People of colour welcome in Orania - if they are willing to assimilate
- The whites-only settlement of Orania says that people of colour are welcome
- However, a spokesperson for the town says all residents need to be willing to integrate
- Orania Movement's CEO says all Orania residents must "become Afrikaners"
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A spokesperson for Orania has said that black people can join the community - provided they are willing to assimilate.
Orania's official position is that people who are willing to integrate are welcome, regardless of their skin colour.
The town, which was established in 1996, says its purpose is to preserve Afrikaans culture.
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Pieter Krige, the CEO of Orania Movement, says the concept of Orania has deep roots in South Africa, stretching back to at least the 1940s.
He may have been referring to the National Party's stance on race relations, which was formalised in 1947. The party officially adopted racial segregation as a policy, which would influence the implementation of apartheid in the coming decades.
Despite this, Krige says that Oriana was founded as a way to accommodate "a diversity of people living together".
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He went on to say that anyone was welcome to join Orania, as long as they are willing to "assimilate and become Afrikaners", according to eNCA.
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Many public figures have criticised Orania, but recently the Freedom Front Plus's Peter Marais has defended the settlement.
"Is a place like Orania really all that different to Ulundi?" Marais said.
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Source: Briefly News
