Orania wants international ‘friends and recognition’
Representatives on mission in Europe
Orania says it is embarking on a journey to seek international “friends and recognition” to grow the Afrikaner town.
Representatives from the Northern Cape town, including head of the Orania Movement Joost Strydom, are on an international visit this week, visiting politicians in the Netherlands and Belgium to give them their “version of the situation” in SA.
The town, in the Karoo region, was established in 1963 in an attempt to preserve Afrikaner culture. It has a population of nearly 2,000 people and its own currency called the Ora.
According to the town’s representatives, white citizens in SA are being “victimised” and it is seeking “international friends” to strength the town’s alliances.
“Orania needs international friends. The Orania Movement is doing important liaison work from the Afrikaner’s tribal countries, including Flanders and the Netherlands, where we are in conversation with role players of folk movements,” they said.
The town said issues its representatives shared include farm murders, challenges with failing state institutions such as Eskom and others, and Orania’s solutions.
“Over the past 30 years, Orania has begun to create a reality of a new chapter of hope for Africans. Orania needs friends and international recognition.
“ Delegates from the Orania Movement and Orania Development Company are in conversation with political, activist and support groups in Europe.
“The untenable situation of political discrimination, farm murders, crime and Orania’s solutions for Afrikaners must be told to the world.”
Flemish politician Kristof Slagmulder said members of the Flemish parliament in Belgium heard “a lot of white farmers, who are descendants of Flemings, Dutch and Germans, are victims of political discrimination and crime”.
“There are also many murders of white farmer families. We hardly hear anything about this anti-white racism against our South African brother people in the media. This unsustainable situation must be told to the world,” he said.
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