By Anita Dangazele
- Tlhaole led a protest to the premier’s office calling for a legal review of Orania’s whites-only status.
- He says places like Orania and Kleinfontein promote racial division and must be stopped.
EFF Northern Cape leader Shadrack Tlhaole has vowed to be the first black resident of Orania but only if the whites-only town ever opens its doors.
Tlhaole made the bold statement while leading a protest at Premier Zamani Saul’s office on Tuesday. He and other EFF members want the government to take legal action against Orania, which they say has no place in a democratic country.
“I am going to be a resident of Orania. I’m going with the EFF leadership. We are going to fight to become one society,” he said. “We must be inclusive.”
Orania was set up by white Afrikaners along the Orange River in the Karoo. The town claims to protect Afrikaner culture, but critics say it’s just segregation in disguise.
Tlhaole said the same goes for Kleinfontein near Pretoria, which also allows only white Afrikaners to live there.
“The EFF is focusing on unifying all people. If places like Orania are not dealt with soon, there will be racial tension between black and white people,” he said. “We are fighting this and we will win.”
EFF members say Orania’s talk of culture is just a smokescreen to keep apartheid values alive.
“South Africa is a sovereign state. We can’t allow different groups to run their own areas based on fake claims of cultural protection,” the EFF Northern Cape said.
They warned that letting Orania exist has already encouraged other groups to demand their own breakaway areas based on race or culture.
Pictured above: EFF members marching to the Northern Cape premier’s office.
Image source: Facebook
