Volkstaat

See other meanings of Volkstaat.

Volkstaat (Afrikaans for "People's state") is a proposal for the establishment of self determination for the Afrikaner minority in South Africa according to federal principles, alluding to full independence in the form of a homeland for Afrikaners.

The proposal is in line with similar movements by other ethnic minorities throughout the world.

Some Afrikaners have shown a drive for self determination and independence through the establishment of several Boer Republics during the nineteenth century. The loss of self determination due to the end of minority rule in South Africa resulted in the formulation of the proposal for a Volkstaat.

Support for the proposal varies according to different studies performed, but seems to be in the order of 30% support amongst Afrikaners. This would constitute support of up to 750 000 souls. Support is generally increased by the living conditions experienced in South Africa by Afrikaners. The majority of South Africans – and indeed so called Afrikaners – do not support the proposal, with one study citing racism as a factor leading to support of the proposal.

Different methods exist according to which a Volkstaat can be established. Outside a possible use of force, the South African Constitution and International Legislation present certain possibilities for establishment. The fine spread of minority Afrikaner communities throughout South Africa presents a significant obstruction for the establishment of a Volkstaat, as Afrikaners do not form a majority in any seperate geographic area which could be sustainable independantly. Supporters of the proposal have established two communities, Orania in the Northern Cape and Kleinfontein in Gauteng, as a practical implementation of the proposal although the former only had a population of around 600 in 2001, 10 years after being established.

The South African Government announced that they would not support a Volkstaat, but would do everything they could to ensure the protection of the Afrikaner language and culture, along with other minority cultures in the country.

The "Vryheidsvlag" (Freedom Flag), registered in 1995 with the South African Bureau of Heraldry as the flag of the Afrikaner Volksfront.

File:Mapfreedomfront.gif

First proposed Volkstaat in the sparsely populated Northern Cape.

File:Afrikaner volkstaat - mainland.jpg

Another proposed Volkstaat near Pretoria. This region is heavily populated by non-Afrikaner South Africans, as well as Afrikaners.

Proposal perspective

The volkstaat model strives for Afrikaner self determination, but is not concerned about the remainder of South Africa. Unlike the homeland partition model of Apartheid which allocated a state for whites, the volkstaat model proposes an ethnically defined state for Afrikaners. White British or other immigrants would, for example, generally not be welcome in such a state.

The Volkstaat concept is tenable on the following grounds:

• It bases its claim for a sovereign territory on the right of a people (who are distinct and definable in terms of, inter alia, their common ethnicity) to self determination. That is, the claim is not primarily based on race.
• It does not prescribe to those who do not belong to the Afrikaner people how they should arrange their political affairs.
• The borders of the proposed Afrikaner state can be understood on historical grounds. In theory the demands of the supporters of the volkstaat model are not fundamentally different to the demands for national self determination of other stateless peoples, such as the Kurds, the Tamils in Sri Lanka or the Chechens in the Russian Federation.

Historical context leading to the creation of the proposal

Boer Republics, pre 1911

Main article: Boer Republics

Historically, Afrikaners have had a drive for independence which resulted in the establishment of different republics in what is now the modern Republic of South Africa. These republics were proclaimed by the Voortrekkers, of which the most notable were Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. However, British rule after the Second Anglo-Boer War led to the dissolution of the last two remaining Afrikaner states (Orange Free State and South African Republic).

Proposals of ethnic segregation from non-Afrikaners

The idea of partitioning South Africa into various states, or into a confederation of states, has not been the exclusive preserve of a few Afrikaners. The South African liberal icon of the 1930s and 1940s, Alfred Hoernlé, considered partition as a way of protecting blacks from white oppression and reducing the risk of racial conflict in the country. More recently, German author and observer at the 1987 meeting between the ANC and Afrikaner academics in Dakar (Senegal), Klaus von der Ropp, has proposed partitioning South Africa to ensure genuine black independence and to provide whites with the security an independent enclave would offer.

