In the sparsely populated Karoo desert in the heart of South Africa\u2019s Northern Cape, the spirit of Afrikaner independence lives on.<\/p>\n
I spent a few days in Orania, a town established in 1991 where no black people live.<\/p>\n
I was part of a BBC crew, including Zimbabwean journalist Stanley Kwenda, who were accredited to visit.<\/p>\n
And during that time, Stanley and I were the only black people in the town of 1,000 \u2013 an unusual experience in modern South Africa.<\/p>\n
It is an Afrikaner-only town, where only Afrikaans is spoken, because of fears about \u201cdiluting culture\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not fit in easily in the new South Africa. It [Orania] was an answer to not dominating others and not being dominated by others,\u201d says Carel Boshoff Jr, the community leader.<\/p>\n
Mr Boshhoff inherited the town from his father Carel Boshoff Snr, an Afrikaner intellectual and son-in-law of the former South African prime minister, assassinated in 1966, Hendrik Verwoerd.<\/p>\n
The town was founded by Mr Boshoff Snr as a registered company shortly before white-minority rule ended in the rest of the country.<\/p>\n
Mr Verwoerd\u2019s grandson tells me that his people were faced with a tough question about their future when the black government was elected in 1994.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of Afrikaners who had been standing very close to the state, when the policies such as black economic empowerment and affirmative action came into place, Afrikaners needed to seriously think about their future. It wouldn\u2019t make sense not to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) was introduced to encourage more black participation in business.<\/p>\n
Orania has also proved to be the answer for those Afrikaners who felt displaced in the land their people had ruled for many decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see nothing wrong with apartheid,\u201d says Martin Kemp, one of the older residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course you get the petty apartheid: \u2018You use this toilet I use that toilet\u2019, I don\u2019t think that was necessary but the real apartheid as Dr Verwoerd saw it, there was nothing wrong with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
We were taken on a guided tour of the town\u2019s facilities by John Strydom, a retired doctor.<\/p>\n
The town\u2019s leaders insist that Orania is misunderstood. \u201cWe are not against black people. We are for ourselves,\u201d is their message.<\/p>\n
However, black people cannot live here.<\/p>\n
Prospective residents are screened by the town council using a strict criterion, which includes first and foremost being an ethnic Afrikaner.<\/p>\n
It is not enough to simply speak Afrikaans, as is the case with many black and mixed-race South Africans.<\/p>\n
As we sat down with Mr Boshoff for a cup of what the cafe described as \u201cproper Boere [Afrikaner] tea\u2026 strong\u201d, I took in some of the surroundings.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 with similar colours to the old republic\u2019s orange, white and blue horizontal stripes \u2013 which hung proudly.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The town boasts amenities such as shops, hair salons, a library, a post office, a hotel, a couple of schools \u2013 and churches, a lot of churches.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe levels of crime and violent crimes in South Africa are definitely pushing powers that bring people to Orania. Many of them have been victims of crimes,\u201d says Mr Boshoff.<\/p>\n
South Africa is considered to be one of the most violent societies in the world, with one of the highest murder rates.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
As a result, Orania officials say the town has had an annual growth rate of nearly 10% since its inception.<\/p>\n
The Afrikaner community\u2019s totem is the \u201cthe little giant\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n
The people do their own work from gardening to plumbing, bricklaying and waste-collection \u2013 jobs usually done by black labourers in the rest of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sleep with the doors unlocked. You can walk in the street at 3am without any fear\u201d \u2013 Quinton Diedrichs Bar owner<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes some adjusting to. 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,\u201d says Mr Strydom.<\/p>\n
The locals explain that one of the goals in Orania is to help create a generation of pure Afrikaners untouched by the \u201coutside world\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bizarrely, the town\u2019s existence is protected by South Africa\u2019s constitution through a clause that ensures the right to self-determination \u2013 introduced to reassure those worried about the transition to democracy.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
George van Staden moved from Johannesburg recently after he was offered a job in Orania.<\/p>\n
Mr Van Staden says his two children are enjoying life in the countryside but he and his wife are preparing them for a world where there is not just one race or culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no tertiary institution here for example. They need to be equipped to handle the outside world,\u201d says Mr Van Staden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI teach them that there is no difference in skin colour. I teach them if they respect the people in Orania they must also respect the people outside Orania,\u201d his wife Tisha adds.<\/p>\n
Another couple, Theunie and Annelize Kruger, say they are still adjusting to Orania\u2019s rules, which include getting permission from the town council before receiving visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand it but it\u2019s a bit frustrating at times,\u201d Mr Kruger says.<\/p>\n
At the local bar, framed newspaper articles hang on the wall and Afrikaner memorabilia adorns the place.<\/p>\n
The owner, Quintin Diedericks, is well-travelled but became disillusioned with South Africa and moved to Orania with his wife, a beauty therapist, about four years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very safe here. We sleep with the doors unlocked. You can walk in the street at 3am without any fear. You don\u2019t have that where you live,\u201d he tells me.<\/p>\n
He blames FW de Klerk, the last Afrikaner to rule South Africa, for the plight of his people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t get jobs. It\u2019s like we are being punished for the past\u201d \u2013 Drinker in an Orania bar<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave away the country for nothing. We had the army,\u201d he says and stops abruptly, beginning to shake his head.<\/p>\n
Inside the dimly-lit pub, a game of rugby is on the TV, apart from a few odd glances, no-one seems to pay much attention to Stanley or me.<\/p>\n
A few more locals do come over to our table and conversation is polite and largely politically correct, much like in the rest of South Africa.<\/p>\n
The pernicious issue of jobs and pro-black policies rears its head.<\/p>\n
One local explains it as \u201creverse racism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t get jobs. It\u2019s like we are being punished for the past,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
They seem oblivious to the oppression of black South Africans during apartheid. For them it was a system that gave order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [apartheid] didn\u2019t affect me. So many people get aggravated now for things they didn\u2019t even witness. It\u2019s over, move on,\u201d says Yolandie Jonk, 29, a call centre agent.<\/p>\n
As the sun sets, the bronze busts of Afrikaner leaders spanning over many decades \u2013 Paul Kruger, JBM Herzog, DF Malan, JG Stridom and, of course, Mr Verwoerd \u2013 look protectively over the town.<\/p>\n
Held in disdain elsewhere, they are Orania\u2019s heroes \u2013 yet it is difficult to see how the community will be able to remain so completely isolated in such an inter-connected world.<\/p>\n
But as one pub drinker put it \u2013 being an Afrikaner in Orania is \u201csomething we will defend with our lives if we need to\u201d. \u2013 By Pumza Fihlani, BBC News, Orania<\/p>\n