WeeklySA_AdminABERRATION: Kleinfontein, Orania, unwelcome enterprises that must be nipped in the bud by state
By Sandile Swana
On August 4, 2024, acting judge A Vorster of the North Gauteng Court, Tshwane, Pretoria, delivered a judgment in a matter where the members and residents of the Kleinfontein Volkstaat were fighting among themselves in the case – Celliers and Others v Kleinfontein Aandeleblok (Edms) BPK and Another (4755/2022; 6713/2022) [2024] ZAGPPHC 762 (2 August 2024).
The judgment, the evidence and legal argument, revealed deep inner fears of the white Afrikaners. The ambitions for a volkstaat remain as they were in 1994, and today are pursued with vigour.
In his judgment, A Vorster AJ states: “The realisation dawned on right-wing groups that the winds of change that were blowing through the country made the end of white rule a fait accompli, and the ideal of claiming the whole of South Africa as the exclusive preserve of white people, was no longer attainable.
“As a result, the notion of a Volkstaat, an all-Afrikaner homeland within the borders of South Africa, started gaining traction.
“The idea was that a Volkstaat should be created in the old Boer Republics of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek and the Oranje-Vrystaat, with its residents being the Afrikanervolk, the Boerevolk, or the Boere-Afrikanervolk.
“Political leaders involved in the negotiations during the transition era to democratic rule could not agree on the borders of a volkstaat and the issue was relegated a constitutional principle, and later to a constitutional obligation.”
The Boers could not accept the possibility that they were to live intermingled with other ethnic groups in a unitary South Africa under direct governance of a government popularly elected by the majority of a non-racial South Africa.
The Boers, who have never stopped to identify as people of European descent subscribing to a Western white Christian civilisation, wanted a separate territorial entity where they could enjoy exclusive and undisturbed sovereignty or self-government and self-provisioning of public services and amenities.
Historians generally agree that there was no land that was not under one native king or chief or people when the Afrikaner Republics were established.
The year 1994 represented an opportunity for Africans to regain control of their territories.
No one had any right to hand over native lands to any white Afrikaner volkstaat and no natives had any automatic obligation to adopt white Western Christian culture and give up their own languages and culture including seSotho, sePedi, seTswana, xiTsonga, tshiVhenda, seLobedu, and so on, to say nothing of all those Africans who were lumped into a category called – coloured, for the convenience of the white Boers and apartheid.
Most Afrikaans speakers and cultural groups are not Western white Christians. They subscribe to African and Asian cultures and identities with no white volkstaat ambitions.
Nevertheless, we must openly and honestly admit there are people who want to create an enclave of Western white civilisation through volkstaat and others through the secession of the Western Cape completely out of South Africa, while others want South Africa to be part of Western white Christian civilisation as advanced by the US Vice President JD Vance of “the make America Great Again movement.”
These people have taken many active steps to invite the US to intervene in domestic South African politics, economics and society to push South Africa into the US-UK sphere of influence. Call it recolonisation.
Acting judge Vorster continues: “In the absence of a clear constitutional dispensation which provided for a volkstaat, proponents of Afrikaner self-determination had to find alternative ways of realising their ideal of an Afrikaner enclave.
“Territorial ambitions were abandoned and collective ownership of segregated sovereign enclaves, within existing legislation, was an option.
“The idea was developed that a Volkstaat could be built incrementally through private means, by acquiring and establishing settlements on private property, and incrementally expanding the settlements by purchasing additional property through private treaty.
“It was this idea that moved the Boere-hyeidsbeweging (the BVB), a Boer liberation political movement that advocated for an independent homeland for Boer/ Afrikaners based on the old Transvaal and Orange Free State Republics, to establish the Kleinfontein settlement. The settlement was named after one of the farms on which the settlement was to be established, shortly after the referendum in 1992.
