Talk:Orania/Archive 2

Huge Population Boom?

I've spent the better part of the last five hours reading various news articles trying to get a decent estimate on the amount of people living in Orania, and the numbers tended to go from ~400 to ~700 from '01 to '09 with an upwards trend, with one article in '04 or '05 stating that there had been a downwards trend. However, according to an April 2010 article(http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article418616.ece/All-white--and-a-bit-green--in-the-far--country) the population now stands at 1700. This is the very latest news item I could find on the town. I've contacted the town via their website for confirmation, but as of yet have not received a reply. Should the number be updated based on that article alone?

- Have visited the town recently (November 2012) and at which time their own estimate was of a population of almost 1000 citizens. Statistics South Africa conducted a national census in 2011 and this would be a reliable source once the granular detail gets published. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.159.131.34 (talk) 23:44, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Untitled

Wikipedia is not a forum for free speech. It is a tool striving to supply unbiased information to the general public. Let us discuss the merits of each statement in the article which contributors may conceive as being biased. -Gemsbok1 10:06, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Removed claim that Orania's stated goal is to break away from the South African government and become a volkstadt. The Source used to document that claim was a propaganda - editorial hostile to Orania and that claim is incorrect. Further, such an inaccurate statement in wiki is a slander against the community.JeffLB (talk) 20:36, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

OK, what the hell, this article is extremely biased with the false information that this is trying to recreate apartheid. Couldn't be more wrong, this is a White Afrikaans speaking safe haven, no other ethnic group can live or work in Orania, so racism is non-existent because there is only one racial group living in the area, which is White, the right to self-determination is internationally recognized and not born out of racism but the protection of culture and identity.

Chill out, please

OK, I haven't bothered reading through all of the below argumentation, but the bits I've seen suggest that both parties need to calm down, do some research, and come back with something substantiated. Here are a few points:

• The "boer" ethnic distinction is one made only by a minority of Afrikaners (a term commonly used to refer to white, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans). Most Afrikaners, including even those at www.boer.co.za, an Afrikaner cultural organisation, really don't care about making the distinction. The creation of an Afrikaner culture was a process which happened throughout the 20th century, and the end result is a strongly self-identifying cultural group, desirous of maintaining its cultural identity.
• Note, however, that it seems to me that there's a correlation between people distinguishing themselves as "boers" from the rest of the Afrikaner group, and their being right wing white supremacists. Certainly, the majority of the places I've encountered the distinction have been on white supremacist websites.
• Orania is not a "white town in a black country". It is an exclusively Afrikaner town in a multicultural, multiracial, albeit majority "black", country. Note that "black" in South Africa is misleading, as within that racial grouping, which was largely a construct of apartheid, there are numerous self-identifying cultural groups, such as Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Venda, and quite a few others.
• The vast majority of Afrikaners interested in maintaining their cultural (and linguistic) identity, seek to do so by ways that are non-exclusive. "Afrikaanses" (Afrikaans speaking people) is a new term conveying the inclusion of non-white Afrikaans speakers into a broader, multi-cultural Afrikaans linguistic culture. An example, for instance, is the hugely popular Afrikaans television show, Sewende Laan, which has a broadly multi-racial cast.
• The current government has considered, and rejected the idea of a self-governing, all-Afrikaner enclave in South Africa. They have, however, made a commitment to the protection of Afrikaner linguistic and cultural identity, on an equal footing with all other minority groups' cultural identities in the country.
• Orania is not a self-governing Afrikaner enclave. It is a corporate entity that owns private property (and reserves right of admission). Prior to the re-defining of municipal boundaries, at the end of the 90's, it was a distinct municipality. It is now incorporated into a larger local municipality, which has governmental jurisdiction over it. Any inhabitant of Orania is entitled to all the services provided by the South African government to its citizens. They are also subject to the corporate policies of the "Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok", where those do not contravene South African law.
• It would really amuse me if the government decided to enforce affirmative action on the Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok. At present, I think, every company with more than 50 employees has to meet certain quotas in terms of representativity in its employees. The fact that the government hasn't taken such measures could be seen as conciliatory.-Kieran 12:17, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

The term Boer relates to a specific cultural group who are the descendants of the Trekboers / Grensboere / & the Voortrekkers as well as the republican Boers of the former Boer Republics. While the term Afrikaner was first coined by the Cape Dutch of the Western Cape when a few intellectuals started a language rights movement in 1875 to get the Afrikaans language officially recognized as a distinct language at a time when the Boers were mainly living in their own independent world recognized republics & often called the dialect they spoke "die Taal" or "Boer Taal" & did not share the same culture as the pro colonial & urbane Western Cape Afrikaners. The Boers were often conditioned into viewing themselves also as Afrikaners after the Cape based Afrikaners had ascended to political power after the devastation of the second Anglo-Boer War which led to the deaths of close to half of the total Boer child population in the British concentration camps. The trend among many to reinstate the term Boer started in the late 1970s & is not a political term but a cultural term used by people who are apolitical who are simply proud of their culture which existed as a distinct entity from the Cape based Afrikaners for centuries now.

Ron7 (talk) 18:39, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Kierano, after doing some research, you will find that the Affirmative Action legislation is not applicable to Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok in particular, as the company does not have more than 50 employees. Conciliation is not an issue. Orania does not attempt to disrupt the South African government, therefore there is no dispute that may need conciliation or mediation. -Gemsbok1 10:06, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I had wondered about the 50 employee limit. It kinda puts a cap on how big the town can get, though (unless they subdivide the company, or something). By conciliation I meant towards Afrikanerdom in general, and towards the Afrikaner right in particular. That the ANC was willing to talk about a Volkstaat, and include the Volkstaat Council in the constitution, was a big step for them. That the Afrikaner right didn't violently rebel against the fall of apartheid was a big step for them, too. If you dig down, the ANC (at least the upper leadership) have shown a lot of goodwill and tolerance towards the Afrikaner right since coming to power. -Kieran 14:13, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree that the two poles has done a great deal of conciliation each to give South Africa the peace it enjoys. To accuse the people of Orania, especially the leadership, of racism is however not accurate, as the founder of Orania, Prof Carel Boshoff, spent his life as a missionary to the Bantu people. Trying to preserve your own in a world dominated by market forces does not equate to the hatred of others. I would however agree that there are many people who want the Volkstaat to succeed for the wrong reasons, such as racism. These people will need to be rehabilitated, but they do not represent the idealism of Orania. --Gemsbok1 20:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

here we go. Yes I accuse the leadership of racism, regardless whether or not the founder was a missionary to the bantu people. His missionary activity does not prove or disprove his policies nor justify them. I can't figure out how people think this way. You provide no detail to his missionary work, and you make no effort to think critically. The policy of denying employement to people based on their skin color is a form of racism. The policy of discriminating from people based on their skin color is a form of racism. We've been through this before, skip to the end. Moving on! --208.254.174.148 12:54, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Refer to the topic below for the racism issue. Let me know which detail you need on Prof. Boshoff's missionary work, and I will gladly endeavor to supply you with it. --Gemsbok1 15:11, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Racism? It's not racism, if there was a black who felt culturally bonded more to the Afrikaner or Boer than other blacks then I'm sure he could find a home in Orania. It's about culture not race, it's for Afrikaners, not Whites in general, in fact many coloureds feel more culturally tied to Afrikaans and the Afrikaner way of life than English- speaking Whites do, and Coloureds by enlarge associate more with their White heritage (in terms of language) than they do with their black or asian heritage.

81.107.213.136 20:05, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Lifting tag

The goal of Wikipedia is to be a reliable and unbiased source of information. Please provide a list of statements that may be perceived as not being neutral, so that these may receive attention or be deleted, in order for the tag to be lifted. -Gemsbok1 10:06, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

If no objections is provided by 31 July 2006, I will proceed to lift the neutrality tag. -Gemsbok1 20:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The Eleventh Hour Has Passed!

• Objection #1: you blanked out the comments of others in the talk page. That is cited below by another user.
• Objection #2: The 2nd 'citation needed's throughout the first paragraph violates the Wikipedia NPOV policy regarding information that is widely known to be true. It is widely known that criticism regarding the Volkstaat principles revolves around the fear that they will reintroduce apartheid. That is not the same as saying that they actually ARE going to do it, but there are critics throughout the country (which makes requiring a citation invalid) and over much of the world (news reports abound of the controversy regarding the enclave).
• Objection #3: the 3rd and 4th 'citation needed' is also redundantly out of line. You cannot cite a claim based on a request to cite a source. The use of 'citation needed' at this point becomes one of using a red-tape method to bury one side of the debate in endless administrative requirements.
• Objection #4 While hypocritically the statement "...being the the only all-Afrikaner enclave in South Africa and is one of the safest low crime ridden communities in South Africa as well." is placed, without citation, and without a 'citation required'. (I assme this is a statement taken as fact not requiring validation?) This statement is also immature in it's articulation. The phrase "low crime" followed by the word "ridden" is an example of prejudice by the writer, empathizing their intense preference to this city, without looking at the facts of the entire country. We really do not know, nor have any citation to whether or not there are other cities in S. Africa who have a low, or even lower crime rate than this one. Also, the laws of the city are not administered directly by the state, and thus the problems in the city (employment discrimination, housing discrimination, etc) are not addressable as 'crimes'. In addition, the implication is violent crimes, which also I would assert is unnecessary. Many ultra-small cities in S.Africa have very low crime rates. Comparing Orania's 700 family size lack of criminality to a larger urban area is misleading. Finally the misapplication of S.Africa's greater social and economic issues are lost in the assumption that Orania is founded on principles that inherently create a less violent community since this city has little or no reported violent crime at this point. I believe this is a [Peacock_term] statement sprinkled with a little weaseling.
• Objection #5: The statement "On the other hand, supporters contend that Orania strongly prohibits the exploitation of black labour, which was a common practice under apartheid." is misleading and dishonest. One, I cannot find a single supporter who has explained this in that way. In fact the word Apartheid means "seperate-ness", and actually was an institution that forbade black people to work in certain areas in certain jobs in Afrikaaner areas AS WELL AS exploit black labor in allowed areas by paying substandard wages. The Orania proposal follows the Aparheid philosophy by refusing employment to black people in the city altogether. Thus the statement is technically true in the same sense one could say that "Terrorists have chosen to halt all attacks on the Twin Towers in the USA" since the towers are already destroyed. So the sentance should say "Orania supporters believe that employment discrimination against blacks is a justifiable method of resolving black labor exploitation." And in fact, this prejudiced form of reasoning is yet another indicator as to how ignorantly racist the Orania supporters are. (Hi, we will solve the exploitation by... not paying you fairly... but instead... refusing you to work at all and earn a living.)

So Gemsbok, as you continue to mislead the public about Orania, I continue to thwart and frustrate your efforts to present this article as a testament of white pride and an even subtler indicator of moral and ethical white superiority. Remember I can read between the lines. I also take pride in knowing that I don't have to just complain about your unfair methods, but I can break them down, expose them, and show the readership here how misleading your "lines of reasoning" are in the talk pages. --Zaphnathpaaneah 04:33, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Zaph, you sound like a mad Himmler on a quest. Here are my comments:

• Objection#1 - I cleared the talk page in order for progress to be made on the discussion as it became very cluttered and hard to follow. It was I who requested Dalf to archive the details that I deleted after he pointed the option out to me.
• Objection#2 - Your comments are not widely known to be true, as it is only your viewpoint. The onus is on the writer to be able to proof his/her statements when requested. If it is widely known facts, you should be able to provide ample quotations from published articles in the public domain to substantiate your claims.
• Objection#3 - No request for sources can be an admistrative hassle for a true wikipedian, research is exactly what we are supposed to do.
• Objection#4 - You are welcome to place your own requests for sources with "citation needed" tabs. I am not the only person modifying the article, as you should have noticed in the "History" tab. I do however wish to refer you to your own "Objection1" as it is widely known in South Africa that Orania has a 0% violent crime rate.
• Onjection#5 - You are welcome to site your views, if you are able to provide independent proof of your claims from independent sources in the public domain.

You are welcome to modify articles according to the rules and best interest of wikipedia, but you must be carefull of treading onto the grounds of vandalism. Gemsbok1 06:58, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Archive

this edit may be ill advised in blanking most of the page. Since I have not read the blanked text and don't know if it was perhpas simply a case of clearing the air I am not going to bother putting it back or archiving it. However, in general you shoudl archive the talk page rather than deleting it especially if you are deleting the remarks of someoen who disagrees with you. If you need some help archiving the content drop me a note and I can help. Dalf | Talk 10:41, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I will. --68.60.55.162 13:18, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Racist or not?

Zaph continually accuse the founders of Orania of being racist. As a proudly black wikipedian (refer to Zaphnathpaaneah)), Zaph is convinced through his biased view that Orania discriminate against black people only, and therefore are being racist.

It is true that Orania does not want to accomodate black people. It is however also true that Orania does not want to accomodate any other white people who are not Afrikaners.

The discrimation of one ethnic group against all others, is commonly known as the right to associate. The United Nations resolution 47/135 of 18 Dec 1992 grants ethnic minorities this right in Article 2, point 4.

Zaph must note that Afrikaners are an internationally recognized seperate ethnic group, and they are as different from the other white South Africans, as the English are different from the French.

The fact that Orania discriminate against all non Afrikaners, including whites, therefore proves beyond any doubt that Orania is not racist, but enacting it's internationally sanctioned right to associate as an Afrikaner and minority ethnic group. -Gemsbok1 06:58, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Even if they are racist, it doesn't matter to Wikipedia. It is private property and they are entitled to do whatever they want. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Josephabradshaw (talk • contribs) 21:30, August 25, 2007 (UTC)

It's a moot point now; Zaph has been banned. Stonemason89 (talk) 03:53, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Economic boom?

Currently the article reads: "However since the sudden economic "boom" in Orania, with more workers arriving, accommodation is very hard to find and become expensive in 2007. " Could someone please elaborate on this suddne economic boom? What is its cause, and what is drawing more residents to Orania to the point that housing is scarce? Any plans to increase housing? Also, is there a more up to date population count? SONORAMA 16:13, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, this point needs backing up as it seems to be trying to imply the popularity of the project. Socrates2008 20:53, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

AFRIKAANSLAND

The same way Lower Canada gave birth to QUEBEC, Western South Africa (Western and Northern Cape) will give birth to AFRIKAANSLAND, an autonomous state where the official language will be Afrikaans and where thousands of Afrikaans speaker from the rest of South Africa could emigrate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.32.121.29 (talk) 19:06, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Tags

I have removed these tags at the top of the page -

and

because they don't seem to be relevant. The remaining tag -

is relevant and will remain until relevant citations are found.

What does this mean

The population is listed as 760 (2,010). Which is it? 760, or 2,010? Or does one of these figures represent permanent residents and the other one, temporary residents? Stonemason89 (talk) 02:15, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

It's suppose to be 760 (2010) for the date haha :) I'll fix it. Bezuidenhout (talk) 09:25, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Names

Ok, first of all the term "Afrikaner" is disputed. I have never heard anyone use the term Afrikaner to describe themselves in my life. My family came from Pretoria and they always referred to themselves as an adjective Afrikaans. Just to get this straight to all those who don't understand I'm making a table, since the recent edit "the entire population is Afrikaners", not only is the word Afrikaner contraversial, but the sentance is grammatically wrong. It should read "..ation is Afrikaner" or maybe even "...is Afrikaans".