Apartheid

Main article: History of South Africa in the apartheid era

Under apartheid, Afrikaner and Anglo-African culture was protected by government leadership, Afrikaans and English were the official languages of government, and the majority of the politicians running the country were Afrikaners. The underlying principle of apartheid was racial separatism, and the means by which this was implemented, such as the homeland system of bantustans, were extremely biased against the non-white majority as it excluded them from exercising their rights in the broader South Africa. Afrikaners held a privileged position in South African society, alongside the other white citizens. The potential loss of self determination, when apartheid began to crumble in the late 1980s, caused the Afrikaner right to seek means by which to replace it.

Avstig and Orania

In the late 1980s, the Afrikaner-Vryheidstigting, or Avstig (Afrikaner Freedom Foundation) was formed by Professor Carel Boshoff. Avstig proposed a Volkstaat in the Northern Cape Province, in a largely rural, and minimally developed region. Avstig bought the town of Orania in 1991, and turned it into a model Volkstaat. Boshoff continued to be a representative of the Freedom Front, the political party advocating the Volkstaat concept. Orania is situated at the far eastern apex of the original Volkstaat state, where the thus named "Northern" and "Eastern" cape along with the "Free State" nearly intersect.

Support for the proposal and matters creating support

Two surveys were conducted among white South Africans, in 1993 and 1996, asking the question "How do you feel about demarcating an area for Afrikaners and other white South Africans in which they may enjoy self determination? Do you support the idea of a Volkstaat?" The 1993 survey found that 29% supported the idea, and a further 18% would consider moving to a Volkstaat. The 1996 survey found that this had decreased to 22% supporting the idea, and only 9% wanting to move to a Volkstaat. In the second survey, the proportion of white South Africans opposed to the idea had increased from 34% to 66%.

The 1996 survey found that: "Those who in 1996 said that they would consider moving to a Volkstaat are mainly Afrikaans speaking males, who are supporters of the Conservative Party or Afrikaner Freedom Front, hold racist views (24%; slightly racist: 6%, non racist: 0%) and are not content with the new democratic South Africa." The reader should however note that no definition for a "racist view" is cited in the survey, and the issue may be confused with a minority group's right to free association.

A 1999 pre-election survey suggested that the 26.9% of Afrikaners wanting to emigrate, but unable to, represented a desire for a solution such as a Volkstaat.

At a conference on Afrikaner self-determination, held in Orania in October 2005, Afrikaner intellectuals showed "little enthusiasm for territorial separation", and proposed other ideas, such as "cyber-government".

Dissatisfaction with life

Dissatisfaction with life in post-apartheid South Africa is often cited as an indication of support for the idea of a Volkstaat among some Afrikaners. A poll carried out by the Volkstaat Council, among white people in Pretoria, identified the following perceived problems, in descending order of importance:

• crime
• economic problems
• personal security
• affirmative action
• educational standards
• population growth
• health services
• language and cultural rights
• housing
• other.

Thabo Mbeki, current president of South Africa, quoted an Afrikaner leader with whom he had been engaged in negotiations: "One of our interlocutors expressed this in the following way that ' the Afrikaner is suffering from the hangover of loss of power' resulting in despondency."

Reduction of political power

The Afrikaners, who form a small minority group in South Africa (5.7% of the total population according to the 2001 census), relinquished their dominance of the minority white rule over South Africa during the 1994 democratic elections and now only play a small (proportionally representative) role in South African politics. Some Afrikaners, such as the members of the Volkstaat Council, felt that equal representation did not provide adequate protection for minorities, and desired minority self rule. Self determination in the form of a Volkstaat was proposed as one means of achieving this. (See the Volkstaat Council's proposals below.)

Culture and heritage

In 2002 a number of towns and cities with historic Afrikaans names dating back to Voortrekker times—such as Pietersburg and Potgietersrus—had their names changed, often in the face of popular opposition to the change. In the same year the government decided that state departments had to choose a single language for inter- and intra-departmental communication, effectively compelling public servants to communicate using English with one another.

