FW may sue for libel

Former President F W de Klerk is considering legal action following claims he received millions of dollars in exchange for handing over the country to the ANC.

HNP leader Willie Marais told The Citizen the allegations were made by former State President P W Botha in an interview with a Dutch newspaper a few days before his death.

Marais said Botha claimed De Klerk had received between three and four million US dollars, honorary doctorates and the Nobel Peace Prize “in exchange for handing over the country to the ANC”.

The HNP leader said Botha had claimed he was made a similar offer, but had rejected it. Asked who had made the offer, Marais said Botha did not mention who the generous donor was.

“I have written a letter to Mr De Klerk demanding his explanation,” Marais said.

“We want to know when Mr De Klerk received the money and why he has not declared that money.

“We also want to know why the Scorpions are not looking into the matter,” the HNP leader said.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said he was not aware of the HNP request for an investigation.

“However, such allegations do not fall within the scope of the Scorpions.”

In his response, De Klerk said the allegations were, in the view of his legal advisers, “libellous”.

He reserved the right to take whatever action he deemed fit.

“Instead of hankering back to racist domination and fairy tale Volkstaat, the HNP should accept the reality of the new SA."

“It should support the efforts of the F W de Klerk Foundation to protect the constitutional rights of all South Africans – including the culture and rights of Afrikaners.”

De Klerk said the prizes he was awarded by the international community – particularly the Nobel Peace Prize – were all a matter of public record.

They were awarded long after he and the government had committed themselves to the essential and unavoidable course of democratic constitutional reform.

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Orania community to form multi-disciplinary team

October 22, 2005, 18:15

The Orania Afrikaner community has resolved to form a multi-disciplinary team, aimed at drawing up a proposal for the self-determination of its culture and language grouping, soon to be tabled before Parliament. This forms part of the resolutions taken at a conference dubbed Article 235 and The Politics of Self-Determination by the ultra-conservative volkstaat community.

The three-day event ended today.

Karel Boshoff junior, the chairperson of the Orania Movement, says they have taken notice of the opportunities and limitations of Section 235 of the constitution.

Earlier, Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, a political analyst, expressed worry that an exclusive part of the country was being idolised. He warned against the abuse of power. "The majority begins to get irritated. It gets irritated with the constitutional court; it gets irritated with the bench or the Human Rights Commission. Then it says well, we're not gonna get rid of them, we're simply gonna see to it that our people will be on those institutions," he said.

Jakes Gerwel, the chancellor of Rhodes University, on the other hand said although the Constitution makes provision for self-determination, the challenge lies in implementing it. "That's the big question - how do you realise the space or the promise that is contained in 235. I don't know. But it says something about the way we could accommodate the wishes of different groups in the country."

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Orania land claim settled at last

December 04, 2006, 20:45

The land claim on the Afrikaner enclave Orania has been awarded to a group of coloured people.

The land claims commission has confirmed that the claim has been approved by Lulu Xingwana, the land affairs minister. Virgil Gaborone, the Land Commission Project manager, says the community opted for financial restitution.

Eighty households’ members, who previously resided at Orania, will share R2.9 million. A consortium headed by Carel Boshoff, a professor, bought Orania in 1991 to realise his dream of a Volkstaat for Afrikaners.

Gaborone says the claim was lodged by Roos Viljoen in 1994 on behalf of the community. He says the land claim measures 480 000 hectares. Gaborone says they intend to finalise the claim by the end of next month.

Meanwhile, Orania residents say they are unaware of the latest development. They say they have been waiting for feedback from the land claims commission.

“If the government decides to pay them… we've got no problem with that. As far as claiming the land, that's something quiet different. When we came here in 1991, the place was virtually in ruins, many of the houses were dismantled, there was game wandering around in the town and we bought it for approximately R1.4 million,” said Manie Opperman, the Orania mayor.

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Displaced coloured community claims Orania

November 28, 2005, 17:45

The Land Claims Commission has confirmed that a claim by a displaced community on the proposed Afrikaner volkstaat, Orania, is at an advanced stage. About 67 people, who claim to have been forcefully removed from the area in 1991, have lodged a land claim with the commission. The claim was published in the government gazette last week and the residents of Orania have 30 days to oppose the claim.

Piet Vos, who has lived in Orania since the age of 12, was forced off his the land when Carel Boshoff bought the farm in 1991 and created Orania. Vos and the other 66 people were told to leave. "Carel Boshoff did not want to negotiate with us. They forcefully removed us and that hurt us," said Vos, one of the claimants.

Residents of Orania say they have researched the history of the town and they do not believe a land claim will be successful. Danie Opperman, the Orania mayor, agrees. "Most of the people left because their project ended and it is in the nature of a construction camp that people must go when their project is ended," said Opperman.

The Land Claims Commission says all the requirements need to be looked at before a decision can be made.

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Self-determination enshrined in constitution

October 20, 2005, 21:00

There is nothing wrong if communities in South Africa strive for self-determination, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, a political analyst said at Orania.

"It is enshrined in our constitution," Van Zyl Slabbert told delegates at a conference on article 235 of the Constitution.

The conference organised by the Orania Movement at Orania in the Northern Cape aims to look at how article 235 of the constitution could be practically implemented.

Van Zyl Slabbert said the constitution holds that communities have the right to self-determination; therefore they should be allowed to manifest themselves provided they do not contradict the constitution.

He said generally there was not enough awareness of the implications of constitutional rights and privileges.

Some eight speakers will debate article 235 at the conference. Among them are Carel Boshoff, the chairperson of the Orania Movement, Jakes Gerwel, the chancellor of Rhodes University, Pieter Mulder, the Freedom Front Plus leader, and Flip Buys, the CEO of Solidarity.

