Vereniging van Oranjewerkers (''"Association of Orange Workers"'', sometimes shortened to simply ''Oranjewerkers'') is a South African white

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

political movement that seeks a homeland for

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

History

Formed in 1980 by Wally Grant, H. F. Verwoerd junior (the son of

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of ''Die Transvaler'' newspaper. He is commonly regarded as the architect ...

), Carel Boshoff and C. J. Joost, the group bemoaned the over-reliance of South Africa on a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

workforce and sought to set up ''Oranjegroeipunte'' (Orange growth points) where the group would buy up land to settle unemployed

white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

on.

Morgenzon

Such a scheme was set up in

Morgenzon Morgenzon ( Dutch for ''morning sun'') is a ghost town situated on the banks of the Osspruit River ''(Ox Stream)'' with an agricultural school (which is all the town is known for) in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town is 45 km south ...

. Oranjewerkers bought the town in 1982, and in the mid-1990s its population was 400 whites and 6,000 blacks. Alongside this they also developed the plan of ''bolwerke'' ('bastions'), or privately owned farms whose landowners would undertake to stop utilising black labour.

Aftermath

Eschewing the party political route, the ''Oranjewerkers'' became more of a research group, undertaking a series of studies of the demographics of the country. Leading member Hercules Booysen termed their mission as ''dinamiese-konserwatisme'', seeking newer ways to implement the old ideas of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and the creation of a Volkstaat.du Toit, 'The Far Right in South Africa', p. 648 Similar plans for redesigning the map of South Africa have been suggested by the group from time to time.

In fiction

The organisation features prominently in Larry Bond's tale of a fictionalised

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

conflict in South Africa, ''

Vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

''. By the novel's conclusion, they have succeeded in reaching their goal for an autonomous Afrikaner state under a post-apartheid government.

References

External links