Type	Word
Noun (disputed)	Afrikaner
Language	Afrikaans
Adjective	Afrikaans

I hope this helps anyone who is too ignorant to learn about the usage of the word. Furthemore, many people see the "Boer" more as an occupation, rather than a sub-group. Many white Afrikaans speakers are still farmers, which is the occupation the "Boer" is known for. Lastly, about the article, use the word Afrikaner (because the Orania website uses it) but also put down that this means "white Afrikaans Speakers". Bezuidenhout (talk) 21:10, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

File:SolarBoilerOrania.JPG Nominated for speedy Deletion

An image used in this article, File:SolarBoilerOrania.JPG, has been nominated for speedy deletion for the following reason: All Wikipedia files with unknown copyright status What should I do? Don't panic; you should have time to contest the deletion (although please review deletion guidelines before doing so). The best way to contest this form of deletion is by posting on the image talk page. If the image is non-free then you may need to provide a fair use rationale If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale, then it cannot be uploaded or used. If the image has already been deleted you may want to try Deletion Review This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 12:51, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Possible conflict of interest

The Environmental practices subsection was edited into its current form by user Everson (talk). Ludwig Everson is directly involved with the Earthship project of Orania (as noted in the contact page of the project's website), which compromises his neutrality. His own website indulges puffery regarding the subject matter, as shown in the Why Orania? section of Aardskip.com.

This may be considered a breach of Wikipedia's Plain and simple conflict of interest guide (specifically the bullet point that says, "Do not directly edit articles about … your clients …"). Furthermore, there is a second editor, Ludwig.everson (talk), who is also curating the Earthship article, in addition to making a recent edit on this article. Both user accounts may be a sockpuppet situation. — 173.60.134.88 (talk) 04:56, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Shareholding

It seems like shareholding - and by extension voting rights on the "town council" (seems to actually be a board of directors) - is conferred by owning property, not by being a resident (as the "Application process" section currently state.) (I.e. a tenant without property does not seem to have a shareholding and voting rights are proportional to the shareholding, which is determined by the property owned)

The current information is properly sourced though and mainly primary sources can be found with more accurate information. (The shares block control actwould be one possible source and their website another) 196.210.239.154 (talk) 05:17, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Origin of 'Vluytjeskraal'

The article says that the name Orania is derived from the Orange river, but the origin of the earlier name is not given. Zacwill (talk) 13:01, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Obtuse Sentence requires revision

Article states, "all are Protestant, with except Maranata which is . . . ."

1) the word "Maranata" is introduced, apparently out of parallelism with the preceding context. What on earth is "Maranata"? Someone needs to add explanatory statement(s).

2) "with except" is ungrammatical. Except is not a noun to be the object of the preposition with. Did the editor mean "with the exception of"? (PeacePeace (talk) 01:06, 26 July 2018 (UTC))

The syntax problem was an easy fix, and I take it "Maranata" refers to the name of the church. However, I do not see membership of the Charismatic Movement makes that church non-Protestant. I have left it, but it would be nice if someone could check the cited source and figure it out. Yngvadottir (talk) 19:01, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Orania, Northern Cape/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Carabinieri (talk · contribs) 04:44, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi, I'll be reviewing this and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for a review. I have not gone through the article in detail yet, but here are a few initial comments:

• In the lead, the claim "Anyone who defines themselves as an Afrikaner and identifies with Afrikaner ethnicity is welcome to live in Orania" is sourced to pages 68-69 of the Burg paper. I was unable to find the claim there.
• The way quotation marks are used is not in keeping with the Manual of Style.
• According to the "Reception" section, the town is widely considered a racist project, but this is not reflected in the ideology section. That makes that section read like a whitewash. I would suggest merging the two sections, since obviously not everyone agrees on what the town's true ideology is.--Carabinieri (talk) 06:22, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

@Carabinieri: Sorry for the delay. I tried to fix issues 1 and 3, and to deal with the quotations according to MOS:QUOTEMARKS.--eh bien mon prince (talk) 22:20, 31 October 2018 (UTC)

• Any update on this reviews progress? AIRcorn (talk) 22:26, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Carabinieri (talk · contribs) has not been editing since November. Perhaps someone else could review the article?--eh bien mon prince (talk) 16:35, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

I will take over. I have few others I need to finish off first and other issues have come up at home that might impact my time a bit. Ping or leave a talk page message if I have not started this by the by the end of the weekend. AIRcorn (talk) 20:53, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

@Aircorn: only a couple of weekends late, but just a reminder of this PotentPotables ( talk ) 20:08, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, I forgot about this. A GA of my own got taken up. I will start this as soon as I finish that one. AIRcorn (talk) 21:37, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

No problem, just making sure this one finally gets sorted out PotentPotables ( talk ) 22:55, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

New review

I was expecting just an ordinary town article, but this one is a bit interesting. So far I think it handles the controversial nature of the town well. Have started leaving comments below. Not all are required to pass GA. More to come later. AIRcorn (talk) 07:57, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

• According to its founders, the purpose of Orania is to create a town where the preservation of Afrikanerdom's cultural heritage is strictly observed and Afrikaner selfwerksaamheid ("self reliance") is an actual practice, not just an idea I wonder if it would be better introducing what Orania is before going into the purpose.
• All jobs, from management to manual labour, are filled only by Afrikaners; non-Afrikaner workers are not permitted to work unless they have skills no resident has. You talk about jobs, but it is not clear whether non-Afrikaners can live there.
• How is this enforced? It is local laws or is it a privately owned land or something else?
• Maybe move the map image up so it is visible when reading about the proposed reach.
• Carel Boshoff IV Is this another Boshoff?
• I feel the external reception could be a bit better organised. It is by no means terrible, but does jump around a bit. See Wikipedia:Copyediting reception sections for more details. It is also a bit odd having short paragraphs, followed by a long one and then back to short again.
• comparing it to a Clarens or Dullstroom of the Karoo I dn't think the "a" is supposed to be there. Also why the comparison? Because of their policies or just looks/atmosphere?
• The documentary image doesn't seem to fit in that section either. Unless there is context missing?
• The Orania region has been inhabited since about 30,000 years ago when Stone Age hunter-gatherers who lived a nomadic lifestyle there. Grammar
• During the same month, the people who still lived in Grootgewaagd were evicted, Was this by the Boshoff?
• In a conciliatory gesture, then-President Nelson Mandela visited the town This paragraph consists of a few different incidents, but they are not tied together well and lack some context. I feel more could probably be mentioned on Mandelas visit. Does the shooting have any resolution or lead to anything. Pretty much every sentence here needs to be expanded into its own paragraph or tied together better. There is no flow between them.
• The 2001 Census found 519 residents.[100] By 2003 local amenities included a holiday resort on the Orange River, a home for senior citizens, two schools, a private hospital and a growing agricultural sector.[25] How is this an aftermath of the court case? Would fit in better in the section above where it talks about numbers and conditions.
• A R5 million shopping centre, the Saamstaan-winkelsentrum, opened in 2006. Same with this paragraph. I wouldn't get too caught up on chronological order. It reads better following themes. Especially since you have made this a sub section.
• The writing on the map is hard to read.
• The town's territory originally covered 300 hectares (740 acres), and was expanded through a number of land acquisitions. What is the total land area now?
• White South Africans were the main population group at the time of the 2011 census, representing 97% of the total. Given what I read above I would have expected 100%. What are the other 3%? I feel they should be mentioned
• Population estimates for Orania, 1991 to 2017 Where does this come from
• voted against changes to the DRC Abbreviations should be linked to their first usage when they are spelt out (usually in brackets).

<<<--Placeholder to Legal framework--->>>

• In 2011, town rates for residents were between R1,500 and 2,000 per month. This doesn't really mean anything to me. Is that high or low compared to other towns?
• Frans de Klerk is the chief executive officerDoes the as of 2018 apply to him as well?
• Orania has its own municipal structure in the form of the Orania Representative Council It is a little confusing as this is linked under a different name above. Also my reading was that Vluytjeskraal was the municipal representation so not sure if this is contradictory or if it could be explained better.
• The four votes recorded for the Economic Freedom Fighters party in the 2014 election elicited a number of comments from South African media. Feel this needs more context. Is it a Black party?
• Being an Afrikaner is the most important criterion for admission.[4] Although there are news sources that claim that black or coloured people are not allowed to live in Orania,[18] the town's spokesman insists that there are no rules against admitting them as residents.Is this contradictory? Saw a sentence about Black Afrikaners in Afrikaners, is this what is meant? I take it there are currently none residing there. This is brought up on the talk page as well and may require a bit more explanation here on who can actually become a resident.
• to assist in the development of own institutions and the transfer of knowledge between the communities. Grammar seems off here
• While buildings from the Water Works era can rely on pre-existing utility connections, What is the Water Works era?
• You mention the number of student attending CSO, is it possible to get the number at Volkskool for comparison? Or at least some indication of which is the larger - or that they are both similar.
• File:Die Ora Orania.jpg is sourced to the Afrikanners wikipedia, but I don't feel that is good enough to establish that it is free to use. It should be sourced to where they got it from. The rest seem alright
• No obvious copy violations
• I feel this is an article where NPOV is going to be a concern. I am not South African so hopefully deemed neutral enough not to have any strong biases. Reading it I felt it was neither whitewashed or a hit piece. It provided criticism, but also was written in a style consistent with other town articles I have seen. Due weight can always be difficult to determine, but I feel this is within the spectrum allowed for a Good Article.
• The lead is a bit weak. It should probably be expanded on. Leads should summerise the article and this one is missing a few important details. I would expand on the existing paragraphs rather than add new ones.

Okay. An interesting article. Sorry it was so delayed in being reviewed. AIRcorn (talk) 20:07, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

I will give this one more week and then fail it if I get no response. AIRcorn (talk) 00:09, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Aircorn, the nominator has just said on their talk page that they won't be doing any work on the nomination. Under the circumstances, I'd fail it now; unless you think that you'll get a last-minute response from someone in a WikiProject that you've pinged. I'm very sorry it's worked out this way; with luck someone will eventually come along and work on your points and ultimately renominated the article. BlueMoonset (talk) 16:22, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

• Failing AIRcorn (talk) 06:31, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Population

Something is wrong with number of population now. Velirand (talk) 09:23, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

Revisions and vandalism of the introduction

In recent times the introduction of this article has changed many times, mostly due to vandalism. During these revisions the meaning of the introduction was changed significantly. Phrases that first portrayed the views of critics have been changed into the views of the village. The sequence of the introduction was also changed. These changes went without changes of sources. The sources still backed the old introduction.

Original introduction (from 2015 till the 28th of April 2020)

Changed introduction (after repeated vandalism, version 9th of June 2020)

Orania is an Afrikaner town in South Africa located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province. The town is split in two halves by the R369 road and lies halfway between Cape Town and Pretoria. The aim of the town is to create a stronghold for Afrikaans and the Afrikaner identity by keeping their language and culture alive. Anyone who defines themselves as an Afrikaner and identifies with Afrikaner ethnicity is welcome to live in Orania. Critics accuse the town authorities of rejecting the Rainbow Nation concept and trying to recreate pre-democratic South Africa within an enclave, while residents contend the desire to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage and protect themselves from high crime levels as their motivation, claiming the right to self-determination as provided by the Constitution of South Africa. The town's relations with the South African government are non-confrontational, and although opposed to the aspirations of the community, it has recognised them as legitimate. [...]

Orania is an Afrikaner town in South Africa located along the Orange River in the Karoo region of the Free State province. The town is split in two halves by the R369 road and lies halfway between Cape Town and Pretoria. The town authority has rejected the Rainbow Nation concept, and tries to recreate pre-democratic South Africa within an enclave. The residents contend the desire to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage, and protect themselves from high crime levels as their motivation, claiming the right to self-determination as provided by the Constitution of South Africa. The town's relations with the South African government are non-confrontational, and although opposed to the aspirations of the community, it has recognised them as legitimate. The town states that its aim is to ensure the survival of Afrikaners by keeping their language and culture alive. Furthermore, it contends that any person who defines themselves as an Afrikaner and identifies with Afrikaner ethnicity is welcome to live in Orania. [...]

Therefore, I changed the introduction back to its original text. I90Christian (talk) 18:32, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

@I90Christian:You're being intentionally misleading or willfully ignorant at best. What does the sources have to do with the order of paragraphs, first of all? And to claim that turning "The aim of the town" to "The Town states" is vandalism that is giving benefit of the doubt to the town is a complete misreading the language. By listing without the qualifying language "the aim" of the town as the first paragraph, you are merely making this article a soapbox for a lot of what the critics are rejecting. Please reconsider or reread. Thanks. Fixer23 (talk) 13:38, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

References

Unreliable Sources

Several sources that look unreliable to me were recently used to make changes in the article, especially in the Ideology and Purpose section:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG2OPwYFQ20: WP:SELFPUB and probably WP:COPYVIO, clip from a movie by Lauren Southern
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfhafvTP6w: YouTube clip of Carel Boshoff, not in English so I have no idea what they're even talking about.
• https://archive.is/AMtJP: Wrong citation style, along with the other archive.is links. They don't even mention what the archived source is. It's actually https://www.politicsweb.co.za/about/orania-and-the-third-reinvention-of-the-afrikaner-, a presentation by Carel Boshoff. The only discussion about politicsweb.co.za I could find on Wikipedia was back in 2018, which got no responses. They do not seem to list their team anywhere, and their about page is barren. This link, along with the next one, is used to support the statement that there is a 'war on Afrikaans education', which looks like a clear WP:NPOV violation.
• https://archive.is/9vJgM: This is also from politicsweb.co.za, seems to be the opinion of a Freedom Front Plus MP.
• https://mg.co.za/article/2014-11-13-brixton-to-orania-the-great-trek-of-the-irish-volunteer-monument/: Used to source a quotation by Quinton Diedrichs, an Orania resident, that 'The third Afrikaner is a new generation Afrikaner who understands the principle behind self-labour'.

There's also https://archive.is/0qQMK, which is actually https://citizen.co.za/news/1845755/it-is-war-on-afrikaans-education-in-gauteng/. This one looks more reliable than the others to me. They have a page listing their team, which includes editors. There might be others in there too, I only read the Ideology and Purpose section before writing this up.

I do not feel comfortable tackling this. I have no experience with the subject matter, these just stuck out to me as very unreliable citations when I read the article and made me immediately doubt the contents of that section.

HKraemer73 (talk) 12:01, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Accord on Afrikaner self-determination

The legality of Orania is always questioned. Therefor it is important that the legal framework from the Accord on Afrikaner self-determination and Article 235 of the South African constitution be mentioned. Please stop deleting it.Johnmars3 (talk) 13:10, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

@Johnmars3: I have moved your comments to the appropriate page.

Reliable sources are used to show how important something is. Please cite a reliable source which directly explains that this is import. Do not use primary sources which don't mention Orania, as this would be original research. Wikipedia articles should not contain any original research. This article is not the place to make new legal arguments, it is a place to summarize reliable sources about existing arguments. Grayfell (talk) 18:57, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

I am not making an argument, doing original research or stating my interpretation/opinion. It is a well known fact that the FF+ got the ANC and NP to sign the interim accord which led to article 235 of the South African constitution. Article 235 g/tees the right of cultural groups to create their own independent areas. It is fundamental to the existence of Orania. I have linked the original signed interim accord from the SA government website. I have linked the constitution from the SA government website showing article 235, and I have linked the Accord on Afrikaner self-determination Wikipedia article. There ARE NO RELIABLE SOURCES in English about this. I can link Youtube discussions in Afrikaans, but what would be the point? Johnmars3 (talk) 03:43, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

I am trying to explain to you that you are doing original research. I appreciate that your intentions are good, but your edits are what matters, and your additions are a form of original research as Wikipedia uses the term. Even with sources, drawing a line from fact A to claim B is WP:SYNTH, which is a form of OR. In this case A is the WP:PRIMARY documents which do not mention Orania, and B is the claim that this is "fundamental to the existence of Orania". This is your own interpretation of the sources. It may be an accurate interpretation, but it's still original research unless you can cite a reliable source which also supports this position.

