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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