What is the whitest city in south africa

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Orania, South Africa's white only town | Africanews.

 

In fact, there is nothing to prevent non-whites whose mother tongue is Afrikaans like many "coloureds", the category of mixed race identified under apartheid from applying. Sandile Swana, an expert on municipal governance, says that the creation of private cities like Orania is not unusual.

You'll see others," he says, "but the specificity here is that they have chosen their own ethnic origin and culture" as a precondition. A small, unassuming house was visited in by Nelson Mandela, the country's first black president. He came to drink tea with Hendrick Verwoerd's widow, tirelessly seeking to reconcile a bruised and divided South Africa. At the top of a hill, a collection of statues abandoned after the end of apartheid by many municipalities is displayed.

Welcome to Africanews Please select your experience. Watch Live. Breaking News Close. News Orania, South Africa's white only town. South Africa There is no secure access to enter this rural South African town, similar to so many others. Related articles. From the same country. On the same subject. Sometimes Ester thinks wistfully back to her old life when they lived in a house built of brick and could afford to buy clothes and diapers.

But suddenly everything changed. The family was hit by the global economic crisis. Ester and her husband lost their jobs. Without a regular income, they could no longer afford the rent and slipped into poverty. Although living in Blikkiesdorp isn't easy for the two sisters and their families, they and other white South Africa in this township remain optimistic that things will change for the better in the future.

White people always thnk they're better. In the beginning, life for Ester in Blikkiesdorp was a culture shock. It took a while before she finally accepted that there was no privacy in the township.

The metal walls are so thin that the neighbors can hear everything. When someone prepares a meal, the neighbor expects to be invited. There is stronger sense of community in the townships than in the city. As more and more white South Africans move into the township, their major concern is for their own safety and for that of their families. Ester's family is one of the twelve white South African families among the several thousand black South African families that reside in the ever growing tin shack settlement of Blikkiesdorp.

Although she says she was given odd looks in the township because of her color when she first arrived, she now feels she has been accepted by the local community. She vividly remembers the first time she saw Ester in the township. It was a shock to her because she always thought all white people were rich.

Meanwhile Bernadete has become convinced that because of the diversity of the people living in Blikkiesdorp, South Africa's dream of a Rainbow Nation will one day come true. But she remains realistic "If the people in our government cannot get along with sort of diversity, then how can they expect us to do so?

Blikkiesdorp is home to people from a wide variety of origins and backgrounds. They live peacefully together. In the past few days the vuvuzela has come to represent South Africa. But for all its noise, it is a quiet synonym compared to the man who helped get the country to the point it is at today.

It's the day when South Africans celebrate their former president's contribution to universal freedom by donating 67 minutes of their time to public service. It wouldn't make sense not to," he said. Orania has also proved to be the answer for those Afrikaners who felt displaced in the land their people had ruled for many decades.

We were taken on a guided tour of the town's facilities by John Strydom, a retired doctor. The town's leaders insist that Orania is misunderstood. We are for ourselves," is their message. Prospective residents are screened by the town council using a strict criterion, which includes first and foremost being an ethnic Afrikaner.

It is not enough to simply speak Afrikaans, as is the case with many black and mixed-race South Africans. As we sat down with Mr Boshoff for a cup of what the cafe described as "proper Boere [Afrikaner] tea… strong", I took in some of the surroundings. Near the entrance of the gated community was a statue of Mr Verwoerd, one of a few of the apartheid-era prime ministers, and the Orania flag - with similar colours to the old republic's orange, white and blue stripes - which hung proudly.

The town was quiet; the sound of birds and rustling leaves interrupted by a few cars passing by. It is an eerie place for an outsider. The town boasts amenities such as shops, hair salons, a library, a post office, a hotel, a couple of schools - and churches, a lot of churches.

But beneath the surface of this solitude lurks a fear that leads people to abandon high-paying jobs in the city for lowly jobs in this arid land.

Many of them have been victims of crimes," says Mr Boshoff. South Africa is considered to be one of the most violent societies in the world, with one of the highest murder rates. Official statistics suggest that most crimes actually happen in poor communities between people known to each other, but this has not stopped the fear of crime in other communities.

The Afrikaner community's totem is "the little giant", a man with rolled-up sleeves who features in the flag and the local money, the Ora which is pegged to the South African rand. The people do their own work from gardening to plumbing, bricklaying and waste-collection - jobs usually done by black labourers in the rest of the country. It is more difficult for some people because they are used to how things were done in South Africa, they are not used to manual labour," says Mr Strydom.

The locals explain that one of the goals in Orania is to help create a generation of pure Afrikaners untouched by the "outside world". Bizarrely, the town's existence is protected by South Africa's constitution through a clause that ensures the right to self-determination - introduced to reassure those worried about the transition to democracy. With its old Cape-Dutch styled houses it is like stepping back in time, but some families fear this place could eventually be too small for their children.

Theunie Kruger moved from Johannesburg recently after he was offered a job in Orania.