If reliable sources explain this connection, cite them. Those sources do not have to be in English and can be in any language at all, but they do have to be reliable. Youtube discussions are unlikely to meet WP:RS. Also consider that the lack of English sources might mean this isn't as much of a "well-known fact" as you believe it to be. Grayfell (talk) 18:20, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion:

• Bavaria Bier.jpg
• Building Orania.jpg
• FF+ Conference.jpg
• Fence less.jpg
• Industrial Park.jpg
• Malema Orania.jpg
• Orania Apartments.jpg
• Orania students.jpg
• Orania.jpg
• Pecan Nuts.jpg
• Securiteit.jpg
• Small giant statue in Orania.jpg
• Street festival.jpg
• Water works ditch.jpg
• Zuma Orania 2010.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 00:23, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Split a paragraph to make reading easier

@Johnmars3: In this edit you split a paragraph "to make reading easier". But the edit also had the effect of leaving The current iteration of Orania is a result of Apartheid era ideas that an ethnic Volkstaat should be established for the Dutch-descended Afrikaners. Orania was originally established in 1963 to hold workers building a nearby irrigation canal, and abandoned in 1989. The next year, a group of Afrikaner families led by Carel Boshoff purchased the town, and the coloured squatters were evicted by The Department of Water Affairs. divorced from what I assume was the citation for it :(

I had assumed that the text was supported by the following citation: "Van dorp tot Afrikanerstad" [From village to Afrikaner town]. Netwerk24. 15 September 2015. Is this correct? I do not have access to the URL, so I cannot check. It is vital that content is supported by citations.-- Toddy1 (talk) 07:09, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

The current iteration of Orania is a result of Apartheid era ideas that an ethnic Volkstaat should be established for the Dutch-descended Afrikaners. Orania was originally established in 1963 to hold workers building a nearby irrigation canal, and abandoned in 1989. The next year, a group of Afrikaner families led by Carel Boshoff purchased the town, and the coloured squatters were evicted by The Department of Water Affairs. I don't know who put this paragraph in, I just edited it a little bit. It seems to be a summary of info further down in the article and is unreferenced. The existing citation refers to the residents' plan to grow Orania from a town to a city. I have also copied a reference below into the paragraph. Trust you will find it so in order. johnmars3

"Squatters" is a charged POV term, and my reading of the source (a contemporary newspaper article) made "residents" make more sense. The Department of Water affairs may well have declared them to be squatters so they could be evicted, but it had also let them live there for the past 30 years, so at that point they were clearly long term residents. Since they were evicted as part of apartheid, I further think "squatter" is an inaccurate term chosen by the Apartheid government, which is hardly neutral. Also, I don't think splitting the paragraphs in the lead made reading easier. It is standard to have 3-5 medium length paragraphs in a lead. Very rarely are there single sentences. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 17:45, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

I do not know enough about South African history to assess the meaning of the term "squatters".

In Kenyan colonial history the term "squatter" was a misleading term to describe a tenant on a "squatter contract". Such tenants rented land for agriculture, and paid for this land by providing labour on the landowner's farm. None of this has any relationship to the normal English-language meaning of the term squatter. I suspect that the name was chosen to be deliberately misleading. I do not know if South Africa had "squatter contracts".-- Toddy1 (talk) 19:46, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

@Johnmars3: I had a look at https://saldru.lib.msu.edu/dvd1/Agriculture%20%20General%201991.pdf. It is a 516 page pdf file containing scans of of perhaps 500 different articles. Please can you provide details of which articles you are citing. It would be really great if you could complete {{cite news}} templates for them.-- Toddy1 (talk) 21:49, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

@Toddy1: Page 9: "Making way for Orania's boere" johnmars3

• I've reverted these changes for now; I don't think it improved readability, and I'm extremely concerned about the additions of stuff like "squatters" that potentially introduces POV language while not necessarily reflecting the sources. The old version seems fine to me - if you think there are specific issues, please identify them. Also, be careful about changing "white" to "Afrikaans" and omitting "white" in general - the sources overwhelmingly say and emphasize "white", so we can't really remove it or replace it blindly, especially given that the words don't mean the same thing. --Aquillion (talk) 05:31, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Please be careful with words:

• "Afrikaans" is a language. It is the language of the Afrikaner people (we used to call them Boers), but lots of coloured and to a lesser extent black people speak Afrikaans as their first language.
• "Afrikaner" is an ethnic group. Whatever their genetics, they look white.

-- Toddy1 (talk) 07:56, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Factuality of statement that black neighbours fear for their lives

Do these black people in Orania look terrified?

- https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/warm-welcome-for-eff-members-voting-in-orania-22886005

- https://www.enca.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/eNCA%20Election%20Bus%20in%20Orania.jpeg

- https://bucket.mg.co.za/thoughtleader/65e1c004-img_3409-scaled.jpg

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx-irg7MxaQ

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0jfW4UhIQE

- https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b0908fe91bc6cba3995b37fafc5a5229e5841796/0_181_3543_2126/master/3543.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=825b8c9e23de1597c19743eb462550fc

Johnmars3 (talk) 01:38, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

I do not know whether it is factual. I checked the two citations for the statement. One did not mention it, and was a citation for something else that was the wrong place. The other citation did support it. I have changed the statement to a quotation with the correct citation next to it.-- Toddy1 (talk) 05:35, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

@Johnmars3: You put in your edit summary that Black people visit on a daily basis and shop at OK and the local petrol station. The town is not entirely white, government census shows that almost 2% of residents are coloureds. A useful thing to do would be to put in a statement saying this backed by citations to reliable sources that explicitly support the statement. The best place for it would immediately after the quotation from the Guardian. It is consistent with WP:NPOV to give both views, provided that both can be supported by appropriate citations.-- Toddy1 (talk) 17:27, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

Master's Theses as sources.

I mentioned this above, but the problem is so serious that it deserves its own section. Per WP:SCHOLARSHIP, Master's theses are not generally usable as sources unless there is some indication that they were extremely influential (which is not the case here.) Yet this article is extensively citing four of them. Hagen, Pienaar, Burgt, and Van Wyk are all totally unusable as sources and need to be completely removed from the article; everything cited to them needs to be cited to an actual WP:RS or removed. Seldon, a PHD thesis, is probably not a good source either but is not as glaring as the four Masters' theses. --Aquillion (talk) 20:46, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

This entire article is filled with nonsense. There needs to be a point where we just say WP:NONAZIS and get rid of so much blatantly false and misleading information. I do not understand why spreading white nationalist propaganda is not ban worthy. I'd say 80% of the article is useless, misleading, or false information. If Wikipedia does not ban the obviously racist users, then we are just asking for these problems to occur over and over again. Desertambition (talk) 20:57, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Yes, but it's more useful to focus on the sourcing issues, since those are things that can be directly discussed and have clear policies; it also gives people who want to retain some of the text clear indicators of what would be necessary (ie. they can go to RSN to argue that the sources are usable, or find better sources), which points towards a resolution that will address the underlying problems. Generally if an article has problems like you're describing, there's one of three possible reasons - first, the sources are bad, in which case they should be replaced or removed and anything we can't find a good source for should go as well. Second, the sources are being misrepresented, in which case we should rewrite it to reflect them. Or third, some sources and aspects are being given undue weight, or the sources are lopsided in an undue manner and don't reflect the bulk of mainstream coverage. It's more useful to trace those underlying policy problems, and address them bit by bit so we can see what's left, than to just say "it's all wrong." The masters' theses are a particular problem because they are sources that look high-quality at first glance but are actually unusable, which is part of the reason I want to start with them (since if they're not dealt with people will say "no, wait, look, there's all these scholarly sources!" when of course there isn't because MA theses don't have peer review - or any editorial controls at all, really - and therefore don't even fit our definition of WP:PUBLISHED.) --Aquillion (talk) 21:07, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

I do hear you Aquillion. I don't want it to seem like I'm just dismissing it all, I went through point by point and removed information that was promotional and blatantly misleading. We do not need to have so much information when reliable sources overwhelmingly talk about the racism and white nationalism exclusively. Even the first sentence is misleading. It is a white nationalist settlement and that is the most accurate way to describe it. You are obviously right but I feel like we are still giving this article way too much credit. I have not seen another article laid out in this way where almost every paragraph has information that is misleading, promotional, and not supported by cited sources. There are significant WP:UNDUE issues, do you agree that the article should focus on the racism and white nationalism more than anything else? Desertambition (talk) 21:19, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Also, why not just remove the information with the sources? So much of it is clearly nonsense and not encyclopedic. Feels like we are pretending this is something that it isn't. There is no "Afrikaner cultural project", it's called white nationalism to everyone else in the world. It's like if articles on neo-nazis talked about how they're not racist, they're just trying to preserve Aryan culture. Wikipedia is being used to regurgitate white nationalist talking points. Desertambition (talk) 21:27, 21 March 2022 (UTC) @Aquillion: Desertambition (talk) 21:27, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Well, we can remove anything that seems obviously undue or exceptional, but there's no huge rush. Those sources were used for a ton of things, and some of that information is probably easy to cite elsewhere and belongs in the article. --Aquillion (talk) 21:34, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

@Aquillion: Not trying to beat a dead horse, but editors keep saying that some of the information should be included. What exactly should be included that you think I erred in deleting? I provided reasons and removed information that was completely unnecessary. There seems to be no acknowledgement that coverage of this town overwhelmingly and almost exclusively about the white nationalism and racism. That is not reflected in the article. Desertambition (talk) 21:47, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

It is hard to say because the real answer is that we determine that by looking at the sources. So figuring out which sources are usable (and possibly looking for other sources) is the first step. Having something about its education system and religion aren't necessarily a problem, although religion might make more sense folded into demographics, and education into administration. Having something on the culture might make sense, but it would read very differently depending on what sources are available. But basically, if you want to argue that literally all that is written about Orania relates to its racial issues, the way to do that is to analyze the available sources (which includes figuring out what sources in the article are usable, as well as what can replace the ones that aren't.) WP:V means that people who want to talk about other aspects of Orania have to produce sources to support that, and if the ones they've presented so far are obviously unusable then they can be removed, but giving them a chance to produce better sources leads to a more useful discussion. --Aquillion (talk) 22:58, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

This discussion has been ongoing for years. There is mountains upon mountains of evidence showing that this is a racist white nationalist settlement. So much of the article is not even cited properly. I remove them like you are saying and then it gets reverted. We need to stop pretending this information is encyclopedic. No one has been adding anything about the overt white nationalism and racism. I will keep repeating it because no one is acknowledging this. I have already outlined why the information is not relevant and cited improperly. Yet editors continue to pretend like this article isn't written like a WP:BROCHURE. In my opinion, Wikipedia having blatant white nationalist propaganda is bad. Editors are throwing guidelines to the wind because the topic is so obviously controversial. Almost none of this article meets notability criteria when reliable sources almost exclusively focus on the racism and white nationalism. How many sources do we need? I have already linked many of them in the discussion above, citations that were already in the article talking about the racism but had been whitewashed. This is not just a normal town with normal coverage. This is a settlement by and for racist white nationalists who want to create a whites only ethnostate. The article does not reflect that. I'm not exaggerating when I say every single reliable source mentions the overt racism and white nationalism. Every single one.

Inside the all-white 'Apartheid town' of Orania, South Africa

Inside South Africa's whites-only town of Orania

Inside Orania, South Africa's whites-only town

These are only a few of many articles that talk about the white nationalist settlement and their strong love of apartheid and racist ideals. Desertambition (talk) 23:46, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

• I'm totally fine with the master theses being removed. But I do object to just removing 40k of text at a chunk when much of it is true and sourced. The solution is to fix what is there, not just delete it wholesale. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 02:35, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

Contradictory claims in opening sentence

The opening sentence says:

Orania (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ʊəˈrɑːnia]) is an Afrikaner[3] whites-only[4][5][6] town in South Africa, where 97.2% of the population is white.

A town cannot be whites-only and allow non-whites to live there. Every single source describes Orania as whites only with no people of color. We should remove the self-reported census results from the opening because it is misleading. Desertambition (talk) 18:24, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

I do think we should take the census with a grain of salt, or attribution. Perhaps as a stand alone second sentence that says "According to the [year] census, 97.2% of the population is white." CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 21:28, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Why would we need to add that when it is abundantly clear, and supported by every source, that the town is 100% white with no people of color. They obviously reject the "white" label, but so did the so-called "Aryans". Desertambition (talk) 21:31, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

I'm not overly attached to it, was just providing a possible compromise. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 22:11, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

It is an exaggeration to claim that it is abundantly clear, and supported by every source, that the town is 100% white with no people of color; the South African Census is a source that says that it is 97.2% white.-- Toddy1 (talk) 00:59, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Fortunately, we have high-quality reliable sources describing the source as whites-only. If your personal feelings are that the census contradicts this, you can contact the numerous high-quality sources describing the town as whites-only to request that they make a correction, but we absolutely cannot use WP:OR / WP:SYNTH to try and "correct" them ourselves. I suspect that the sources will disagree with your feelings on this - a town being whites-only doesn't necessarily mean that they have successfully barred all whites from it. But the point is moot; we have to follow the secondary sources in a situation like this. --Aquillion (talk) 04:45, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

• The census is plainly WP:OR / WP:SYNTH in this context (and is a WP:PRIMARY source besides) and should not be used in the lead in any capacity. If someone wants to try and use it to argue that "whites-only" is inaccurate, they need a secondary source making that connection directly. Otherwise, the solution is to move the census figures to avoid the implication that they are "rebutting" the sources describing the town as whites-only or are otherwise a reply or answer to it - it's inappropriate to use primary sources that way. --Aquillion (talk) 04:45, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

The article needs to be massively revised

Some stuff like "Afrikanerdom" is obvious white nationalist nonsense that does not deserve its own category. I have started making changes. If there is something I removed that should be part of the article, please explain why it's notable and should be included. We do not need to have stuff like listing every single specialist in town or mentioning the fact that they made a telegram channel (???). Desertambition (talk) 17:37, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Really, you do not know what you are doing. -- Toddy1 (talk) 19:41, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

I do not need to explain why your statement is not helpful. Wikipedia is not a WP:BROCHURE and coverage is almost exclusively focused on the overt white nationalism, not all the superfluous information that was included in the article. Wikipedia does not give WP:UNDUE weight to points of view not supported by reliable secondary sources. A lot of these sources are from Orania itself. If you have a specific issue with what was removed, then you are free to explain why. Desertambition (talk) 19:51, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

• A few parts might be salvageable, but yeah, that section isn't as well-cited as it looked at first, and a lot of the sources feel like they were misused (in particular few of them talk about "Afrikanerdom" as a concept, which makes it dubious as a section header.) Going over the sources and how they're used:

• Burgt's "The Afrikaner Quest for Community. A study on Communitarianism in Orania", which we cite repeatedly, is a masters' thesis; per WP:SCHOLARSHIP, masters' theses are not usually reliable sources, so that source should be removed and we should find new sources for anything cited to it or remove them if we can't.
• Haleniuk's "Orania – the embryo of a new Volkstaat?", another source we cite everywhere, does not appear to have been published at all. We need to figure out where and how it was published, and if the answer is that it wasn't or that it's just from a student periodical then it needs to go as well.
• Pienaar's "Die aanloop tot en stigting van Orania as groeipunt vir 'n Afrikaner-volkstaa" is (yep!) also a Master's thesis. Again, it needs to be replaced unless we can find evidence that it has been influential.
• I don't even know what to make of Versluis, Jeanne-Marié (15 April 2000). "Dorp sal 10 000 mense kan huisves". Volksblad (in Afrikaans).; it appears to not even have a stable web address, just an IP address? In any case it doesn't look like an WP:RS to me, and given that I cannot find any indication that the article actually exists outside of this IP address it is probably undue anyway. Several other sources have the same problem (eg. Malan, Marlene (22 April 2013). "Olé, olé, olé, Orania!" (in Afrikaans). Rapport.) - we need some indication that these were actually published in an RS and not just on a random IP address.
• Naudé-Moseley, Brent; Moseley, Steve (2008). Getaway Guide to Karoo, Namaqualand & Kalahari. Sunbird. ISBN 978-1-919938-58-5. is a tourist guide that only mentions Orania in passing; I think it's plainly undue to use it the way we are here.
• Obviously we should avoid citing Orania itself for anything potentially-promotional.
• Several other sources are reliable but are being used in a weird way. Citing passing mentions of stuff that exists to eg. "Orania: the land where apartheid lives on" is plainly not accurately reflecting the source.

