Latest news with #Kleinfontein
Mail & Guardian
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
New enclaves recall medieval feudal states
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) A few weeks ago I appeared on Newzroom Afrika's Top Stories of the Week programme with the excellent host, Naledi Moleo. It is a news programme that covers the week's top stories in a similar format as that of sports news channel ESPN. It sprints through as many topics as possible within a 45 to 60 minute show, inclusive of commercial breaks. One of the topics we touched on was the march against the whites-only Afrikaner settlement of Kleinfontein in Tshwane by the Economic Freedom Fighters. At that stage, the Oval Office meeting between presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump had not yet occurred, but the country was fixated on Trump's offer for asylum to white Afrikaners. The discussion got me thinking long after the show. Obviously settlements like Orania and Kleinfontein are racist and must be rejected immediately. They should not be allowed to exist, it is as simple as that. If we remove the racial dimension from the phenomena of Orania and Kleinfontein, we will discern that there is a much larger sinister global agenda afoot. American tech billionaires such as Balaji Srinivasan, Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel, associated with Trump and his Make America Great Again movement, are financially backing Próspera, a city state, on the island of Roatan in Honduras. These city states have been called different names, such as 'charter cities', 'start-up cities', 'freedom cities' and free private cities, so as to make them seem as harmless as possible. In Honduras, Próspera was created through government-established zones of economic development and employment, the ZEDEs. In the ZEDE, Próspera can operate autonomously from the Honduran government. The idea behind Próspera is to create free-market enclaves with their own rules and laws. It is governed by a council composed of nine members. Five are elected, while four are appointed by Honduras Próspera Inc, therefore in practice the company has an effective veto power because all decisions require a two-thirds majority. In Próspera the more land you own the more votes you get. Visitors are required to apply and receive a enter through a customs border post guarded by the company's private militia. Próspera adopts its own civil and commercial codes, which are subject to Honduran criminal law. Its charter disallows land expropriation, but Próspera itself is allowed to incorporate land anywhere on the island of Roatan. Local Hondurans, such as the local Crawfish Rock community, live in fear of their land being taken away by Próspera and its plans for expansion. Próspera collects its own taxes from residents, which includes the businesses located on Próspera. The taxes are low, with business paying only 1% of revenue and being allowed to customise the commercial regulations that apply to them. Personal tax is only 5% and the local government receives no tax revenue from Próspera. Rich people, especially Americans, go to Próspera seeking experimental medical treatment that is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. These are vanity projects such as inserting a chip into your hand so that you can communicate with your Tesla vehicle. Honduras President Xiomara Castro has vowed to keep her 2021 election campaign promise of dismantling Próspera. Her attempts have been met with stiff opposition by the rich owners of Próspera, who are in turn suing the Honduran government for nearly $11 billion, which is one-third of the Honduran GDP. A Próspera advocacy group called the Freedom Cities coalition has begun meeting with the Trump administration. Elvira Salazar, a Republican congresswoman from Florida, has claimed that the Honduran government are socialists who do not care for their country when they do not allow ZEDEs to do what they like. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank-funded institution, an arbitration body established in 1966 to settle legal disputes between international investors and countries, has ruled against the Honduran government, that the investors had to exhaust local remedies before appealing for arbitration, which effectively allows the $11 billion lawsuit to proceed. This is despite the Honduran supreme court's 2024 judgement that rendered the ZEDEs unconstitutional retroactively. These elitist enclaves are not exactly new. Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria was established in colonial times for the British elite, and in 1960 when Nigeria got its independence, local Nigerian elites joined the British expatriates on the Island. In the 2024 election campaign trail Trump promised the establishment of freedom cities in the United States. Already there is talk about a freedom city being established north of San Francisco and a crypto state in the Mediterranean. In Zambia there is Nkwashi, which is 36 kilometres east of the capital city Lusaka, that is described as a self-contained city that is privately owned, managed, and autonomous of the government. As much as we despise Orania and Kleinfontein, and may baulk at the phenomena of Próspera, we are busy establishing similar settlements all over the country. It may not be racist, but the increasing phenomena of golfing and townhouse type estates are essentially classist and elitist. These estates have their own government called a body corporate, their own private police force, and the body corporate has legislative powers, and acts as the judiciary. Thus, we are witnessing a return to feudal times with feudal lords and people living in city states. Initially these were purely residential, governed by an elected body corporate that decided on estate rules on the common areas of parking, gardens and walkways, as well as issues like loud music. Later these estates began creating clubhouses, with shops so you could buy items, as well as have a meal, a drink and get together with other residents. These estates offer much more today. Besides golf courses they now have gyms, daycare centres, schools and offices that can be rented. It is only a matter of time before national retailers such as Pick n Pay, Checkers and Woolworths enter: soon there will be a shopping mall in an estate. Farming areas in the Western Cape are being transformed into residential estates. Farm workers and labour tenants, who have lived on the land for many years, are moved off the land and can only work as minimum wage service staff on these estates. The Val de Vie estate in the Cape Winelands, for instance, has properties that cost R6 million for a small house and larger ones at R120 million. It is a small step for such estates to become a Próspera. The Cape Independence and the Referendum parties have previously called for the secession of the province. Next year we shall be expected to participate in local government elections. All our local governments are failing, even those who claim to be an oasis of success in a desert of ineptitude, and therefore the advent of these private sector enclaves of residential estates are appealing. Especially when crime and grime affect all, both historical townships and suburbs. Commercial districts, such as city business districts, the so-called City Improvement Districts, and even our 1980s urban strip malls, are also negatively affected by the utter deteriorating local governance. We will not solve government failures by creating private retreats. But it is equally compelling for political parties and their leaders, especially the ANC, to admit that it is not just the appeal of private retreats that makes an Orania-like golf estate attractive but it is also due to the contempt in which the people are treated in the free South Africa. Political parties have to reconnect with the people of South Africa, not by saying how much better they are than other failing parties, but by actually really listening and involving the people so that our cities are run better, there is increasing employment for all, and we effectively tackle poverty and inequality. If we cannot do these things, our country will resemble a medieval feudal state with golf city states while the majority live outside the castle walls, hoping their children will one day be able to live in these enclaves. Donovan E Williams is a social commentator. @TheSherpaZA on X.
