Crow
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A barely 3-foot-tall statue of former Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, overlooks the all-white community of Orania in South Africa. This statue of the man who sent Nelson Mandela to prison for life is a model for a larger statue that was never cast.
A lingering color line: White bastion in South Africa clings to past
By Richard Morin~The Washington Post
ORANIA, South Africa — The statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, former prime minister and architect of apartheid, looks down approvingly from the rocky top of a dry, windswept hill onto the tree-shaded homes and whitewashed churches of this white separatist community on the empty fringe of the Great Karoo Desert.
In 1995, newly elected President Nelson Mandela journeyed to this isolated pocket of white resistance to have tea with Verwoerd's widow, Betsie, in a gesture of unity and forgiveness. He climbed the hill to see the statue, and burst out laughing.
"But he is so small!" Mandela reportedly exclaimed. Indeed, this statue of Verwoerd, who sent Mandela to prison for life, is a model for a larger statue that was never cast. It is not even 3 feet tall, little bigger than a lawn ornament.
Balance of article
How often and how deeply does the world media view South Africa? Not very often judging by the local press, but do they care?
I’d say yes they do care and by in large they view it accurately.
Long gone are the stories of the struggle, the daily barrage of terrible things done, lives lost, even the seemingly never ending horrors of the TRC.
South Africa- the New South Africa has gone on as has the world, yes there are still those who are bitter and unable to accept the changes, but they are in the minority. Some few hundreds live in Orania- a small haven of disillusioned Whites, others have scattered to the four corners of the world, and as might be expected there are those former victims of the Apartheid state that still live in this new country.
I by good fortune have come to know many South Africans. My daily contact with friends and posters on this forum has given me a broader view I think than many of the outside world. These contacts along with my all too short visit to this beautiful country, have given me a positive view of the future of the NSA and of the people.
Perhaps the world’s media has largely forgotten, but history will not.
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..."no word is wasted here"...Billy Collins
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Anonymous
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........................Orania is self sustaining. There are no domestics or Black farm labor. There is no crime. The schooling is excellent and very little unemployment. They seem to remind me more and more of the Amish. There is no doubt that, in time, this little enclave will dissolve into eternity as Afrikanerdom dies.
I hate Verwoerd and would be happy to see that statue go to the junk pile, but cut this little requiem to apartheid some slack. They can no longer do any harm.
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Crow
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A good title susieq.
Yes I have visited the website of Orania and even corresponded to a couple of it's fans. It is a sad reminder of the fading folly that was Apartheid.
I think I will have to disagree that it should remind one of the gentle Amish. True it is a 'separate development' (I am aware of the irony here), but the Amish retreated from a world of sin as they see it in order to be closer to their God.
I too have no doubt that it will fade into the footnotes of history and time.
I do not think it represents the Afrikaner’s future and/or dreams, but is instead an aberration of a minority viewpoint. I got the same impression from the tone of the article.
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..."no word is wasted here"...Billy Collins
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Strider
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I have been there (passing through) and was saddened by what I saw. It is a dusty and poorly maintained hamlet. Rusty garden fences separate the neighbour's sandy yards from one another and gardens and lawns are unheard of. The absense of gardening help and painters is in evidence everywhere. Everything is run-down. Trees are at a premium, and even the motor cars are twenty years old or more. The people stubbornly refuse to accept that all peoples are needed in any settlement, and it certainly shows. It's like stepping back in time to places like Krugersdorp West or Ventersdorp decades ago. I was glad to see Orania disappear in my rear-view mirror.
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"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it." ~ Robert Frost
Strider.
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Aisling
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I 'visited' it as well a few years back.
To buy a Sunday Tribune. I caused some chaos, needless to say ... :-)
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Crow
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Orania to launch own currency
The white homeland of Orania on the banks of the Orange River will be launching its own currency in the enclave's community centre on Thursday to a cautious reception by the Reserve Bank.
The currency will be known as the "Ora" and consists of a range of four denominations -- Ora 10, Ora 20, Ora 50 and Ora 100 -- Eleanor Lombard, spokesperson for the Orania Movement, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Lombard said that during Thursday's unveiling, special momento packages would be on sale.
"The symbols on the Ora 10 note showed the Afrikaner's history, the Ora 20 note his art, the Ora 50 note his culture and the Ora 100 note depicted Orania," said Lombard.
She said the advantages of the town having its own currency was among others -- available cash being replaced with proof of cash and the cash earning interest in the bank; buying power remaining in the community because the currency was only accepted in the town; because the currency could only be spent locally it was safer than cash.
Meanwhile, Reserve Bank spokesperson Themba Hlengani said the voucher or currency must not resemble the South African bank note, in whole or part.
"For instance, it shouldn't be the same colour or font as any of the South African bank notes," he said.
He said this was regulated in terms of South African Reserve Bank Act of 1989.
Hlengani did not want to comment further, saying that this was the official statement at the moment.
According to Lombard the idea for the currency was first mooted by a Prof Johan van Zyl during a conference by the Orania Movement in 2002.
Van Zyl apparently emphasised that a community which wanted to empower itself needed to do so with as many instruments as possible to further enhance its self determination, and having its own currency unit was good example of this.
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=58851
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..."no word is wasted here"...Billy Collins
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