My feeling is that we should start by pulling out these sources (and anything cited purely to them that we can't find a better source for), as well as any similarly low-quality or unusable sources - I didn't examine every single source. The section should also be retitled to something more neutral (I would suggest just making "culture" the main title.) Then we can see what is left and if it's worth salvaging or if it should be broken apart into demographics and the existing economy / administration sections. --Aquillion (talk) 20:42, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

We should change the first sentence to say white nationalist settlement instead of white Afrikaner only. That's clearly their justification but reliable sources describe it as whites only, there is little focus on the so-called "preservation of Afrikaner culture". Right now, this article is a WP:BROCHURE. No one has justified the inclusion of so much blatantly misleading and WP:UNDUE nonsense. Please explain in detail why the information is in any way encyclopedic @CaptainEek:. Desertambition (talk) 20:23, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

I will try to go over a few points and add more later. This is what I am trying to remove:

1. "Afrikanerdom" - Why is this a category? White nationalist messaging, not encyclopedic information.

2. Holidays - We do not need to include every small holiday in every tiny town. This is brochure information.

3. "The Orania Beweging (Orania Movement) is a local political and cultural organisation that promotes Afrikaner history and culture." - Blatantly false. Orania is a white nationalist settlement and all reliable sources support that.

4. Cultural institutions - This is a tiny town of 2,000 people, the main focus in coverage is the overt racism and white nationalism, not these random shops and "Afrikaner culture".

5. Orania: The Little Town that Racism Built is cited in the article and yet nothing about the racism is mentioned and it is cited in relation to property values. There's no mystery, this article has been whitewashed.

6. "The Boshoff family are regarded as the 'political elite' of Orania. They are generally seen as being relatively more liberal than most of the town's other residents." - This is not encyclopedic information and yet it was re-added as well.

7. "In August 1991, the farm Vluytjeskraal 272 was added to Orania. It was divided into smaller farmsteads, and now grows pecan nuts, olives and fruit." - No reason this needs to be on Wikipedia.

8. Many unnecessary pictures that do not reflect coverage by reliable sources.

9. "Town authorities have a strong focus on green practices, including recycling and conservation.Solar water heaters are a requirement for all new houses built in Orania." - The source for this is literally Showed up by the 'racists'. Another blatant example of whitewashing.

10. Much about their "law enforcement" is misleading. They are subject to South African laws like everybody else.

The article is completely misleading and biased. There is no need to "rewrite" anything. There needs to be much more coverage on the racism and white nationalism and less on WP:BROCHURE information. Desertambition (talk) 20:45, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition There needs to be much more coverage. I agree. So write and include it. If you're going to remove problematic material, do it in smaller chunks with justifications for each. That way, your edits are much more likely to be kept. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 02:39, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

I just read your 10 points, and I have to say that I am disapointed with your take. I thought that this was an article about Orania. But it seems that you want to turn it into the Mein Kampf of Anti-racism.

For example you say "There needs to be much more coverage on the racism and white nationalism", but the article already uses the words white/racist/racism/racial/bigot/nationalism to describe Orania 71 times. Seventy one times! How many more times to do you want to call them racist? 100 times? 1000 times?

And then there is your "Many unnecessary pictures that do not reflect coverage by reliable sources". So what exactly does this mean? That the reality of the pictures of Orania does not reflect YOUR biases or the biases of the "realiable sources" at The Guardian? Wanting to delete "Many unnecessary pictures that do not reflect our progressive opinions of the town" really smacks of some Stasi level propaganda... Johnmars3 (talk) 18:10, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

POV tag: article is extremely misleading

Orania is a white nationalist settlement whose main goal is to create a white ethnostate known as a Volkstaat. Orania is looked at as a model for white nationalists around the globe. Extremely strange and problematic that this article does not make those things clear. This needs to be mentioned in the MOS:LEAD and 85% of this article is written like an advertisement for this explicitly white nationalist settlement. This article needs much more focus on the overt racism and discrimination that this town, by their own admission, exists to perpetuate. Desertambition (talk) 01:36, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

If you're here looking to fix articles that have inaccuracies or omissions, then you've failed to make valid points. Judging by your user page you have a clear bias, constantly crying about racism and the like, visibly it must hurt your feelings that white South Africans are making an attempt to live in their own communities, free from the dangerous racism they face constantly in other parts of the country. Why not focus on your overt anti-white racism? Guess anyone who disagrees with you is Far-Right? Wanting to purge the site of Confederate flags is also ridiculous. Calling farm murders a "dogwhistle" clearly shows you're not anywhere close to neutral. Wikipedia already has a far enough left-wing bias, why make it worse? Look up the articles for white pride and black pride, and one is purely negative while the other is purely positive. This article already mentions the Volkstaat, and why shouldn't whites have a right to self-determination? GoldenTemple2002 (talk) 00:52, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

@GoldenTemple2002 Wikipedia observes a policy of civility. Focus on the content, not the contributor. Do you have a constructive and explicit suggestion on how to improve this article? CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 01:06, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

@CaptainEek How can we assume good faith when this user openly advocates for white nationalism and peddles white genocide conspiracy theories? Openly advocating for racist ideas should come with bans. Seems to be an obvious violation of the Universal Code of Conduct and many other Wikipedia guidelines. WP:NOTHERE and WP:NORACISTS are just two of many applicable policies. Desertambition (talk) 01:54, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition Since I have become involved in the issue I can no longer take administrative actions, like banning folks. I'm unsure if GoldenTemple will even edit again, but if they do, and they're still POV-pushing, I'll ask for a block. In the meantime, sometimes it easier to ignore certain obvious troublemakers than to engage. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 20:19, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

I've read through it and cannot find anything that would render this article biased or unable to be considered neutral in any way. Best to leave it as it is, but people with political agendas will rush to demonise and slander the people living here. Is Wikipedia meant to be an encyclopedia based on objective truth, or a politically charged site designed to mislead? Sadly it is becoming the latter. GoldenTemple2002 (talk) 01:20, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Wrongly placed advert tag placed on the article

Just because Oriana is a small place populated by racist bigots who are prejudiced against people like me does not mean that the article has to be crap. Nor is it desirable to remove good information from the article to express our disapproval of the racists bigots who live there. An advert has been wrongly placed on the article. The reasons given Discussed on the talk page. Article is extremely long and full of unnecessary details. I cannot see that any of the "reasons" for the tag are true.

• The only place on the talk page that mentions "advert" is a post dated February 2022. So I have placed this post under the same heading.
• I do not think that the article is all that long. It is certainly not excessively long.
• As for unnecessary details - it is a pity that Wikipedia cannot have such a level of well-sourced details for every town or village that size.

So I am going to remove the tag-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:58, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

This has been discussed on the talk page. The article gives excessive WP:UNDUE weight to details not covered by reliable sources. The most notable aspects of the town are the racist bigotry, not the fact that they made a telegram account or their unique category of "Afrikanerdom" which editors are still steadfastly protecting without offering any coherent reason why it's anything but white nationalist nonsense. Desertambition (talk) 21:03, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Racism by Boers against non-Boers has been going on for a long time. What you call "white nationalist nonsense" is what it is all about, and what it has always been about. Things like the Jameson Raid mean nothing to you, because Jameson and his men were white, and you do not seem to understand that racist Boers are prejudiced against all non-Boers whatever their skin colour.
I have no idea what proportion of Boers are racist; some are, some are not. -- Toddy1 (talk) 21:13, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

This comment has nothing to do with my comment so I am confused. There is no need to mention their telegram channel or have a special category called "Afrikanerdom". Didn't talk about boers at all. Desertambition (talk) 21:16, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

I don't think any editor is objecting to renaming "Afrikanerdom"; I would suggest WP:BOLDly implementing your preferred section title. Editors may object to your choice (I don't believe you have proposed one here) but if they do we can then discuss. BilledMammal (talk) 05:05, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Article Presents Fringe Theories as Mainstream

The mainstream view is that Orania is white supremacist and racist in nature. Doesn't matter what they "officially" say. Article will be tagged as misleading and presenting fringe theories as mainstream.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-05-16-orania-the-place-where-time-stood-still/

"The Orania residents’ insistence that it is language that provides their motivation for segregation, rather than race, is thus deeply disingenuous – however much they may use circumlocutions like “foreigners” to avoid mentioning colour. The lie is exposed by the fact that when Christo’s father’s transport company fails to take off, he tells the camera that he believes he is being boycotted because he has publically stated that he will transport “others of foreign nations”."

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/24/an-indictment-of-south-africa-whites-only-town-orania-is-booming

"Oranians claim the town is a cultural project, not a racial one. Only Afrikaners are allowed to live and work there to preserve Afrikaner culture, the argument goes.

The reality, however, is a disquieting and entirely white town, littered with old apartheid flags and monuments to the architects of segregation. While there are no rules preventing black people from visiting, those who live nearby fear they would be met with violence." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Desertambition (talk • contribs) 12:31, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

I will make some minor changes in the intro but this article needs a massive amount of revision. Desertambition (talk) 03:17, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Your edits are highly problematic as they are not factual. Orania is not a whites-only town, it is an Afrikaner town. To call the town racist is nonsense, non-Afrikaners from Europe/Asia/Africa are not welcome, unless they are committed to Afrikaner culture/religion/language. The Daily Maverick is a small hyper-liberal outfit in South Africa and does not represent the mainstream. Comment added by Johnmars3 — Preceding undated comment added 10:29, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Comment I would like to point out that these allegation of "anti-white" racism are absurd and highlight exactly why this article needs extensive revision. Desertambition (talk) 01:09, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Johnmars3 has expressed valid concerns, particularly about The Daily Maverick.

Nevertheless Afrikaners can be regarded as a race, just like Jews. Both groups have a lot in common, including large numbers of deaths in concentration camps as part of their history. It is perfectly reasonable to regard an Afrikaner-only town as racist.-- Toddy1 (talk) 08:46, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

"Anti-white racism" is not a valid concern, especially on an article about a white nationalist town. Accusing people of being anti-white racists is not productive. I also find the comparison between jews and Afrikaners to be an inaccurate and potentially highly misleading comparison. We should not forget that "Anti-Racist Is a Code for Anti-White" is a racist slogan. Potential WP:NORACISTS issue. Desertambition (talk) 14:49, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

That the town is an Afrikaner-only town is supported by the three sources cited:

• Webster, Dennis (24 October 2019). "'An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-08. says it was set-up as an Afrikaner-only hamlet
• Davis, Rebecca (15 May 2013). "Orania: The place where time stood still". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2022-01-08. refers to The Northern Cape Afrikaner enclave of Orania and The town’s stated raison d’etre is the preservation of Afrikaans culture and language, and comments made by the residents on film reveal that many still consider themselves to be in a state of siege in this regard.
• "'Whites-only' money for SA town". BBC News. 29 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015. Orania is a small town in the northern Cape populated by white Afrikaners

-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:46, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

All three of those articles mention the fact that it is a whites only town. The wiki article already mentions the fact that residents reject a "white" identity and embrace Afrikaner alone. The reason this town has received so much coverage is because it is a whites only town. That is the focus of most of the articles. "Afrikaner only" is not how reliable English media describes it, it is how they describe themselves. "Whites only" is frequently used and allows for a more clear understanding of the town and the controversy around it. Desertambition (talk) 20:56, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

• Those sources all say "whites-only", and they generally say that more prominently than they do Afrikaner. We could possibly include both in different parts of the article, but the fact that some sources also describe it as Afrikaner-only doesn't really seem to justify omitting the fact that it is whites-only. Furthermore, reading the sources, I'm not seeing anything that supports the implications you are making by stating that it is Afrikaner-only, ie. nothing supports the idea that they are attempting to discourage non-Afrikaner whites from moving there, while the sources go into detail on how it is effectively whites-only. More to the point, the fact that it is effectively whites-only is more notable, as can be seen from the attention sources devote to it - it is what attracts attention to the topic and therefore needs to be mentioned in the first sentence. --Aquillion (talk) 22:25, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

I've only looked at one source, The Guardian, but it says Buyers undergo extensive vetting, central to which is their fidelity to Afrikaans language and culture, a commitment to employing only white Afrikaners, and a string of conservative Christian undertakings. "white Afrikaners only" would seem like the most appropriate choice based on that, and likely a compromise that should stop the edit warring. BilledMammal (talk) 22:28, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

An editor added Over 500,000 people have been murdered in South Africa since 1994 businesstech.co.za (15 July 2019) as a citation. But I cannot see any specific mention of Orania, so I do not see its relevance. So I have removed the citation.-- Toddy1 (talk) 09:46, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

I added Over 500,000 people have been murdered in South Africa since 1994. Most people who move to Orania cite crime as a major reason for their move. I feel that for context we should point to the crime problem in South Africa. For example, just in the year 2019/2020 there have been 1.2 million incidences of housebreaking in South Africa, a rape every 4 minutes etc. User:Johnmars3 (talk) contribs) 11:01, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

References

@Johnmars3: You have a good point. But there is a policy WP:SYNTHESIS, which forbids our combining material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any source. This may seem a little unfair. But if we did not have such a policy there would be much bigger unfairnesses.-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:25, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

Above: Orania is not a whites-only town, it is an Afrikaner town. To call the town racist is nonsense, non-Afrikaners from Europe/Asia/Africa are not welcome, unless they are committed to Afrikaner culture/religion/language. The Daily Maverick is a small hyper-liberal outfit in South Africa and does not represent the mainstream. Well well. I confess that I'm unfamiliar with either The Daily Maverick or the notion of "hyper-liberalism"; but if The Daily Maverick somehow fails to cut the mustard, then how about some of these:

• "Inside South Africa's whites-only town of Orania": Title of BBC story, 2014
• "Inside the all-white 'Apartheid town' of Orania, South Africa": Title of ABC story, 2019
• "‘Orania will go’: MEC Lesufi calls time on whites-only town": Title of The South African story, 2021
• "Orania: the land where apartheid lives on": Title of Telegraph story, 2013
• "Orania ist – mitten im Herzen Südafrikas – eine weiße Stadt", in "Die Buren werden vom Unterdrücker zum Unterdrückten", Der Tagesspiegel, 2015
• "Ein Dorf nur für Weisse": Title of Tages Anzeiger story, 2019
• "Das weiße Dorf in der Regenbogen-Nation": Title of Die Zeit story, 2013
• "Afrique du Sud : un village réservé aux blancs": Title of Franceinfo story, 2018
• "Afrique du Sud: une petite enclave blanche va lancer son bitcoin": Title of AFP story at Le Point, 2017
• "Afrique du Sud : la vie en blanc existe encore à Orania": Title of Jeune Afrique story, 2015

(And FYI, even

• "Welcome to Orania... as long as you're white: Remote town in South Africa where Afrikaners dream of building their own state": Title of Daily Mail story, 2013

though this source is unusable.) How is it, exactly, that the mainstream opinion is judged not to be that Orania is a "white town", or a "whites-only town"? -- Hoary (talk) 09:04, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

@Hoary: Hitler did not merely want an all-white Germany. He wanted one for so-called "Aryans" only – with no Jews and Slavs (who are just as white as the people Hitler favoured). The people who run Orania do not merely want an all-white town. They want one for Afrikaners only. They do not want white people who are not Afrikaners.