Mail & Guardian
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Lesufi calls relocated Afrikaners ‘untransformed human beings'
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. (File photo) He also said that 'white only' enclaves such as Kleinfontein would be dealt with within the ambit of the law This content is restricted to subscribers only . Join the M&G Community Our commitment at the Mail & Guardian is to ensure every reader enjoys the finest experience. Join the M&G community and support us in delivering in-depth news to you consistently. Subscription enables: - M&G community membership - independent journalism - access to all premium articles & features - a digital version of the weekly newspaper - invites to subscriber-only events - the opportunity to test new online features first Already a subscriber?
Mail & Guardian
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Apart from us: The living skeletons of apartheid in Orania and Kleinfontein
Orania in the Northern Cape markets itself as a cultural haven. The birth of South Africa's democracy in 1994 meant not only the dismantling of apartheid laws but the moral and symbolic promise of inclusion, restoration and healing. Yet, three decades later, the vestiges of apartheid persist, not only in economic inequality and spatial injustice, but in towns such as Orania, in Northern Cape, and Gauteng's Kleinfontein, which thrive on exclusivity under the guise of self-determination. To understand the gravity of this, we must return to the architecture of apartheid. Through laws such as the Group Areas Act and the Population Registration Act, apartheid engineered a system where space, movement and even identity were brutally policed. Public amenities were segregated under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act and black South Africans were effectively criminalised in their own country under the pass laws. These laws didn't just restrict, they dehumanised. They enforced a logic that some lives were worth more than others. The democratic breakthrough 31 years ago promised a rupture from that logic. The Constitution, celebrated globally, enshrined equality, dignity and freedom. But how meaningful are those rights when certain towns, nestled comfortably in democratic South Africa, systematically exclude people based on race? Orania and Kleinfontein market themselves as Afrikaner cultural havens. They invoke section 235 of the Constitution, which allows for cultural self-determination. But, when culture becomes a smokescreen for racial homogeneity, it is not self-determination, but rather a modern-day segregation. These communities are not merely preserving a language or tradition, they are preserving apartheid's core belief in racial separation. Their very infrastructure, from who is allowed to own property to who may enter or live there, is built on exclusion. The idea that black South Africans, who make up the majority of the population, are not welcome in these areas is a slap in the face to Madiba's dream of an inclusive nation. This exclusion is not passive or symbolic, it is active and operational. Much like during apartheid, black South Africans may enter these towns only as labourers, not as equals, residents or citizens of shared nationhood. This is not merely a moral issue, it is a constitutional and political crisis. While proponents argue that these towns are private, peaceful and constitutionally protected, the selective interpretation of rights undermines the Constitution's foundational values. Freedom of association does not grant the right to recreate apartheid under cultural pretences. Their existence weakens social cohesion and inflames racial tensions, reinforcing the belief that integration is not only unwanted but impossible. Commentators often deflect by asking why cultural minorities cannot have spaces to protect their identity. This is dishonest framing. No one is challenging the right of Afrikaners to practise their culture, language and traditions. Like other cultures, they would still be able to practise their culture and preserve their language in any society across the country. What is being challenged is the systemic exclusion of others based on race. There's a profound difference between cultural celebration and racial isolation. The existence of Orania and Kleinfontein is not a question of legal technicalities but of national conscience. They are the living skeletons of apartheid — proof that while the laws have changed, the attitudes and structures of racial separation have not been fully dismantled. The democratic project cannot afford to look away. South Africa's future cannot be built on parallel societies, one multiracial and striving for equality, the other clutching to the ghosts of white supremacy. True reconciliation means confronting these uncomfortable realities and demanding that no town, no community and no individual be allowed to exist apart from us. Khothalang Moseli is a doctoral candidate at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, and a social and human rights activist. He writes in his personal capacity.
Eyewitness News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Kleinfontein board appreciates engagement with MK Party despite differences in opinion
The MK Party says it suspects the settlement is abusing section 235 of the constitution, which allows for self-determination for communities of shared common cultural and language heritage. Chairperson of the Kleinfontein board of directors Rian Genis said while they hold differing opinions with the MK party, they appreciate the visit. "What I really appreciate is that they visited us, spoke to us, listened to us, heard what we had to say, and we feel that positive. There's a lot of noise in the media and a lot of aggressive noise from the side of the eff and MK party towards Afrikaners in general and our communities and we appreciate a dialogue because that's the way we take this forward.'
