Rozanne Meyer
Coming from a pastoral household, I was raised colour blind and attended non-racial schools all my life. Nevertheless, I was always aware of a natural boundary between cultures during my childhood.
Shortly after the 1994 elections my family and I visited the beach where, for the first time in my life, I saw a white woman walking hand in hand with a black man. I stared involuntarily, not that I was witnessing something wrong – rather, I simply found it to be an odd occurrence.
Questions arose in my mind such as whose language they spoke to each other, whose traditions enjoyed prevalence and which adaptations their families had to make in order to accept their relationship in context of their vastly different cultures.
Racism is wrong but to be non-racial doesn’t change the fact that there is a natural division within mankind. Put aside the contrast between black and white and consider the natural divide that also occurs within races. Afrikaners and English speaking white South Africans are as different from each other as Greeks are from Italians yet we’re all expected to be part of the same nation, i.e. South Africans.
The major challenge that Afrikaners face in the New South Africa is to preserve our rich culture and language amid a predominantly English speaking society that suffers from a relentless drive to empower the non-white majority at the cost of merit. That which is in the best interest of the contemporary South African is not in the best interest of the Afrikaner .
A clear distinction must therefore be made when it comes to the white population in South Africa. The English speaking whites’ mother tongue isn’t being forced from the education system to make way for another language nor are their children denied learning about their history and culture at school.
The new generation Afrikaner knows nothing about their 360 year history because it doesn’t conform to the black majority’s view of what a South African is and should know about their past. It’s a simple case of a clash of interests and as the Afrikaner is a small minority, we have to adapt to the majority in order to integrate with society in general if we want to remain part of South Africa.
For many 1994 symbolises freedom. Why do so many Afrikaners then struggle to accept the terms of our newly found freedom?
Perhaps the fact that 85% of the 2000 Afrikaner schools have either become double medium or completely English has given Afrikaners the impression that we have to change our identity in order to be free. Maybe the 180% increase in unemployment under Afrikaners since 1994 has made it difficult for us to afford celebrating our so-called freedom. Or can it be that the 20 000+ Afrikaners that have been murdered since 1994 has painted a morbid picture of what the black majority calls freedom and democracy? No person that still wants to be an Afrikaner in the New South Africa can be considered free.
For the Afrikaner, the game isn’t worth the candle as far as the New South Africa is concerned.
To put matters into perspective one must firstly understand that the Afrikaner has always wanted freedom. Since 1652 we have created nearly 20 republics in southern Africa in order to be free from either Dutch greed or British imperialism and colonialism.
The last of these republics is in fact the Republic of South Africa, which the Afrikaners declared in 1961 under the leadership of Dr. H.F. Verwoerd. Why then do we have to transform or integrate with the New South Africa if it has never been our intention to be ruled over by other nations at the expense of our best interests?
Furthermore, our case for freedom isn’t subject to other nations as it is for us to decide whether we want to be free or not. Republican independence is in our hands and in our hands alone.
As a result a small group of Afrikaners saw the writing on the wall for South Africa under Afrikaner rule during the late 1980's, which lead to the creation of a small Afrikaner town called Orania in the scarcely populated Karoo region of southern Africa.
The founding fathers of Orania were spot on when they predicted that the Afrikaner will be culturally and economically marginalised in addition to being in physical danger under black majority rule. Since 1991 Orania has been the alternative to integration and emigration for the Afrikaner people.
The concept is unique in the sense that Orania is the first and only community in Africa that is entirely built and run by white Africans, i.e. Afrikaners. The result is zero crime in addition to an eco-conscious and self functioning community that is free of corruption, discrimination and racial tension.
The shackles of colonialism were broken the day when Orania’s foundations were laid with Afrikaner labour. Never again will the Afrikaner be a minority in our own country as a result of relying on black labour. For a nation to enjoy self determination, it must also be willing and able to supply their own labour. This is the crux of the matter as far as Orania is concerned.
Orania symbolises a new era for the Afrikaner. The republic that will stem from this peaceful growth point will stretch from the sleepy Orange River in the east to the mystic Atlantic in the west. It is entirely up to the Afrikaner to build our new country just as e.g. the Irish built theirs after being ruled over by a foreign nation.
Small as we are, we ask the world for nothing except supporting our inherent strife to be free from oppression and foreign rule. Measure the Afrikaner not in number, rather in what we are worth to the future development of Africa.
By denying the 2,8 million Afrikaners the right to self determination and to brand Orania as a ‘white enclave’ (Telegraph.co.uk, 24 Nov. 2002) or ‘Apartheid’s last stand’ (Mirror.co.uk, 08 Nov. 2010) is as racist as it is ignorant and goes against all the norms and standards of humanity.
Africa is home to 9 Arab countries, 45 black states and not a single fatherland for white Africans except for a small town in southern Africa. What is wrong with this picture?
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