By the way, there is nothing new about this kind of discrimination. They practised it in the 1880s and 90s in the Boer republics, and it led to the Jameson Raid and the Second Boer War.-- Toddy1 (talk) 09:23, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

If you look at more than just the headlines, you will see that sources you mention support this:

• It is an Afrikaner-only town, where only Afrikaans is spoken, because of fears about "diluting culture". BBC News Inside South Africa's whites-only town of Orania by Pumza Fihlani (6 October 2014)
• ...the town was created during the last years of apartheid, where it was meant to be a safe haven for Afrikaners. They are the ethnic group descended from the Europeans who colonized South Africa. They speak their own language, Afrikaans. ABC News Inside the all-white 'Apartheid town' of Orania, South Africa by Candace Smith and Byron Pitts (12 April 2019)

-- Toddy1 (talk) 09:56, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Toddy1, I don't dispute that "The people who run Orania do not merely want an all-white town." Numerous sources say that the people who run Orania want an all-white town. Do you agree? -- Hoary (talk) 10:04, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Since all Afrikaners are white, it is a bit superfluous. But since not everyone seems to understand this, I have changed the first sentence to is an all-white Afrikaner only town. But the Afrikaner only is the important bit.-- Toddy1 (talk) 11:15, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Putting aside the matter of which is more important, "all-white" or "Afrikaner only", thank you for having the first sentence read "Orania (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ʊəˈrɑːnia]) is an all-white Afrikaner only town in South Africa" (with three references). -- Hoary (talk) 12:26, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

I have edited the first paragraph saying that Orania is a "white" Afrikaner town. Afrikaners are not white. They have been living in Africa for >300 years and have significant non-white DNA . johnmars3 06:14, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

Ethnic_groups_in_South_Africa#White_South_Africans describes Afrikaners as white. The articles listed above also overwhelmingly describe them as white, and Orania as all-white. We say what reliable sources say. What would you describe them as if not white? CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 17:52, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

I feel that is important to respect people's self-identification and their lived reality. People in Orania identify as Afrikaners, not as so-called "whites" as the media like to label them. Here is their past President's explanation . Also, DNA analysis supports their claim with significant African and Asian DNA in their genomes. johnmars3 — Preceding undated comment added 15:18, 26 February 2022 (UTC)

• Nonetheless, the sources overwhelmingly describe the town as whites-only and treat that as its most notable aspect, so we must cover that description prominently. It is possible for people to have multiple identities, so we can say that they are both Afrikaner and white, but if you want to argue that they are not white or that there is serious dispute over the town being whites-only, you must present sources to dispute the massive number of sources describing it as whites-only above. So far I'm not seeing it - even most of the sources you've presented use both terms and make it clear that the settlement is also whites-only. --Aquillion (talk) 05:44, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

I strongly object to the change from a white Afrikaner-only town in South Africa to is a white nationalist settlement in South Africa. This was discussed above and in edit summaries and was the result of WP:CONSENSUS. The cited sources support this. For example, The Guardian: Buyers undergo extensive vetting, central to which is their fidelity to Afrikaans language and culture, a commitment to employing only white Afrikaners, and a string of conservative Christian undertakings.^[1] The BBC says Orania is a small town in the northern Cape populated by white Afrikaners.^[2] ABC News says: ...the town was created during the last years of apartheid, where it was meant to be a safe haven for Afrikaners. They are the ethnic group descended from the Europeans who colonized South Africa. They speak their own language, Afrikaans.^[3] None of the three sources cited explicitly call it "white nationalist". (Is it racist to describe Afrikaner nationalism [or Ukrainian nationalism] as "white nationalist"?)-- Toddy1 (talk) 08:29, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

@Aquillion: I see that you have changed a white Afrikaner-only town to an Afrikaner whites-only town giving the edit summary the sources overwhelmingly emphasize the restriction by race more than the Afrikaner restriction, so we ought to order it like this. Please quote from sources for this. I know the headlines overwhelmingly emphasise the "whites-only", but headlines are not a reliable source WP:HEADLINES. Non-Afrikaners are not welcome in Orania. -- Toddy1 (talk) 22:29, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

I've added the quotes, plus two additional academic sources. I can add more if necessary but it seems silly at this point, especially since even the existing sources easily showed the necessary quotes at a glance - can we consider it settled that whites-only is a nearly-universal descriptor and is the core of the topic's notability, and will remain in the lead going forwards? --Aquillion (talk) 22:58, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

I've reverted to the consensus form; both "Afrikaner only" and "Whites only" are accurate, with the first being a more precise form of the second (similar to how Nur für Deutsche could be described as "Whites only", but is more accurately described as "Germans only"), but the grammatically correct way to present them is as "white Afrikaner only", similar to Black British, White Brazilians, and White Mexicans. BilledMammal (talk) 07:10, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Eviction, black/coloured

I have edited the 2nd paragraph saying that "black residents were evicted" as it is factually incorrect. a) It was not black people, but people part of South Africa's coloured community b) They were not "evicted" by the Boshoff gang, but by The Dept. of Water Affairs after they build replacement homes for them johnmars306:37, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

@Johnmars3 Hmmm, perhaps this is just an American thing, but in American parlance "black" and "coloured" are synonymous. Also, I agree that the Department of Water affairs was the ones who evicted them and then moved them over 100km away. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 17:51, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Yes, it is just an American-English thing, rather like the offensive notion that black people are "African Americans" (even though most black people in the USA are just as much Americans as white Americans).

During better times, Cape Colony and Natal were part of the British Empire, and this opened up opportunities for migration to Cape Colony and Natal from India. The descendants of Indian migrants are generally called "coloured". During the Second Boer War, coloured South Africans wanted to fight for Queen and country, but the stupid racist British were not very keen. -- Toddy1 (talk) 19:04, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

There are lots of other groups who are also categorised as coloured, but I do not know much about them.-- Toddy1 (talk) 19:28, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

References

@CaptainEek:"Coloured" people in South Africa refers to the mixed descendants of Khoi, Malay, Bantu and Europeans. In the South African context "black" refers to the Bantu settlers from West Africa, tribes like the Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana and Swazi. johnmars3 14:47, 26 February 2022 (UTC)

BilledMammal blatantly edit warring, breaking the WP:3RR, and ignoring both consensus as well as sources

Nothing to say besides expressing immense frustration. I can do nothing but post the sources which are already included in the MOS:LEAD. I would report it to admins but nothing would happen. Disengaging so I don't get blocked.

It is completely unclear what BilledMammal is even arguing by citing WP:REPEATLINK when they are literally rewriting the same link. WP:SOB can also be fixed by linking all the words together instead of rewriting the sentence entirely or proposing a change through discussion.

Sources repeatedly describe the town as "whites only":

Webster, Dennis (24 October 2019). "'An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2022. A community of 500 poor black and mixed-race squatters who had made their homes in the buildings left behind by the project stood between the new owners and their whites-only vision.

"'Whites-only' money for SA town". BBC News. 29 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015. A whites-only enclave is launching its own currency just two days after South Africa celebrated the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid."

Additional sources for "whites only": Weinberg, Tara (2 January 2015). "The Griqua Past and the Limits of South African History, 1902–1994; Settler Colonialism and Land Rights in South Africa: Possession and Dispossession on the Orange River". Journal of Southern African Studies. 41 (1): 211–214. doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.991591. ISSN 0305-7070. S2CID 144750398. In order to maintain a whites-only town, the Orania group set up an entity called the Vlutjeskraal shareblock scheme (VAB), which approves who has use rights to property in the town (no one except the VAB owns property). Kotze, Nico; Schoeman, Ruan; Carow, Sanet; Schmitz, Peter (6 October 2019). Orania—24 Years After Apartheid: The Sociopolitical Reanimation of a Small Rural Town in South Africa. Key Challenges in Geography. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 217–230. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28191-5_17. ISBN 978-3-030-28191-5. S2CID 210732886 – via Springer Link. Thumbran, Janeke (2017). "Separate Development and Self-Reliance at the University of Pretoria". Kronos. 43 (1): 114. doi:10.17159/2309-9585/2017/v43a7. ISSN 0259-0190. In 2007, the University of Pretoria's office of community engagement arranged for a group of black women from a Pretoria township to travel to the whites-only town of Orania

Smith, Candace; Pitts, Byron (12 April 2019). "Inside the all-white 'Apartheid town' of Orania, South Africa". ABC News. ...the town was created during the last years of apartheid, where it was meant to be a safe haven for Afrikaners. They are the ethnic group descended from the Europeans who colonized South Africa. They speak their own language, Afrikaans. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Desertambition (talk • contribs) 07:33, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

The MOS:LINK issue is separate from the grammar issue, and the WP:REPEATLINK issue is due to the repeated linking of Afrikaner. My comment in #Article Presents Fringe Theories as Mainstream addresses the relevant aspects of the rest of your comment - the consensus is to use both "whites only" and "Afrikaner only", and the grammatically correct way to do this - and the form that was discussed when that consensus was agreed on - is "white Afrikaner only". BilledMammal (talk) 07:53, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Will you consider the words of the Orania Administrators?

My dad is from Ireland, my mom is a mixture of Irish and British. I am 0% Afrikaner and I have never been to S. Africa. I taught myself Afrikaans to help my children(long story). I have been curious about Orania on and off for a while but I wanted to make sure that they were not a white only organization that would reject my Filipina wife or our two bi-racial children. I am now certain that this is not the case and that the main steam media is lying, as they seem to do on the daily now.

To the point.... I can read and translate Afrikaans. I am reading a 40 page PDF they published right now. The town has > 2000 people. Is the town's own writings note worthy enough to consider? I could translate them for you if there was an interest but please don't put me through this if they are doomed because the BBC says so.

Pat-From-Canada (talk) 20:28, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

The rules regarding that kind of source are at WP:SELFSOURCE-- Toddy1 (talk) 22:31, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Thank you Toddy1.

I think I should just take short sentences from the Town's own writing. Here is something very important:

Om eie arbeid volkome te aanvaar, is om volledig met onetiese praktyke te breek,

to completely use our own labour is to break with unethical practices.

While Apartheid is literally about living apart, it carries the connotation of a master-slave arrangement. Could this statement be noted in the article to give them credit for rejecting and labelling these sorts of situations as unethical? I can send a link to the original document Pat-From-Canada (talk) 10:02, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

Lede lays it on a bit thick, with weak sourcing

My personal feelings about Orania aside, the sentence "in practice only Afrikaner residents are permitted; black people nearby fear they will be met with violence if they were to visit." uses a direct quote about violence when black people were evicted in the early 1990s as a citation about the situation in 2022. The Guardian source uses a few anecdotes, but given that it's the lede, it would be better if there was a more objective source: a story that reported on police statistics about racial violence inflicted on black people who enter Orania, for example. I would be fine if the article used the sentence with the citation from the Guardian, but not in the lede, where it screams WP:UNDUE. The problem with pushing an overt agenda in an article (no matter how well-intentioned) is that it sets off the BS detectors of readers instantly, and isn't encylopedic. Park3r (talk) 22:46, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

Whoever cited the article quoted the wrong section. This is from the article in question published in 2019:

"Oranians claim the town is a cultural project, not a racial one. Only Afrikaners are allowed to live and work there to preserve Afrikaner culture, the argument goes.

The reality, however, is a disquieting and entirely white town, littered with old apartheid flags and monuments to the architects of segregation. While there are no rules preventing black people from visiting, those who live nearby fear they would be met with violence."

Apartheid is not that popular with black people in South Africa from what I can tell from the sources. Doesn't seem WP:UNDUE to explain why black people aren't common visitors in the whites only town despite official claims it is open to everyone. Desertambition (talk) 22:55, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

I've tweaked the sentence to clearly attribute the statement. Park3r (talk) 23:53, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

I updated the quotation and removed the qualifier "journalists have found" because that could probably be said for most claims on Wikipedia. What do you think? I think you were right to point out the inaccurate quotation so thank you for that, hope the article is clearer now. Desertambition (talk) 00:52, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

(Superseded)

What should the first sentence of the article be:

A: Orania is an Afrikaner whites only town in South Africa.

B: Orania is a white Afrikaner only town in South Africa.

C: Orania is a whites only town founded by Afrikaners in South Africa.

D: Orania is a white separatist town founded by Afrikaners in South Africa.

Desertambition (talk) 09:59, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

• Comment I've WP:BOLDly removed the tag from this RFC for the moment, as discussion is still ongoing about what options should be included, though my preference (B, as it is the grammatically correct way to describe the fact that the town requires inhabitants to be white Afrikaners) is currently included. BilledMammal (talk) 10:10, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

  That leaves out an important point, which is that the vast majority of reliable sources emphasize the "whites only" part of the town and focus more on the white separatism and nostalgia for apartheid. The "only Afrikaners" idea is their own messaging, not what reliable secondary sources say. I view it similarly to neo-nazi groups proclaiming themselves to be composed of only pure "Aryans" or "Nordic" peoples when in reality the only real connecting factor is the whites only nature of the groups. Users are free to review the wealth of sources above. We clearly are not agreeing, thus the rfc. So I don't see a point in us continuing to argue.

  I reinstated the rfc because it was specifically requested by an admin, the option you are advocating for is already included, and any user is free to give their input. Desertambition (talk) 10:18, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

  That's not accurate; for example, the reliable source I linked describes it as it was set-up as an Afrikaner-only hamlet. CNN describes it in the same way, stating Orania, you might have guessed, is Afrikaner-only. And by extension, whites-only. Some sources, particularly when the focus on the article is not the town, only mention the Afrikaner restriction, considering that the key point, such as this SABC News article (At the time, Lesufi said the organisation was upset over his views on the Afrikaner-only town, Orania, in the Northern Cape.) and this New York Times article (The entrance to Orania in Northern Cape, a privately-owned Afrikaner-only community founded in 1990 by the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of the apartheid state.)

  When I have time, I will make a proper !vote, and give my full explanation. Regarding the WP:RFCBEFORE issues, please discuss that at #RFC Before. BilledMammal (talk) 10:28, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

  Just like how "Aryan" only and "Nordic" only communities also happen to be whites only. Almost no white nationalist communities like Orania say they are just "white".

  Also see the discussion above for a list of sources copy pasted from sources in the opening sentence that explicitly use the words "whites only". This discussion is going nowhere and the only thing to do is wait for more input. Desertambition (talk) 10:37, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

  I am kindly requesting that when you return and make your case for an option that you combine it with your current comment rather than making a new bolded comment altogether. It just makes sense for clarity and cohesion to have your comments under one bolded response. Desertambition (talk) 10:40, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

• This is not a neutral RfC. If you want this dispute to end for good, it has to be done right. That means a neutral RfC with a range of well thought out possiblities. All your answers include "white", which while I agree should be in there, is obviously the center of debate. I've removed the tag, and will probably collapse this section at some point. Please don't restore it. It's quite late here, but I will work on making a neutral RfC tomorrow. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 10:54, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

  I literally have no clue what you would want so please do. Desertambition (talk) 11:33, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition E: Orania is a predominantly Afrikaner town in South Africa

Because:

- Afrikaners are mixed race, not 100% white.

- The SA Government census shows that non-whites lives in Orania, so it cannot be whites-only.

- The whitest people in South Africa are English South Africans who came in 1820, however they are not encouraged to stay in Orania, in fact the opposite.

- The town's founders started Orania as a safe haven for Afrikaners, not for "whites". Johnmars3 04:40, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

Johnmars3 is correct in stating that, as far as the people can run the town can get away with it, Orania is an Afrikaners-only town. People of other ethnic groups (whatever their skin colour) are not welcome to stay. Reliable sources describe Afrikaners as white - on the outside they look white.-- Toddy1 (talk) 07:38, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

@Toddy1 Which brings us to people's right to self identify no matter what they look like on the outside. We don't call transgender women men, because they are a vulnerable minority. Is it okay to label Afrikaners "white" when they reject that label? People who are also a vulnerable minority at only 5% of the population? People who are often tortured to death because of the way that they look? In a country where a recent president sang songs about killing them and the same president hired a British PR firm to stir up racial hatred against them and where the main opposition leader is "not yet calling for their genocide".

