FF Plus defends Afrikaner-only enclaves Orania and Kleinfontein, accuses EFF of being the real threat

The real existence of Afrikaner-only communities, Orania and Kleinfontein, has been called into questioned by members of parliament (MPs), while Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) has defended the enclaves.

On Friday, the National Assembly held a virtual mini-plenary session to debate the presence of these communities in post-apartheid South Africa.

The discussion was initiated by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, who argued that Orania, situated in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape, and Kleinfontein, near Pretoria in Gauteng, pose a threat to nation-building, non-racialism, and social cohesion.

The parliamentary debate followed a recent EFF protest march to Kleinfontein.

Debate on Orania and Kleinfontein

Opening the session, EFF MP Carl Niehaus labelled the enclaves as both “racist” and “exclusivist”.

“These are not mere settlements; they are deliberate, hateful strongholds of racial segregation meticulously designed to fracture our nation,” he said.

Niehaus called for the total dismantling of the communities.

“They must be eradicated, their architects prosecuted, and their toxic ideology banished forever. There is no place for racism in South Africa. Not now, not ever,” he said.

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The EFF MP further accused the communities of enforcing exclusionary policies.

“They enforce policies that bar black South Africans from living or even setting foot in their space; creating islands of white supremacy that mock our constitution and unravel the fabric of our society.

“This is not a passive choice; it is an active, calculated attack on nation-building.”

He emphasised that the enclaves were inviting the “horrors of Apartheid into our democratic era” and argued that they were unconstitutional.

Watch the debate below:

African National Congress (ANC) MP Gaolatlhe David Kgabo highlighted the timing and intent behind the formation of the communities.

“Orania was established in 1991 and Kleinfontein in the mid-90s with the explicit goal of creating a stronghold for Afrikaner culture, language and identity separated from the rest of South Africa,” he said.

Kgabo described the enclaves as suffering from an “Apartheid hangover”.

“They still believe that white people are superior [to] black people,” the ANC MP remarked.

‘Fortified symbols of white supremacy’

uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP Nkosinathi Nxumalo also criticised the communities, rejecting the idea that they are “innocent cultural settlements”.

“They are fortified symbols of white supremacy, racism and secessionists of cultural preservation,” Nxumalo said.

On the other hand, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Janho Engelbrecht pointed out that not all Afrikaners support cultural separation.

He defended the enclaves’ constitutional right to freedom of association, cultural expression and self-determination.

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Engelbrecht, however, contended that such rights must not be distorted into a mechanism of division and exclusion.

“It is not a licence to recreate the past nor to establish enclaves that function in contradiction to the spirit of non-racialism and social cohesion.”

The DA MP added that the issue is not their mere existence, but how these communities operate.

“If a community chooses to be homogenous by cultural or language preference, this should not translate into discriminatory practices that effectively exclude others on the basis of race and ethnicity.”

FF Plus defends Orania and Kleinfontein

Patriotic Alliance (PA) MP Ashley Sauls also weighed in, expressing concern about barriers to entry into these communities, Orania in particular.

“The rules to become part of [the]town [are] so difficult that no non-white will ever be successful to stay there,” Sauls said.

Sauls agreed the enclaves posed a threat to nation-building but accused the EFF of doing the same, referencing the party’s “Kill the Boer” chant.

Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) MP Corné Mulder defended the communities, arguing they were being targeted, and criticised the EFF.

“Who is the real threat to non-racialism, a political party [that] wants to cut the throats of whiteness and who wants to confiscate the property of whites?” he asked.

READ MORE: High Court declares exclusive Afrikaner township in Pretoria illegal

Mulder continued: “Clearly, the EFF is the threat to social cohesion. Orania and Kleinfontein is no threat. We all know who the threat is.”

Meanwhile, ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni pushed back against the idea that the enclaves are harmless cultural retreats.

“Behind the fences of Orania and Kleinfontein, children are not learning culture. They are being taught to fear difference, to internalise racial superiority, and to live apart rather than together,” Ngobeni remarked.