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Self-determination faces challenges

October 21, 2005, 18:15

Efforts at self-determination by groups in South Africa still face various obstacles, Jakes Gerwel, the chancellor of Rhodes University, said today.

"Though there is room to move forward in terms of article 235 it should not be accompanied by the perception of crude ethnic diversity," Gerwel told delegates at a conference on self-determination. Some 100 delegates from across South Africa are attending the two-day conference at Orania in the Northern Cape.

Article 235 of the constitution recognises a culture and language-community's self-determination within the framework of the constitution and law. The conference, organised by the Orania Movement, is examining how article 235 of the constitution could be practically implemented.

Gerwel said one of the challenges faced in regard to efforts of self-determination was to steer clear of all perceptions pertaining to racism.

Carel Boshoff, the chairman of the Orania movement, said earlier that the conference message was a positive one. "We want this conference to be a voice across South Africa in making the idea of a territorial entity for people representing a certain cultural and language group more acceptable," he said.

Boshoff said the conference was also aimed at guarding that article 235 did not fall in disuse. "This could lead to it losing its force," he said.

The village of Orania, between Hopetown and Petrusville, was bought about 15 years ago by a group of individuals in an effort to set-up a self proclaimed Volkstaat.

The conference continues tomorrow.

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Orania to help poor Afrikaners

The white separatist enclave of Orania in the Northern Cape, said today said it was launching a project to assist poor Afrikaners financially.

Eleanor Lombard, a spokesperson for Orania, said in a statement more and more Afrikaners were struggling to make ends meet. Some of these people go to Orania in an attempt to start over and make a living.

She said the community in Orania wanted to reach out to these people, but the financial demand to supply them with housing and jobs were too much. To meet this demand, an aid fund has been set up to collect money.

A project would also be launched next year to allow homeless Afrikaner children to go to school in Orania. The success of this project would however depend on donations, Lombard said.

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Mufamadi praises report on Orania

Sydney Mufamadi, the Provincial and Local Government Minister, has praised the report compiled by a technical committee on the municipal status of the Afrikaner community in the Northern Cape, Orania.

Brent Simon, the ministerial spokesperson, said that Mufamadi was of the opinion that the report recommended a possible solution to the municipal status of the town, which opened up new possibilities. He said a Cabinet memorandum would now be compiled and possibly be discussed by a committee on May 9.

Orania obtained a court order in December 2000 to stop it being demarcated with Strydenburg and Hopetown into a single municipality. The town was granted a transitional representative council in 1995, giving it autonomy.

The court recommended that a technical committee be appointed to investigate the feasibility of Orania having its own municipality. The report also said that Orania should not have its own municipality, but that it should be demarcated with Vanderkloof, a town at the Vanderkloof Dam.

It recommended that a Cabinet committee should investigate the implementation of Section 235 of the Constitution, which guarantees self-determination to groups with a common language, culture and interests.

Mufamadi congratulated the committee on the completion of its task, but did not disband it, as was expected. The committee might have more work to do once Cabinet has reached a decision on the issue.

Orania is an exclusively white Afrikaner community of about 600 people. The conservative area's main industry is agriculture.

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Orania hands report on independence to Mufamadi

The exclusively white community of Orania in the Northern Cape is to hand a report on its status as an independent municipality to Sydney Mufamadi, the Local Government Minister today, a spokesperson for Orania says.

Carel Boshoff says in a statement that the report was the result of a 14-month study of the desirability for Orania to have its own local government structures, after it was demarcated with Hopetown and Strydenburg into the Thembelihle municipality.

Boshoff says the community went to court just before the local government elections in 2000 to fight the demarcation and to insist on its own local government structures. The court granted an order that the demarcation should be halted and that an independent committee should be appointed to investigate the feasibility of the community having its own municipality.

The town's rural transitional representative council, which was granted in 1995, was retained for the duration of the investigation.

Boshoff says the report makes four recommendations. The first of being that the town should not have its own municipality. Secondly it recommends that Orania should rather be demarcated with Van der Kloof, a town at the Van der Kloof dam. Thirdly it says that certain municipal services should be delegated to the Orania community itself via a contract. The fourth recommendation is that a cabinet committee should investigate the community's right to self-determination as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Boshoff says the report contained all the elements to reach a positive agreement. He expressed the hope that the government would regard it in the same light.

Orania is a small Afrikaner community of about 600 people near Hopetown in the Northern Cape. Its main industry is agriculture.

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The TRC and the Volkstaat

AC/99/0344

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION

AMNESTY COMMITTEE

APPLICATION IN TERMS OF SECTION 18 OF THE PROMOTION OF NATIONAL UNITY AND 
RECONCILIATION ACT, NO. 34 OF 1995

JOHANNES PETRUS OLIVIER APPLICANT

(AM6483/97)

DECISION

The applicant was a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging in April 1994. 
He was then also employed in the South African Police Services.

Upon instructions of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, he packed up his 
belongings in Durban, sold his house and went to Ventersdorp in the belief of 
preparing for war from which the establishment of a Boere Volkstaat would flow.

In pursuance of this venture, the applicant, with another attempted to 
discharge a bomb in the district of Benoni and Boksburg. However, he was 
arrested before the bomb could be discharged and after he deliberately rode 
through a formal roadblock.

His actions were committed with a political motive. His application satisfies 
the requirements of the Act.

Consequently amnesty is GRANTED for the following acts:-

(i) Unlawful possession of explosives as envisaged in Section 28 read with 
sections 1 and 27 of Act 26 of 1956;

(ii) Failing to adhere to an instruction to stop at a roadblock;

(iii) Conspiracy to contravene Section 27(i) of Act 26 of 1956.

Dated at Cape Town this 10th day of December 1999.

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