Another point to consider, is it ethical to call native Americans red Indians, Indians coolies or African Americans the N-word when they dont like it, but perfectly okay to call Afrikaners whites when they also reject it? Johnmars3 (talk) 09:11, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

This is a highly unconventional argument. Afrikaners are by widely accepted definition, and were legally classified under apartheid, as white (or "European"). They are descendants of Boers and the Cape Dutch, both white ethnic groups. Cape Coloureds speak Afrikaans, and are Christian, yet they aren't Afrikaners, nor are Cape Malays. The idea that there's a genetic continuum between mixed-race groups like the Cape Coloureds, Cape Malays and Afrikaners is quite likely, but the fact is that the distant Khoisan, Black and Indian ancestry of Afrikaners has never been part of the Afrikaner identity in any meaningful way. Afrikaners are white. There may be a rivalry between English and Afrikaans speaking white South Africans, but that doesn't change the fact that being white is a necessary (but not sufficient) attribute to be considered to be an Afrikaner, and that Afrikaner politicians legally defined the "white race group" in South Africa. Oh, and Malema isn't the "main opposition leader", it's John Steenhuisen Park3r (talk) 02:45, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Be Fair, if Orania Is A "White Only" Town Then Finland Must Also Be Labelled A "White Only" Country

Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Finland#Demographic_statistics

scroll down to:
Ethnic groups

Finn 93.4%, Swede 5.6%, Russian 0.5%, Estonian 0.3%, Romani 0.1%, Sami 0.1% (2006)

If Orania is a "white-only" town with 97.2% of the population being white then Finland must be a "white-only" country with > 99% of the population being white. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pat-From-Canada (talk • contribs) 17:49, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

As has been discussed, the 97% number from the census is dubious, and regardless we use the language that reliable sources use, which is "white only". If they haven't achieved that in reality, that doesn't it isn't their intention. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 19:53, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Let me put it this way.

A mixture of statements and facts:

Manute Bol was a 7' 7" NBA basketball player. At the same time Muggsy Bogues was also a player in the NBA and he was 5' 3" so Muggsy Bogues was taller than Manute Bol. <- Nonsensical statement.

You can make whatever statement you want but the math has to support the statement.

Mathematically, you cannot say that Finland is not an "all white" country while Orania is an "all white" town, this is as nonsensical as my NBA player statement above. If you do not support the 97% number then you need to state why and you must provide proof of to support the "all white" statement.

The BBC and friends make serious errors and let's not forget what they just admitted to doing to Princess Diana with the false documents. If nonsensical math and nonsensical statements are to prevail here just because it is recycled from the BBC, then there really isn't any hope for the truth to prevail, people will be guilty until proven innocent.

Furthermore, you seem to believe that the people of Orania have an intention to create a 'white only" town, are you going go stick to this even if it can not be factually supported? again guilty until proven innocent. Many innocent people are being harmed by this, it seems like a miscarriage of justice to condemn them without proof. If this was a statment against an individual, they could sue for defamation of character.

Again is the BBC proof? they just admitted to falsifying documents to control princess Diana. If wikipedia becomes more obsessed with notable over truthful then we are in real trouble. Pat-From-Canada (talk) 21:14, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

The BBC is generally reliable, but imperfect like all sources. We have no reason to doubt it in this case though, or the many other sources that call the town whites only. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 04:51, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@Pat-From-Canada The thing is that the election of Trump in 2016 really rocked the leftist establishment (media and academia) and send them into a frenzied overdrive to censor/gatekeep everything that does not fit their narrow worldview. This cancer has not spared Wikipedia, to such an extent that the co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, went on record to say that "Wikipedia cannot be trusted and is definitely not a reliable source" and that "it is now propaganda for the left-leaning establishment"

You can see this in the very biased way this article gets edited to put Orania in the worst possible light. For example: Recently a mod stated "There needs to be much more coverage on the racism and white nationalism", but the article already uses the words white/racist/racism/racial/bigot/nationalism to describe Orania 71 times. Seventy-one times! How many more times do they need to call them racist? 100 times? 1000 times? Should this article just consist of the word "racists" over and over and over?

And don't get me started on the leftist double standards. We get told that we have to accept peoples self-identification. So, if you are a man who identifies as a women then that is perfectly fine, you are now a woman and heaven helps anyone who misgenders you. But, if you are a man who identifies as an Afrikaner, because he finds the white label to be offensive, then apparently deadnaming him as "white" is not problematic.

And as if the negative focus and hypocrisy are not enough, any info or source, that does not paint the blackest picture and try to provide context is "problematic" and gets erased. For example, Orania schools have had a 100% Matric (grade 12) pass rate for the past 30 years. The rest of South Africa has an education crisis with grade 4s unable to read and a matric pass rate of 44% . However the info which adds context about the rest of South Africa gets deleted as writing "white nationalist brochure material".

Another example, Orania has had ZERO murders in the last 30 years. Britstown, a small neighbouring town averaged more than 4 murders per year over the last decade . The rest of South Africa had more than 500 000 murders since 1994 when the ANC took over (bear in mind that the reference article is from 5 years ago and that figure is now more than 600 000.) . But this crime comparison gets deleted on Wikipedia, despite it providing very important context as to why people fleeing to Orania says that "crime" is one of their main motivators.

Another example of bias. Orania has grown its economy by more than 10% per year for the past couple of years. For context, the rest of South Africa has been in and out of recession . Orania has an unemployment figure of less than 5%, South Africa's unemployment figure is over 35% However, mentioning South Africa is writing "white nationalist propaganda" and gets deleted.

But the most insidious thing that gets done is reference policing. Where people who studied the Orania in detail and wrote their Master's theses on the place, where university DNA studies (showing that Afrikaners are not technically "white"), and where the South African government's census data (showing Orania is not a whites-only community) are NOT "reliable sources", but the left of Lenin Guardian newspaper is a reliable source... A recent example of this is a Wikipedia mod stating, and I quote "Many unnecessary pictures that do not reflect coverage by reliable sources *should be deleted" because God helps us if people can see pictures of the place that does not support your progressive propaganda.

Don't get me wrong. I don't live in Orania and I don't want to live there. The place is a barren sh!thole in the middle of the desert filled with Afrikaner nationalists. But here is the thing I don't get. Why the overwhelming hostility? They are not imposing their ideas on anyone else. They are not threatening anyone else. They removed themselves from society and live their separate lives as they want. If Oranians were black or women then they would have been lauded as heroes .

Imho opinion Wikipedia should provide a balanced report on the town and this includes context. Sure, write about their negatives, but don't try to do a hack job on them because their mere existance deeple offends your progressive principles .— Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnmars3 (talk • contribs) 04:15, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not for general discussions of which political position is correct. Trying to infuse that into this discussion will only end poorly. Let's focus on the sources. Pat, John, can you each propose the wording you'd like to see? I think the solution here is to get a group of possible lines, and then hold an RFC that decides which one we'll use. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 04:51, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Thank you Johannes and CaptainEek.I just wrote a long essay of my personal views on this subject and my intent to no longer participate here as I agree with 99% of what Johannes just wrote. There are many problems with the article but I think BilledMammal's proposal is very important so I will hang in here a little longer and as requested, I will avoid Desertambition.I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell of removing the problematic content from this page BUT if the reader could at least be alerted to some of the disputes, could we leave well enough alone?Here is a suggestion:Orania has repeatedly been described by notable sources as a "whites only" town". However supporters of Orania point to Government census data showing that the town has a sizeable non-white population significantly larger than other groups not accused of being 'white only" just as Finland and that the town has no policy of racial exclusion.I have participated on Wikipedia for less than 24 hours, I have no idea what I am doing with the user interface, please feel free to edit. Pat-From-Canada (talk) 11:10, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Sorry it looks like my post ended up with no spaces after the periods, a bit hard to read... Pat-From-Canada (talk) 11:13, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

I also made a serious typo, "just as Finland" should be "such as Finland" Pat-From-Canada (talk) 11:19, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

I wish I knew how to delete my comments or edit them, here is another draft proposal.

Orania is an Afrikaner only town in South Africa. It has been described by numerous notable sources as a "whites only" town. However supporters argue that the town is a refuge for Afrikaner culture and that the town has a sizeable non-white population according to Government census data. Pat-From-Canada (talk) 11:58, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

The 2011 census recorded 17 coloured and 8 black african people. That is not a "sizeable non-white population". This May 2019 newspaper article was about EEF members who did not live in Oriana, but chose to vote there. This would not be allowed in some countries, but is evidently allowed in South Africa. I do not know if the same can happen with the census.-- Toddy1 (talk) 14:08, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

This would not be allowed in some countries, but is evidently allowed in South Africa It's allowed in South Africa because South Africa doesn't currently have geographic electoral constituencies, and general elections are for provincial and national elections off party-lists. Since any resident in a province would be voting for parties contesting that province "at-large", which voting station one is voting at in a province is irrelevant. and the EFF voting at the Orania voting station is purely symbolic. This has no bearing on the census.Park3r (talk) 04:06, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

"I do not know if the same can happen with the census"

Do WANT this to happen when there is no evidence that it did? you seem a bit biased as if you want the Afrikaners to be racist.

The census data from 2014 shows only 893 people. The entire town is not "sizeable" at all. China could forget where they put a million people :)

97% is far less homogeneous than Finland as mention earlier but Orania is also less so than Japan, are the Japanese racist now too?

How can we show that the media overwhelming describe the town as "white only" when the Government facts do not support this? The Government facts are also notable. Pat-From-Canada (talk) 17:13, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

RFC Before

@Desertambition: I've temporarily removed the RFC tag; while one is likely to be needed soon and my preferred option is there, I believe we should give time for Pat and John to propose their preferred wording for inclusion in the discussion. If you reinstate the tag, I won't remove it again. BilledMammal (talk) 10:04, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@BilledMammal: Sorry, didn't mean to remove your comment.

Edit summary comment so people don't have to dig: I am putting the tag back because CaptainEek specifically requested it. You are free to propose alternatives but I literally put your suggestion in there. Please stop. Desertambition (talk) 10:11, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition: CaptainEek, in the comment I replied to, is currently getting a group of possible lines to be included in the RFC, with the RFC to be opened once he has the lines. As I said, I won't remove the tag again, but I believe WP:RFCBEFORE should have been completed first. BilledMammal (talk) 10:18, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@BilledMammal:@CaptainEek:I did not see their comment above, apologies. However, I struggle to see what they would propose that would differ from what is in the current rfc.

Also, it's a little absurd we're still not acknowledging Johnmars3 is WP:NOTHERE to build an encyclopedia. They literally wrote this a while ago: "I just read your 10 points, and I have to say that I am disapointed with your take. I thought that this was an article about Orania. But it seems that you want to turn it into the Mein Kampf of Anti-racism."

Plus all the other blatantly white nationalist nonsense and targeted editing. I'm not making a report or anything, just thought it was worth mentioning. Desertambition (talk) 10:28, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Possibly "Orania is an Afrikaner only town in South Africa", as an argument can be made that including "white" is redundant and as readers are not idiots we don't need to spell it out for them. The counter argument, which has currently convinced me, is that many reliable source have chosen to discuss the fact that the town is consequentially whites only, and it is appropriate for our lede to reflect that focus as WP:DUE, but just because I am currently convinced doesn't mean it isn't an appropriate option. I'm not sure of any other appropriate options, but it is possible that other editors have other ideas. BilledMammal (talk) 10:44, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@BilledMammal Afrikaners link to Afrikaners. Their racial mix is explained under the Genealogy section in that article. Johnmars3 (talk) 04:29, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

References

"white Afrikaner ethnostate known as a Volkstaat"

This line implies that the Volkstaat concept is distinctly defined by racial separatism. This is not backed up by the sources listed, which do not state such claims.

Using the first source listed in the wiki article:

"The volkstaat model strives for an independent Afrikaner state but is not concerned about the remainder of South Africa. Moreover, unlike the homeland partition model which allocates a state for whites, the volkstaat model proposes an ethnically defined state for Afrikaners/Boers. White British immigrants would, for example, generally not be welcome in such a state" (pg 43.)

There are other quotes in the same source that imply it as being more suitable described as an Afrikaner nationalist idea rather than a white separatist one.

The other sources listed do not describe anything regarding Orania's foundings on this matter, although the third article uses "Volkstaat" to describe the town in its current state as an "Afrikaner enclave" (which doesn't matter as the context for the wiki article is regarding Orania's foundings, not what its current purpose is.) None of the articles use the word "ethnostate" either to describe it.

I suggest that the line be changed to "independent Afrikaner state known as a Volkstaat" with a link to the Afrikaner nationalism page in the brackets of the "independent Afrikaner state" line. Emkut7 (talk) 01:39, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

The source, that you just quoted, says "proposes an ethnically defined state". That absolutely lines up with the current definition. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 03:17, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Okay fair enough, but my larger problem was with it being defined as a white ethnostate. I probably should have made that more clear. Emkut7 (talk) 03:49, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

A Volkstaat is distinctly defined by racial separatism. It is a continuation of the apartheid idea intending to create a white ethnostate within South Africa following the end of apartheid in 1994. Despite South African white nationalists maintaining that they are only concerned with so-called "Boer/Afrikaner culture", all reliable sources have made it clear that this is just a thinly veiled excuse for racial supremacy and separatism. The focus on Boer/Afrikaner preservation cannot be detached from the history of apartheid and their existence in a majority black country.

The End of One Party Rule in South Africa: A Profile of South Africa’s Political Parties

"From the very beginning of its existence, the FF knew they had no chance of beating the ANC in truly free and fair elections, so they transitioned away from their previous goal of maintaining the racist Apartheid system towards the creation of a separate “Volkstaat” (people’s state) or a fully independent white ethnostate."

A history of South African Nazis

"After attempts to secure a white Volkstaat or Afrikaner homeland failed in the 1990s, the South African far Right started to abandon overt fascist rhetoric. Recently, Afrikaner nationalists and white supermacists have been organising around ideas of “white genocide” and defending “Christian culture”. But extremist politics are never far from the surface. For example, a Facebook anti-farm murder page at one point openly shared the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or Afrikaner Resistance Movement flag, which was based on the Nazi swastika."

Redrawing the Map for Democracy - How South Africa's post-apartheid government tried to do away with the territorial legacy of racial segregation.

"Initial proposals to set up an all white, Afrikaans-speaking volkstaat also did not meet tests of administrative rationality. Paul Daphne, a commissioner and ANC party leader, recalled: "The people proposing a volkstaat outcome were battling to find a map which would show any part of the country with a majority of whites in it." COSAG, the conservative Afrikaners group, was particularly persistent in to its push for majority single-language communities." Desertambition (talk) 03:24, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Emkut7 We've had this conversation before, the sources overwhelmingly describe Afrikaners as white. This description is particularly helpful for our audience, which generally would assume that Afrikaner means African, and thus black. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 06:07, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Without commenting on the rest of the discussion, which I have not properly read, I would note that I disagree with which generally would assume that Afrikaner means African. I don't believe readers will associate the two in that way - just as they won't assume a Balti is from the Baltics. Further, we shouldn't generalize away from ethnic groups because our readers might be ignorant of them. Instead, we should provide a wikilink and allow the readers to educate themselves. BilledMammal (talk) 07:17, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Boers intentionally adopted the Afrikaner identity to distance themselves from apartheid and convey a sort of psuedo-indigeneity and connection to Africa. Regardless, I do not see the relevancy of your comment to the inclusion of "white ethnostate" unless you are arguing it should not be included. Desertambition (talk) 07:24, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Nonsense. They started calling themselves Afrikaners during the 19th Century, though the English called them Boers. They did not adopt the name to distance themselves from apartheid. Regarding the racist view that all Africans are black, people holding that view should be educated not pandered to.-- Toddy1 (talk) 08:38, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

You are literally calling me an anti-white racist unironically, or at least heavily implying it. I have been indefinitely blocked for less. There are no consequences for this absurdity. "Regarding the racist view that all Africans are black, people holding that view should be educated not pandered to." This is not conducive to a collegial environment. This is completely unnecessary and 100% irrelevant to the point of including "white ethnostate" in the article so I do not understand what your objection is. Desertambition (talk) 18:10, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

No I am not. An editor (who is not a racist) wrote the sources overwhelmingly describe Afrikaners as white. This description is particularly helpful for our audience, which generally would assume that Afrikaner means African, and thus black. Writing about racism is not the same as being racist or accusing other editors of being racist.-- Toddy1 (talk) 19:02, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Either you're implying that some editors hold racist views against white people or you should take back your comment, but I digress. There is clear ambiguity over "Afrikaners" in the English speaking world (In fact, "Afrikaners" means "Africans" in Dutch/Afrikaans).

