“The Truth Behind Orania”: Gent Shows Off Small South African Town With Virtual Tour

• Footage of Orania, a small town that has been developed as a stronghold for Afrikaans culture and identity where only those who identify as Afrikaners are welcome to live was shared
• The virtual tour shows residential areas with large houses surrounded by trees, manufacturing facilities, construction sites, recreational activities, and more
• Social media users had mixed reactions to the virtual tour, with some praising the town's peace and organization while others expressed a desire to visit or relocate to the area

A content creator shared a virtual tour of Orania, showing what daily life looks like in the controversial Afrikaner-only town.

Content creator @oraniabeweging, who regularly posts information about Orania and the community's activities, shared a TikTok video providing viewers with a comprehensive virtual tour of the town. The video opens with a welcome sign reading "Welkom in Orania" before showing various aspects of the settlement.

The footage shows large houses in residential areas surrounded by trees, well-maintained roads with trucks travelling through the town, office buildings, and Afrikaner men engaged in construction work using cement and bricks. The video also captures children having fun jumping into a river to swim, people using angle grinders and performing other manufacturing tasks, workers on scaffolding trying to put up buildings, and young Afrikaner men enjoying a game of rugby.

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Other scenes display residents riding horses, celebrating with face paint decorations and fireworks, and making rolls and bread, all highlighting the self-contained nature of the community.

Watch the TikTok clip below.

Town's unique status

What makes Orania particularly controversial is its status as the only town in South Africa that still maintains its own Transitional Representative Council, which oversees service provision rather than receiving services from the Thembelihle Municipality. Residents don't vote in elections for the municipal council but instead vote for their representative council.

The town follows a strict policy of self-reliance, with all jobs, from management to manual labour, filled exclusively by Afrikaners. Non-Afrikaner workers are only permitted if they possess skills that none of the residents have.

Despite negotiations about Orania's municipal status beginning in 2001, discussions were still not finalized as of 2016. This special status only exists at the local level, while at provincial and national levels, Orania remains an integral part of the South African political system.

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Reactions to the virtual tour

@Royal_Prince gushed:

"Orania is the best place in SA, there's always peace and harmony, no corruption, no crime i.e murders, etc."

@Khathide commented:

"When are you going to the USA, I want to relocate to Orania our land."

@True_patriots_🇿🇦 wrote:

"We must learn from Orania as a country and stop being negative, it's safe and clean there."

@Danny suggested:

"We must stop being jealous and rather learn from Orania..."

@Bheseni_ongenankintsho announced:

"December we are coming there we need to have an event 🤗"

@mohaleragolela stated:

"I say... let's do renovations in our towns and stop being negative towards the Afrikaners."

@herleno1 declared:

"South Africa really needs these people to rule."

Other stories about Orania

• Briefly News reported on Afrikaner residents in Orania, Northern Cape, celebrating the popular Irish holiday St Patrick's Day on March 17, with some residents enjoying strong alcoholic beverages.
• An Afrikaner X user shared comparison photos showing what Orania looked like in the 1970s versus now, with current images revealing significantly more greenery in what was described as "a lush oasis."
• A South African tour guide from @big6safaris gave viewers a rare inside look at Orania, the controversial whites-only town in the Northern Cape that has grown at an annual rate of 10%.

Source: Briefly News