further development. The town relied on neighboring farms for food. Orania elected its own transitional representative council , a temporary form of local government created after
12390-499: Was established. It has lived its time now. It's now that that place must be liberated and all South Africans must be allowed to stay wherever they want to stay". He also said, "If you think we will keep quiet you are wrong. This madness must come to an end. It's a betrayal of our call for a truly non-racial SA". In response ANC veteran Carl Niehaus said, "Destroy the money, destroy the damn flag. Charge these White, Orania 'Boere', for their racism, throw them in jail". In January 2021,
12508-620: Was founded on 1 March 1994 by members of the Afrikaner community under Constand Viljoen , after he had left the Afrikaner Volksfront amidst disagreements. Seeking to achieve his goals through electoral means, Viljoen registered the Freedom Front with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on 4 March 1994 to take part in the April 1994 general elections (This date has also been given as 7 March). On 12 March 1994 Viljoen handed in
12626-488: Was granted independence. By 1993, people with similarly militant views had reportedly been removed from the community. In December 2000, the provincial government ordered the dissolution of Orania's town council and its absorption into a new municipality along with neighbouring towns. Oranians lodged an application with the Northern Cape Division , which found that negotiations between the residents of Orania and
12744-399: Was home to 56 families. Coloured workers who participated in the construction project lived in a separate area named Grootgewaagd. The first phase of the irrigation project was completed in 1976. After the dam was completed, most of the workers moved away, and the town fell into disrepair during the 1980s. Grootgewaagd became home to a mixture of coloured and black families who squatted on
12862-559: Was influenced by Eugene Nida 's theory of dynamic equivalence which focused on finding the nearest equivalent in the receptor language to the idea that the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic wanted to convey. A new translation, Die Bybel: 'n Direkte Vertaling was released in November 2020. It is the first truly ecumenical translation of the Bible in Afrikaans as translators from various churches, including
12980-472: Was originally part of a strategy to create an Afrikaner majority in the northwestern Cape by encouraging the construction of other such towns, with the eventual goal of an Afrikaner majority in the area and an independent Afrikaner ethnostate between Orania and the West Coast. Boshoff had originally envisaged a population of 60,000 after 15 years. While he conceded that most Afrikaners might decide not to move to
13098-399: Was previously referred to as 'Cape Dutch' ( Kaap-Hollands or Kaap-Nederlands ), a term also used to refer to the early Cape settlers collectively, or the derogatory 'kitchen Dutch' ( kombuistaal ) from its use by slaves of colonial settlers "in the kitchen". The Afrikaans language arose in the Dutch Cape Colony , through a gradual divergence from European Dutch dialects , during
13216-438: Was released. The town is planning for substantial growth in the future with up to one million residents in the area anticipated. Coverage generally describes Orania as culturally backward, racially intolerant, and separatist. Descriptions of Orania frequently call it "whites-only", since the town only accepts Afrikaner residents. Andrew Kenny, a regular contributor to The Citizen newspaper, wrote in 2015 that: "Orania
13334-540: Was renamed Kleingeluk. In April 1991, the first 13 inhabitants moved into Orania. At that time, the town consisted of 90 houses in Orania and 60 in Kleingeluk, all in serious disrepair. In August 1991, the 2,300-hectare (5,700-acre) farm Vluytjeskraal 272 was added to Orania. The National Party government led by F. W. de Klerk opposed the creation of an Afrikaner state, and the existence of Orania, but it took no action, believing it would fail on its own. The town council
13452-513: Was seen as a more effective way to achieve prosperity and decision-making power. The shift met with some resistance, as the Orania Movement was seen as straying away from its original goal. The movement since then promotes Orania as the "Home of the Afrikaner" (Afrikanertuiste). In August 2023, Orania held a city planning conference in Pretoria where the new city plan from NewUrban city planners
13570-487: Was the preservation of Afrikaner cultural heritage, and selfwerksaamheid (" self reliance "). All jobs, from management to manual labour, are done by Afrikaners; non-Afrikaner people are not allowed to live or work there. The town's monoethnic philosophy rejects the concept of baasskap , where the White minority exploited Black labour for economic gain, in favour of a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency. Critics accuse
13688-649: Was the translation of the whole Bible into Afrikaans. While significant advances had been made in the textual criticism of the Bible, especially the Greek New Testament , the 1933 translation followed the Textus Receptus and was closely akin to the Statenbijbel . Before this, most Cape Dutch-Afrikaans speakers had to rely on the Dutch Statenbijbel . This Statenvertaling had its origins with
13806-531: Was under development As of 2018. The official orthography of Afrikaans is the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls , compiled by Die Taalkommissie . The Afrikaners primarily were Protestants, of the Dutch Reformed Church of the 17th century. Their religious practices were later influenced in South Africa by British ministries during the 1800s. A landmark in the development of the language
13924-622: Was underlined when the government rescinded the policy one month after the uprising: 96% of Black schools chose English (over Afrikaans or native languages) as the language of instruction. Afrikaans-medium schools were also accused of using language policy to deter Black African parents. Some of these parents, in part supported by provincial departments of education, initiated litigation which enabled enrolment with English as language of instruction. By 2006 there were 300 single-medium Afrikaans schools, compared to 2,500 in 1994, after most converted to dual-medium education. Due to Afrikaans being viewed as
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