Regardless, this is not relevant to the discussion at hand of whether or not white ethnostate should be included in the article. If you take issue with another part of the article, it would be helpful to make a new section. Desertambition (talk) 19:23, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

The term was in common usage in the late nineteenth century; I think you might be mistaken with your claim about the motives for the use of the term Afrikaner over Boer. And my comment was in response to that particular reason for the use of the term, rather than in regards to the use in general. In regards to the use in general, I don't currently know enough to comment. BilledMammal (talk) 08:49, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Afrikaner has a clear and unambiguous meaning in South Africa. It's a term that long pre-dates the end of apartheid, and it's not a recent invention: it's always referred to the (white) descendants of Dutch colonists (erstwhile Cape Dutch and Boers). No user of South African English, or any South African in general would confuse the terms "Afrikaner" and "African". They are two distinct concepts, with a low-level debate ongoing about whether non-blacks, including Afrikaners can be regarded as Africans.Park3r (talk) 04:29, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Again, the sources en masse describe the town as white, so I don't see how this point is arguable. CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 15:51, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

My point was in response to that specific justification. Looking further into this, I would oppose just "white ethnostate", as it oversimplifies the situation - the current "white Afrikaner ethnostate" is better. However, I note that this implies that Afrikaners might not be white, which is misleading. BilledMammal (talk) 22:51, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

You say that Orania is just an excuse for racial supremacy. It makes zero sense.

a) How can they be racial supremists if there are no other races? Orania is a small Afrikaner community in the middle of the desert. Who are they oppressing? The martians?

b) For them to be racist they must hold political power, which they have none. The ANC has a supermajority in local and national parliament. Orania has zero representation in the ANC government.

c) For them to racist they must hold institutional power, which they have zero. It is a poor community owning no large banks or companies in the rest of South Africa. As they have zero institutional or government power, and as racists can only be racists when they hold prejudice plus power, Oranians clearly cannot be racist. Johnmars3 (talk) 10:55, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

A racist is a person who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group. It is not just a matter of skin colour as an American actress who had a minor part in Star Trek seemed to think. Nor is it a matter of power. German racists in the 1920s were prejudiced against a white ethnic group who they perceived as being powerful, which like most racial prejudices was not supported by the facts. Oriana was founded on the basis of racial discrimination - i.e. a town for Afrikaners only.-- Toddy1 (talk) 11:54, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Please don't quote outdated unscientific definitions. For a person to be racist they must have prejudice plus power Barndt, 1991. As people in Orania are a tiny minority, very poor, with zero political power, they cannot be racist. Johnmars3 (talk) 16:15, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

References

MisLEADing

The lead of this article contains one misstatement and omits mentioning a really important point.

• The village was originally established to house people working on a large irrigation scheme under the jurisdiction of the then Department of Water Affairs (and its predecessors). It's "second life" as a conservative Afrikaner enclave came several decades later.
• The lead fails to state that the entire village is private property. Everything except the R369 road that runs through it is privately owned. Legally it is not actually a town. Its status is effectively the same as a farm or the many golf estates, retirement villages, lifestyle estates, and similar fully private millionaires housing schemes that exist on the outskirts of many of South Africa's larger cities. (Individual plots in such schemes are usually owned under sectional title.) This fact goes a long way towards explaining much of the village's peculiarity. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:28, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

This would help clarify some of its characteristics, so feel free to add with sources. Greenman (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Deletion discussions

There are two ongoing deletion discussions related to this page that editors may be interested in contributing to:

1. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Orania Representative Council
2. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ora (currency)

BilledMammal (talk) 07:12, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Ora request has been withdrawn. Although I plan to open a move request soon as "currency" is an inaccurate descriptor. Thanks for posting these. Desertambition (talk) 10:00, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Requested move 1 April 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved. Consensus and data have found that this is the primary topic. (non-admin closure) — Ceso femmuin mbolgaig mbung, mellohi! (投稿) 04:57, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

---

• Orania, Northern Cape → Orania
• Orania → Orania (disambiguation)

– Clear primary topic by pageviews. BilledMammal (talk) 09:26, 1 April 2022 (UTC) — Relisting. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 07:11, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

• Yeah, virtually everyone who lands on the dab page will then proceed to follow the link to the settlement [4]. I've never seen usage data so unambiguously supporting a proposed primary topic. Now whether that article has more enduring significance in the long term than the other topics with the name, that's another question. I can see the argument for this position (say, extent of coverage in sources), but even if that's granted, part of me is a bit uneasy about the idea that every reader who searches for e.g. the genus of palms common in the tropics will have to arrive on a page about what looks like a racist little town. – Uanfala (talk) 15:59, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
• Support. Looking at the clickstream data somewhere between 97 and 100% of outgoing traffic from the DAB page comes to this article each month if I've read it correctly. Seems to be a fairly obvious primary topic. 192.76.8.70 (talk) 21:41, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
• Support. The town is the primary topic. Park3r (talk) 22:09, 7 April 2022 (UTC)
• Support per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 16:32, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Mystery deletions

I do not agree with the deletion of the following. Judging from the deleted statements, the so-called "town" is evidently a boring place to live in.

• The Orania Beweging (Orania Movement) is a local political and cultural organisation that promotes Afrikaner history and culture.
• Orania, a farming town, offers few amusements to teenagers and young adults, who miss the entertainment offered by city life. Things improved considerably with the opening in 2014 of the Ou Karooplaas shopping centre, which also houses a cinema, pizza parlor and DVD shop; and the Stokkiesdraai Adventure Park, which also has a pub and coffee shop.
• The congregation counts 145 members. The church is a prefabricated building.
• In 2013, the Sonskip / Aardskip earthship living museum construction started in Orania, designed by Christiaan van Zyl, one of South Africa's foremost experts on sustainable architecture. The building is open to the public as a living museum; it is the largest earthbag earthship in the world.

-- Toddy1 (talk) 18:26, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

I wouldn't call them "mystery deletions" as I provided detailed edit summaries. That information did not seem particularly notable. Could you please expand on why you think the information is notable?

The Orania Beweging part is not true, reliable sources strongly indicate that Orania is a white separatist movement and not a political and cultural organizations aiming to promote Afrikaner history and culture.

Information about various recreational locations opening and people being bored does not seem particularly notable.

Info about the church being prefabricated and information about the church congregation is not very notable.

The "foremost expert" on earthships has almost no information online and the "earthship" does not seem to be notable either. Desertambition (talk) 18:37, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

References

That is your point of view. There are other points of view. Reliable sources indicate that it is an Afrikaner-only town. So when you claim that "the Orania Beweging part is not true, you show that you do not understand what the sources say.

Regarding notability - notability is a Wikipedia concept for whether a subject deserves an article on it. I agree that there is no call for an article on the church in Oriana. But that does not mean that an article on Oriana should not mention it. That Oriana is boring, does not deserve its own article, but is worth mentioning in an article on Oriana. The same applies the earthship - it must be a really boring place for this to be one of the "attractions". We are trying to write an encyclopaedia, not a Persil-advert, so negative things about Oriana, like how boring it is, should go into the article.-- Toddy1 (talk) 19:26, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

WP:NNC - The concept of notability does not apply to content within an article, only to whether a topic deserves a standalone article or list. Most of this seems to be the kind of bog standard "local shopping and attractions" type affair which is included in basically every town article. 192.76.8.70 (talk) 01:09, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

The focus on these businesses, opening of a pizza shop, only church with a steeple, etc. seems to be WP:UNDUE and not WP:PROPORTIONAL to the coverage of this subject in reliable sources. The sources overwhelmingly focus on the white separatism and the relations between the town and surrounding communities. Desertambition (talk) 21:07, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

Those policies are not relevant to what we are talking about.-- Toddy1 (talk) 21:11, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

Apologies, I was basing it off of WP:NCC but I could be misinterpreting it.

"Content coverage within a given article or list (i.e. whether something is noteworthy enough to be mentioned within the article or list) is governed by the principle of due weight, balance, and other content policies. For additional information about list articles, see Notability of lists and List selection criteria."

What policies should be applied to this article? I would like to apply them correctly. Desertambition (talk) 21:16, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

I don't agree with Toddy1, due weight is a valid policy to consider when determine whether this level of detail belongs in the article, WP:MINORASPECT is probably the most relevant section. In my opinion due weight would tend to favour inclusion of most of this stuff though, the policy states that small aspects of a topic should not be given large amounts or excessive coverage, not that they shouldn't be covered at all. I don't see how 11 words of detail on the local church is an excessive amount of content in a 150kb article. Some of the bullet points needs rewording (the last bullet point reads like it's been lifted from a press release) but I don't see the argument for outright deletion on the basis of balance. 192.76.8.70 (talk) 21:36, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

@Toddy1 and Chipmunkdavis: Let's resolve this dispute. I have removed information I believe is WP:OR, WP:UNDUE, not WP:VERIFIABLE, or otherwise pointless. I will list every edit I made and I ask you to respond in detail as to why you keep reverting these edits.

1. The Orania Beweging (Orania Movement) is a local political and cultural organisation that promotes Afrikaner history and culture.

This is a false statement. Orania is a white separatist project. At the very least it should be heavily modified but I see no point in including such a statement that contradicts the article.

2. Orania, a farming town, offers few amusements to teenagers and young adults, who miss the entertainment offered by city life.

This is 100% WP:OR and the only source is not reliable. It's a right wing German newspaper that I've never heard of before. Also focuses on the South African farm attacks conspiracy theory. This is directly from the source:

Verwoerd defense ("denigrated as a racist"): In front of the larger-than-life bust of the white Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who was murdered in 1966 and denigrated as a racist and Nazi sympathizer in Europe, which was shaped by the horror of the Second World War, the question arises as to the future of this white people, who are already striving for national self-realization in retreats to the far corners of the wasteland.

Blatant racism: The Orania project is not without controversy even among the Boers today, and for a wide variety of reasons. It can again be stated that the spirit of the Black Continent will once again be fatal to this people. He has always lacked what many peoples in Africa lack: unity.

3. You re-added the information about holidays that is completely unsupported by the source, Orania: the land where apartheid lives on. The most relevant section is:

“There is a difference between an Afrikaans speaker and an Afrikaner,” says Jaco Kleynhans, Orania’s public relations man. “We are not talking about race here – we want to associate with certain cultural traditions.”

Those cultural traditions’’ include celebrating people like Kruger and great days in the Afrikaner calendar, like December 16. On Monday, the day after Mandela’s funeral in his home village of Qunu, Afrikaners will celebrate what is now known as the Day of Reconciliation. Before black majority rule it was known by another name, Day of the Vow, and commemorated the Battle of Blood River, the victory in 1838 of 470 Afrikaners – Voortrekker colonists – over an army of up to 15,000 Zulu warriors.

4. You reverted "holidays" to "public holidays". These holidays are not official or sanctioned by the South African government. They should be classified as "holidays" not "public holidays".

5. Re-adding the information about the "earthship" that is not verifiable or notable. The source is a single Atlas Obscura article. Atlas Obscura does not seem like a reliable source and the information you re-added about Christiaan van Zyl doesn't match up with reliable sources and coverage. Stating that they are "one of South Africa's foremost experts on sustainable architecture" is not WP:VERIFIABLE.

Desertambition (talk) 09:00, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

I am not involved in this dispute and have not edited the article or looked at the sources in question. I will state that I find point 1 above confusing. It is asserted it is a false statement, but I don't understand how the explanation above shows it is false, or what in the article the sentence in question is supposed to be contradicting. CMD (talk) 09:12, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Orania is a whites only town in South Africa that aims to create a whites only ethnostate known as a Volkstaat. That is not exactly a "local political and cultural organisation that promotes Afrikaner history and culture." in my mind. Many of the sources in the article support this.

Also I believe you are involved in this dispute given your numerous reports to WP:ANI and the most recent one relating directly to this issue. If you do not want to be involved that is fine of course. Desertambition (talk) 09:21, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Why can't a white separatist movement promote Afrikaner history and culture? CMD (talk) 11:35, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Just because we disagree with way Orania is run does not mean that Wikipedia cannot have a neutral point of view article on it.

• Apparently it is a legal municipality. (See discussions elsewhere on this page.)
• It is barking that the municipality has different public holidays than the rest of South Africa. Since they are a municipality, they seem to be able to get away with this. That a municipality can have its own public holidays is not unique to Orania - for example, La Spezia (in Italy) has a city-wide public holiday on 19th March.
• That a source is right or left wing has no bearing on its reliability. For example, the English newspaper The Guardian is a reliable source.
• It has been explained to you that on Wikipedia, notability is a test used by editors to decide whether a given topic warrants its own article. See Wikipedia:Notability. It is not a test to decide whether an article should mention something or someone.
• Wikipedia:Coatrack articles says: A coatrack article is a Wikipedia article that gets away from its nominal subject, and instead gives more attention to one or more connected but tangential subjects. Typically, the article has been edited to make a point about something else. It is not OK to edit out stuff about the town, so editors can focus the article on racism.

-- Toddy1 (talk) 13:36, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Mayor

@Desertambition: Do you have a source stating that Leonard Makena is the Mayor of Orania? BilledMammal (talk) 05:05, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

I believe you are misunderstanding the South African political system. The mayor of the local municipality oversees all settlements within the municipality. I have provided sources in my edit but I will provide them again here.

EFF to meet with Orania leaders after taking over council

EFF mayor elected in Northern Cape municipality, which includes Orania Desertambition (talk) 05:18, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Both of those state that he is the mayor of Thembelihle Local Municipality, and do not state that he is the mayor of Orania. BilledMammal (talk) 05:23, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

I do not believe you are understanding how the South African political system works and I do not see any use in continuing to debate it. It is what it is. Desertambition (talk) 05:25, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Per WP:V, you need a source stating that Leonard Makena is the mayor of Orania. As you have not provided that source, I've reverted your edit. BilledMammal (talk) 05:33, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

If you are going to do this you need to remove the mayors from Pretoria, Cape Town, and Johannesburg as well. Every single South African settlement lists mayors this way. It does not seem like you are understanding how this system works. Desertambition (talk) 05:35, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Ga-Rankuwa, Atteridgeville, Mamelodi, Onverwacht, Gauteng, and Refilwe - none of the articles I checked listed a mayor. However, that isn't relevant - per WP:V, we need a source that supports your claim, and we don't currently have it. BilledMammal (talk) 05:41, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Ignoring the examples I cited doesn't make them go away. Desertambition (talk) 05:42, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Do you have a source? Vague WP:OTHERCONTENT handwaves at cities that are the seat of their metropolitan municipality does not meet WP:V. BilledMammal (talk) 06:02, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

It's not vague at all. There are no mayors of South African cities in the American sense. You are straight up not understanding how the political system works and I do not know how to engage.

It is like removing Congresspeople from American cities pages because they do not technically represent the city, only the congressional district. People from Orania voted in the mayoral elections and they are subject to the local municipality, exactly like Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Also per your own cited essay (not a guideline mind you):

"While these comparisons are not a conclusive test, they may form part of a cogent argument; an entire comment should not be dismissed because it includes a comparative statement like this." Desertambition (talk) 06:09, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

American cities normally don't list congresspeople. And Pretoria, Cape Town, and Johannesburg don't have local municipalities, they have metropolitan municipalities - further, Orania doesn't just have a local municipality, it also has a district municipality, meaning there are two mayors we would need to chose between.