“Kleinfontein was mooted as a “growth point for Afrikaner self-determination” and was established on the following farms, located roughly halfway between Pretoria and Bronkhorstspruit: …“
The Boers and Voortrekkers have always wanted to have a land on African soil where they could reign supreme and not be under Africans or the British in any way shape or form.
After 1948 it was clear that they could take the vast majority of the land and push everyone else to some small homeland and Group Areas – labour dormitories, while South Africa itself becomes a volkstaat for the Boerevolk, who subscribe to a Western white Christian civilisation that makes them and other people of white European stock – the herrenvolk or superior race.
This idea was declared a heresy in the 1980s although it was by and large identified to be ungodly in the 1960s, Neville Richardson puts it thus: “The declaration of apartheid as a heresy has given rise to lively debate even among those who condemn apartheid on political and moral grounds.
“Some of the major objections to the heresy declaration are examined and the conclusion is reached that the charge is cogent, valid, and helpful to the church in South Africa.
“In order to establish this point, careful analyses are made of apartheid and of heresy and a proposal is made for a new understanding of heresy in the context of recent developments in theology, ecclesiology, and ethics.”
Not only was apartheid a heresy; it was declared a crime against humanity, and it remains hostile to the current constitution and laws of South Africa.
The International Bar Association states: “According to Article 1(1) of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of apartheid the Convention declares that apartheid is a crime against humanity and that inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination… are crimes violating the principles of international law, in particular the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and constituting a serious threat to international peace and security.“
The judgment makes clear that no one can establish any human settlement where the buyers and sellers of property are determined by culture, language or race.
These requirements are similar to the requirements for members of Transvaal Agricultural Union (Transvaal Landbou Unie), where many non-white and non-European South Africans are excluded on grounds that are largely prohibited in the constitution.
The TLU in its manifest states: “I affirm Article 2 of TLU SA’s constitution, wherein I commit to lead my life in accordance with the Bible as the sole Word of the Triune God and a standard of my Christian faith… I humbly accept stewardship of my land and acknowledge the responsibility to effectively preserve and manage the soil, fauna, flora, and all available resources with respect as a heritage for future generations. I align with TLU SA’s position that applying free-market principles with minimal state intervention in the economy and guaranteed private property rights is the cornerstone of growth. This provides South Africa with the only sustainable opportunity for job creation, poverty alleviation, and progress.
“I am proud of the unique identity, heritage, and historical foundation of TLU SA and will strive to respect and protect the values that have shaped the organisation. I will also respect the identity of other agricultural organisations. Strengthening and empowering TLU SA is a priority for me. I will endeavour to protect and enhance TLU SA’s positive image to benefit the agricultural industry and my fellow farmers.
“I will work to not only make a positive contribution to the agricultural community but also to stabilise the agricultural community.
“I respect and submit to the rules and regulations of TLU SA as outlined in the Constitution. I commit to fulfilling my financial obligations as a member faithfully. I take pride in TLU SA as the fortress for the farmer and commit to pursuing unity with fellow farmers within this stronghold, fulfilling my God-given calling.”
These kinds ideas and practices continue to create enclaves of white supremacy on land (territory)and in the economy and must be scrutinised and engaged to build a unitary and non-racial South Africa. There has been a continuing problem where agriculture and farming are appropriated by Boers as theirs, principally and exclusively. Christianity itself has been a potent weapon of apartheid, and terribly Europeanised.
It is clear from the conclusions of acting judge A Vorster that Kleinfontein and other similar establishments are enclaves of immorality, illegality and criminality which must be stopped by the relevant municipalities, provincial and national governments. “In deciding on an appropriate enforcement mechanism, the COT is implored to consider the extent of the breaches that have occurred over the past 30 years.”
All in all, Kleinfontein and similar enterprises and Volkstaats are criminal enterprises, the state must stop that criminality in all its forms and variations.
• Swana is a political and governance analyst for local and international media, independent consultant on governance, leadership and strategy
