Yesterday, I published a blog entry on Orania, a town consisting exclusively of Afrikaners.
Today, another town in South Africa. Kleinfontein, which is not far from Pretoria, perhaps the most prominent of the three political capital cities in South Africa. Cape Town and Bloemfontein are the other capital cities, but Pretoria, being the executive branch capital, is the most iconic, and the most closely associated with South African politics, as such.
So, perhaps there is something a little more unsettling with Kleinfontein, since it is, in fact, not so far removed, physically or politically, from South Africa.
Another whites-only enclave. Or, to be more specific, Afrikaner-only.
The difference between Kleinfontein and Orania may seem almost negligible, perhaps a matter of degrees, but this is not entirely the case, either.
Orania outright had as a mission statement the establishment of a new and independent Afrikaner homeland. Kleinfontein might aspire to this same, but it is still an outright part of South Africa. Which is to say, in effect, that it is a town within South Africa, and has very recently found itself the target of some legal battles, as some within South Africa have taken exception to the notion of Afrikaners excluding all others. It is a stark reminder of the still not so distant past, and the legacy of racial oppression during the days of apartheid, still less than two decades ago.
While the residents of Kleinfontein argue that their undeniable efforts at maintaining Afrikaner segregation are not racially motivated, many remain highly skeptical. After all, the evidence is everywhere. The town was set up as apartheid was quickly coming to an end. And the town has statues honoring Prime Minister Verwoerd, widely seen as the architect of apartheid, and a fairly blatant racist in his day. Flags of the old Boer republic of the Orange Free State/Transvaal fly here, honoring the Afrikaner republic(s) that this place used to be a part of, and which had slavery and, again, clear cut racism.
With all of those things in mind, there are doubts as to whether the motivating factor behind the strict segregation that town residents of Kleinfontein keep themselves separate from the rest of the country can even truly be considered anything but lingering racism, and enforcement of a de facto apartheid.
When residents first established Kleinfontein, they did not publicly declare quite the high expectations as residents of their sister village of Orania, in the eastern Cape Province, which outright aimed at a measure of independence from South Africa. Oranians set up their own currency, and do not view themselves as part of the "rainbow nation" of South Africa. They have tried to maintain a strict separation, and want some legal recognition towards those ends. Kleinfontein residents largely seem to sympathize, but they have not gone to the same extraordinary lengths in this pursuit.
Perhaps that is what makes it, in a sense, even more relevant than Orania. Precisely because it has not gone to quite the lengths that Oranians have gone to in order to separate itself from South Africa. It does not see itself as the beginnings of an Afrikaner state, or at least, the founders and leaders have not made as many statements towards those ends, like they did in Orania. This town is not as far away from mainstream South African life, being basically within the neighborhood of Pretoria, whereas Orania is far removed from much of the rest of South Africa, being deep within the desert, and thus, physically isolated from much of the rest of the country. Kleinfontein does not have it's own currency and it's own flag, like Oranians set up for themselves. In short, Kleinfontein is a South African town, but it differs than most, in that it retains the de facto "whites only" (or perhaps more to the point, Afrikaners only) policy that remains reminiscent of the not so distant past in South Africa, when whites, and particularly Afrikaners, were officially and realistically favored, and lived lives of comparative privilege to the rest of the continent.
Yes, it is different from Orania on many levels. Yet, essentially, it is lumped into the same category, because it is nevertheless trying to achieve the same ends: segregation of the Afrikaner community from the rest of the nation. It is going about it in a slightly different manner than Orania, but the two communities maintain good relations, with an annual rugby contest between the two sister towns. These communities are also protected from the outside, having implemented measures to keep outsiders out, controlling the flow of visitors. Most importantly, they set up their own criteria of who can live within this community, and vigorously enforce these. In both communities, only Afrikaners can become a part of the community. Also, in both, Afrikaner history and culture is revered and preserved in the same spirit as it used to be when Afrikaners ran the whole show in the whole of South Africa. In both towns, there are statues honoring Hendrik Verwoerd, the former Prime Minister of South Africa, and widely regarded as the architect of apartheid. It was during his years in office that the nation most relentlessly pursued the strict policy of racial segregation that was his brainchild, more than that of anyone else.
Orania gained notice right away, and received much press -mostly critical. After all, it made no bones about it's intentions. It created a makeshift community out of what essentially had been a ghost town, in the middle of the desert. To those ends, it set up it's own flag and currency. By comparison, Kleinfontein was able to remain under the radar until relatively recently. But now, people have begun to notice, and some are calling for the town's residents to come to terms with the realities of the changes in South Africa.
"South African town accused of keeping apartheid alive" by Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, May 31, 2013:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/31/world/africa/south-africa-kleinfontein-apartheid-nkepile-mabuse/index.html
"Kleinfontein: Pretoria’s own Orania" by Lali van Zuydam
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/kleinfontein-pretoria-s-own-orania-1.1519319#.Umoj3aPD8dU
"All-white town fights to preserve segregation in Mandela's 'Rainbow Nation'"
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/kleinfontein
"South African government ‘shocked’ by Kleinfontein" May 22, 2013 by praag.org:
http://praag.org/?p=4574
"Kleinfontein segregation not about race"
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Kleinfontein-segregation-not-about-race-20130523
Kleinfontein “Nothing To Do With Race”
http://news.howzit.msn.com/conversation/kleinfontein-%e2%80%9cnothing-to-do-with-race%e2%80%9d
"Welcome to Kleinfontein, lingering outpost of apartheid South Africa: Aspiring Afrikaner-only enclaves highlight how race still shapes the nation's landscape" by Sudarsan Raghavan for the Washington Post, July 30, 2013:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/30/south-africa-kleinfontein-apartheid-Afrikaner
"Kleinfontein raises old race questions" published by IOL News, May 31 2013
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/kleinfontein-raises-old-race-questions-1.1525543#.UmonaaPD8dU
"Afrikaner-only Communities Still Exist in South Africa" by Baltimatt of the Baltimore Sun, August 3, 2013
http://talk.baltimoresun.com/topic/243545-afrikaner-only-communities-still-exist-in-south-africa/
Here is a video available on this subject by Youtube:
"EUROPEAN RACISM: Kleinfontein - South African Town Accused Of Keeping Apartheid Alive?!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1H61dhQu5I
No comments:
Post a Comment