And your comparison isn't part of a cogent argument, your comparison is the entire argument - and I'm not really interested in arguing this. Do you have a source describing Leonard Makena (or John Lolwana) as the mayor of Orania? BilledMammal (talk) 06:24, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

What the sources say:

• EFF to meet with Orania leaders after taking over council, msn.com does not mention who is mayor. This means that it is not a source for the claim that Leonard Makena is mayor.
• EFF mayor elected in Northern Cape municipality, which includes Orania The South African says Leonard Makena, has reportedly been elected in the Thembelihle Municipality, which includes the whites-only town of Orania. So it is relevant for a statement that Leonard Makena is mayor of Thembelihle Municipality. It does not support a claim that he is mayor of Oriana. Local government can have many tiers, each with their own mayor.

-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:38, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

You appear to be misunderstanding the South African political system. South Africa does not have mayors in the American sense. The mayor of Thembelihle oversees all settlements within the municipality. Just like how Pretoria is governed by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. If you are going to remove the information about the mayor from this article, you have to remove it from every article. Same goes for a supposed "failed verification". Desertambition (talk) 20:45, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia:No original research says that you must be able to cite reliable, published sources that... directly support the material being presented. The source supports the statement that Leonard Makena was elected mayor of Thembelihle Municipality. If the infobox explicitly says that, then fine. But saying just "mayor" suggests that he is mayor of Orania Town Council. There is no evidence for that. What you are doing is an analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to reach or imply a conclusion not stated by the sources. That is not OK. Please self-revert.

I cannot do so for 24 hours because I recently reverted two IP edits with dishonest edit summaries.-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:57, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

@Toddy1 and Greenman: Do you both believe that the mayor should be removed from the Pretoria, Cape Town, and Johannesburg articles as well? If we follow this logic, there is no mayor of Pretoria, only the City of Tshwane. Desertambition (talk) 21:37, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

I have no opinion on the subject, because not looked at that aspect of those articles and the sources. But all articles are expected to comply with rules such as WP:NOR.-- Toddy1 (talk) 21:49, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

They are quite different. For example, there are hundreds of sources referring to the Mayor of Cape Town, although the ambiguity about which Cape Town is meant could be discussed. Still, that's a case to be discussed elsewhere. The use of the mayor in the Orania example is like saying Geordin Hill-Lewis is the mayor of Khayelitsha, which would be quite misleading. It didn't give him much support, and is only a small part of the overall Municipality. Greenman (talk) 21:58, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition@Toddy1

A few things that might be helpful:

- Up to 1994 almost every town in South Africa had its own municipality.

- In 1995, existing municipalities became transitional representative councils.

- Then the ANC started combining different towns into larger municipalities, for example Kai !Garib municipality which now has about 20 towns and villages.

- In about 1999, Hopetown and a few surrounding towns (including Orania) became Thembelihle Local Municipality.

- However, Orania fought this in the Northern Cape Supreme court, which ruled that Orania could stay an independent "transitional representative council", the last one in South Africa.

- So, while they are technically within the Thembelihle Local Municipal area, they are not part of the municipality and govern themselves. The get zero services from Thembelihle, and pay zero money to Thembelihle.

I hope it helps.

Johnmars3 18:05, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl, Johnmars3, and Toddy1: Asked this to htonl as well but perhaps you can clear up some of my confusion. I am under the impression from reading the transitional representative council article that a TRC is meant to manage a separate municipal entity and that Orania was integrated into Thembelihle entirely. How does the TRC exist if there is no separate municipal entity to govern? If there is a separate municipal entity to govern as you are saying, what are the boundaries of their municipality? The lack of municipal services appears to be more due to their existence as an entirely private entity, rather than the existence of an entirely separate municipality. It does not seem like the government of South Africa officially sanctions or manages any elections for their TRC unless I am missing something. The municipal government also maintains jurisdiction over Orania for police and public health so that seems to contradict the existence of a separate municipality.

TL;DR: Does a TRC necessitate a separate municipal entity and if so, does Orania have their own municipality? If not, how does a TRC exist without a separate municipal entity to govern & who manages the elections/what do they govern? Desertambition (talk) 10:35, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition

According to the Transitional Executive Council Act, 1993 [No. 151 of 1993] - G 15184

- these councils were set up in preparation for transition to democratic institutions in South Africa.

- the act covered any department of state, any provincial administration or local government body. As well as the Governments of the self-governing territories such as the Governments of the Republics of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei.

- the act affirms the governance powers of these entities to exercise power and perform their duties. Section 7 goes into all the General powers of these Councils: "They can appoint from among its members office-bearers, open and administer its own financial accounts, shall identify categories of subjects in respect of which the Council shall itself take decisions".

- in 1995, Oranians elected its own transitional representative council. This council were to be abolished before the election on 5 December 2000, according to Article 12 of the Municipal Structures Act.

- In response Orania lodged an urgent application in the Kimberley High Court to stop the provincial government from abolishing the town's existing transitional representative council. The court ruled that Orania's TRC could retain it's status indefinitely, and that the council retained all its powers. . So, Orania is technically within the Thembelihle municipal area, but they are not governed by them.

- And Thembelihle municipality does not provide any services to the residents of Orania. Orania's TRC is responsible for their own potable water, sewage management, garbage removal, electricity, roads, clinic and security.

Which brings us to an interesting question. What will happen if Orania buys more adjacent land? Will that land also cease to be part of Thembelihle? Johnmars3 (talk) 03:35, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

@Johnmars3: The Transitional Executive Council Act was for the national-level TEC which existed in 1993-94. The relevant act here for the TRC is the Local Government Transition Act. In section 9C(3) that act provides:

A transitional representative council shall subject to section 10D (2) be vested and charged with the following powers and duties, namely-

(a) subject to the provisions of section 9D (1)(b) (i), to elect from among its members a person or persons to represent the council on the district council in question;

(b) to secure, through the said person or persons, the best services possible for the inhabitants of its area;

(c) to serve as the representative body of its area-

(i) in respect of any benefits resulting from the reconstruction and development programme; and

(ii) in the development of a democratic, effective and affordable system of local government; and

(d) in general, to represent the inhabitants of itsarea in respect of any matter relating to rural local government.

Incidentally your final question is answered by my comment immediately below; the area of jurisdiction of the Orania TRC was defined by proclamation so it would not change by the purchase of land. - htonl (talk) 20:26, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition: I'm not sure what you mean by a "municipal entity"? The TRCs were (and this Orania one presumably still is) municipalities and they had boundaries. To confirm this, over the last few days I did some digging and I found that the Orania TRC was established by Proclamation No. 65 of 1995 and its area of jurisdiction was defined as Remainder of Portion 2, Remainder of Portion 5, and Portion 8 of the farm Vluytjeskraal No. 149; and Remainder of Portion 1 of the farm Vluytjeskraal Annex No. 151. That's effectively the two areas marked "Vluytjeskraal" and "Vluytjeskraal 272" on File:Orania land map.svg.

The local government transition period went on for 5 years; in October 2000 the provincial government published Notice 30 of 2000, which established (amongst others) the Oranje-Karoo Municipality (later renamed Thembelihle). One of the things included in that notice was a list of the existing transitional councils that would be dissolved once the new municipality was elected. However the Orania TRC was omitted from that list, presumably by mistake. The provincial government published an amendment to add Orania TRC to the list, and it was this amendment that the Orania people challenged in court.

So then, as we all know, this result came out of the High Court in Kimberley that the TRC would continue to exist pending further action. So now there are indeed two councils which both have a claim to govern the same area. I don't think the judge could have intended that this messy situation would continue for 20+ years, but it seems it has not been in the interests either of the government or of the Orania people to pursue it.

Police are a national government competence, and health is a national/provincial competence, so those have no relevance to question of municipal jurisdiction. As to elections, that is a good question. The Local Government Transition Act (LGTA), under which the TRCs was established, doesn't make provision for further elections after the 1995 election. So I'm not sure what authority either the Electoral Commission or Orania TRC itself would have to conduct elections.

But this is getting to be besides the point since I am getting deep into WP:OR territory here. The simple answer is that reliable sources like the Mail & Guardian report that the TRC continues to exist, and therefore that is what we should report. htonl (talk) 20:20, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

@HtonlVery freakin awesome work! Johnmars3 (talk) 04:34, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl, Johnmars3, and Toddy1: Thank you for the response but I still have a lot of questions about what's really going on. I believe it is an WP:EXTRAORDINARY claim that South Africa possesses an extra, whites only, municipality that is not listed on any official government website or mentioned in the plethora of information about South African municipalities. There are many things that don't add up and one source is not enough to prove such a controversial claim. Here are a few points that seem to suggest Orania is not a separate municipality:

1. The Thembelihle Local Municipality maps show Orania as part of Thembelihle.

2. Oranians vote in the Thembelihle elections.

3. Oranians pay taxes to the South African government and Thembelihle.

4. List of municipalities in South Africa doesn't list Orania and neither does any other official count of municipalities. (Gov website)

5. There are no elections for the "Orania Transitional Council".

6. According to Dodger67 Orania is not even legally considered a town, let alone an independent municipality.

We really need other sources saying this to make such a claim. Desertambition (talk) 13:30, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

@Desertambition

Please read this:

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-orania-local-elections-latest-results-who-can-you-vote-for/

1. Ukrainian maps shows Crimea as part of Crimea, but is it really? Same for China's maps and the South China Sea etc.

2. Oranians only vote on the same day as the national municipal elections, but they vote for their own representatives on the Orania TRC.

3. Oranians pay taxes (income + sales) to the SA government, but nothing to Thembelihle municipality. They pay rates (property tax) in Orania to the Orania TRC.

4. Orania is not a municipality, they are the last TRC in the country.

5. Orania have their own elections.

6. They are not a municipality, they are a TRC. As for the "not a town" part, what do you recommend we call them? Johnmars3 (talk) 05:21, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

I would just like to point all of you into the right direction. Instead of trying to cite sources from 3rd parties, why not ask the Orania Movement directly?

Their website is: www.Orania.co.za

Telephone number(s) of Orania Information Office: 050 207 0062 /053 207 0063 /053 207 0064

Email: inligting@orania.co.za

Alternatively you can contact the town spokesman Joost Strydom by email: joost@orania.co.za

I hope my information can help to get the correct information. Jan200203 (talk) 14:02, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

Because Wikipedia's WP:Reliable sources policy prefers secondary sources, which are more independent. CMD (talk) 14:11, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

I understand that but all the secondary sources get their information directly from Orania anyways. Journalists from big international news outlets frequent the town. And I'm sure that Orania would keep these publications of stories on file somewhere if citation is needed. Jan200203 (talk) 19:08, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

I would just like to point all of you into the right direction. Instead of trying to cite sources from 3rd parties, why not ask the Orania Movement directly?

Their website is: www.Orania.co.za

Telephone number(s) of Orania Information Office: 050 207 0062 /053 207 0063 /053 207 0064

Email: inligting@orania.co.za

Alternatively you can contact the town spokesman Joost Strydom by email: joost@orania.co.za

I hope my information can help to get the correct information. Jan200203 (talk) 19:00, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

References

The whole mayor argument is a bit unnecessary. In articles about South African towns/villages, we don't normally list the mayor of the municipality in the infobox. For relevant examples local to Orania, see Hopetown or Strydenburg which are also towns in the Thembelihle Municipality. (The exception is for certain metros or secondary cities, where a particular city is so closely associated to the municipality that they are arguably the same: for example Polokwane/Polokwane Local Municipality or Durban/eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. But contrast the City of Ekurhuleni where there is no one city that is the core of the metro.) And on the other hand, as far as I know, a TRC did not have the power to elect a mayor even back in the 1996-2000 transitional area so the Orania TRC couldn't lawfully have a mayor either. - htonl (talk) 14:32, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl: There is no guideline about mayors in infoboxes as far as I can tell. Regardless, it makes no sense why Orania would have municipal elections for Thembelihle if they exist in a separate municipality. There is simply not enough evidence to say that there exists a whites only, independent municipality within South Africa. It is an WP:EXTRAORDINARY claim and requires strong sources that have not been provided. Evidence suggests Orania is part of Thembelihle fully. Desertambition (talk) 17:59, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

Ingonyama Trust

I feel that this article should mention the Ingonyama Trust in Natal. It is an area in South Africa where only Zulus are allowed to stay. The Ingonyama Trust is a corporate entity established to administer the land traditionally owned by the Zulu people, represented by their king, for the benefit, material welfare and social well-being of the Zulu nation. The Trust owns 29.67% of the land in KwaZulu-Natal, which is equivalent to 28 000 square kilometres (2 800 000 hectare). This will provide context that Orania is not the only exclusive mono-cultural area in South Africa.Johnmars3 (talk) 11:30, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Do you have a cite for the claim that only Zulus are allowed to live on Ingonyama Trust land? htonl (talk) 12:40, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/what-is-the-ingonyama-trust-how/ Johnmars3 (talk) 13:16, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Unless I missed it, that article doesn't say that no non-Zulus can live on Trust land. Indeed the application form for Trust leases at [5] does not seem to have any of the kind of cultural purity-testing that can be seen on applications for Orania. - htonl (talk) 15:26, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl

It is very clear that the Ingonyama Trust is an exclusionary community, it was established by the KwaZulu-Natal Ingonyama Trust Act , which was enacted by the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly and came into effect on 24 April 1994. Key provisions of the Act Section 2(2) – “The Trust shall, in a manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be administered FOR THE BENEFIT, material welfare and social wellbeing of the MEMBERS OF THE TRIBES and communities as contemplated in the KwaZulu Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act.”

So what does the KwaZulu Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act say? It defines a “citizen” as any person who is a citizen of KwaZulu IN TERMS OF the National States Citizenship Act, 1970 (Act No 26 of 1970), which earmarked Kwazulu as a homeland for THE ZULUS.

And, the Ingonyama Trust land is viewed as land of the Zulu people.

Here is the Zulu king saying that, "Zulus will never allow that THEIR LAND be taken away from them and they will be prepared TO DIE over this issue." Johnmars3 (talk) 17:43, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

So the Zulu people, through the mechanism of their king and the Trust, own land, and the land is administered for their benefit. That doesn't mean that only Zulu people are allowed to live on or lease portions of the land. A property holding company that owns lots of land is administered for the benefit of its shareholders; that doesn't mean that only shareholders can live on the land. The fact that they don't want their land taken away doesn't make them an exclusionary community any more than anyone else who objects to land reform (even if they express it rather... vigorously). htonl (talk) 17:55, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

@Htonl

My points are this.

• Orania was set up for Afrikaners
• Ingonyama Trust was set up for Zulus

- Land in Orania is not owned by the people, but by the Vluytjeskraal Aandeleblok company.

- Land in the Trust area is not held by the people, but by the Ingonyama Trust.

• In Orania mainly Afrikaners live.
• In Ingonyama Trust mainly Zulus live. There is zero record of non-Zulus staying in Ingonyama Trust. I have searched high and low for Ingonyama Trust demographics and Ingonyama Trust census data but I cannot find anything showing that non-Zulus live there.

- "Foreigners" are not welcome in Orania

- "foreigners" are not welcome in the Ingonyama Trust. The Zulu king is so xenophobic that his speeches has caused recent xenophobic violence in KZN and he has even been charged with hate speech for it .

- Johnmars3 (talk) 01:49, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

If you can provide a WP:RS that compares Orania to the Ingonyama Trust you can include that comparison in this article. However, original reasoning that isn't in a published source to justify an analogy is an example of WP:SYNTH and is not suitable for Wikipedia. Park3r (talk) 03:09, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

References