Of the 31 universities in South Africa, five were historically Afrikaans (Free State, Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Rand Afrikaans University and Stellenbosch). In mid-2002 the national Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, announced that Afrikaans medium universities must implement parallel teaching in English, despite a proposal by a government appointed commission that two Afrikaans universities should be retained to further Afrikaans as an academic language. According to the government’s language policy for higher education “the notion of Afrikaans universities runs counter to the end goal of a transformed higher education system".

Crime in general

Main article: Crime in South Africa

Crime has been a major problem in South Africa. According to a survey for the period 1998 - 2000 compiled by the United Nations, South Africa was ranked second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita. Total crime per capita is 10th out of the 60 countries in the data set. Nevertheless, crime has had a pronounced effect on society: many wealthier South Africans moved into gated communities, abandoning the central business districts of some cities for the relative security of suburbs.

Farm attacks

Main article: South African Farmer Murders

Among rural Afrikaners the violent attacks on farmers and their families have contributed significantly to a hardening of attitudes. Between 1998 and 2001 there were some 3,500 recorded farm attacks in South Africa. The attacks have resulted in the murder of 541 farmers, their families or their workers, during only three years. On average more than two farm attack related murders are committed every week.

The Freedom Front interprets this as ethnic violence targeting Afrikaners: In mid-2001 the Freedom Front appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Commission to place pressure on the South African government to do something about the murder of Afrikaner farmers, which "had taken on the shape of an ethnic massacre". Freedom Front leader, Pieter Mulder, claimed that most farm attacks seemed orchestrated, and that the motive for the attacks was not only criminal. Mulder further claimed that "a definite anti-Afrikaner climate had taken root in South Africa. People accused of murdering Afrikaners were often applauded by supporters during court appearances".

The South African Government Committee of Inquiry into Farm Attacks published a report in 2003, however, indicating that white people were not targeted exclusively, that theft occurred in most attacks, and that the proportion of white victims had decreased in the four years preceding the report.

Rise in unemployment

Despite a deterioration of the situation since the end of apartheid, Afrikaners have one of the highest rates of employment, and of job satisfaction, in the country. White (of whom just over half are Afrikaners) unemployment is low by South African standards: 10% in 2001, compared to a national average of 37%. White unemployment has, however, experienced the greatest proportional increase between 1995 and 2001: 197% compared to a national average of 27%. In 2001 some 228,000 economically active whites were unemployed.

Afrikaner job satisfaction (those who have jobs) is second only to that of English-speaking white people, with a survey in 2001 showing that 78% of Afrikaner respondents were either "very satisfied", or "fairly satisfied", with their employment situation. However, as this is worse than the situation under apartheid, when all whites were afforded special treatment, it is likely that those Afrikaners who are unemployed will tend to support initiatives such as the Volkstaat. In Wingard's words, "They will be easy meat for activists."

One in five white South Africans emigrated during the decade ending 2005 due to crime and Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is implemented by South African legislation, according to which all business employees should reflect the total demographic make up of the country, placing significant difficulty on white South Africans to enter the job market.

Emigration

According to the 1999 pre-election survey, 2.5% of Afrikaner respondents were emigrating, 26.4% would leave if they could (the highest proportion of the groups surveyed), and 5.3% were considering emigrating. The majority, 64.9%, however, are definitely staying. The survey suggested that the 26.9% of Afrikaners wanting to emigrate, but unable to, represented a desire for a solution such as a Volkstaat.

A survey released by the South African Institute for Race Relations during September 2006, indicated that a decline in South Africa's white population was estimated at 16.1% for the decade ending 2005.

Current situation for the creation of a Volkstaat

In 2005, Wingard stated that only a "civil war" would enable Afrikaners to gain independence in any part of South Africa. The Freedom Front Plus continues to support the idea, but commands very little electoral support (1% of the 2006 vote, which includes all South Africans, indicating support upwards of 6% among Afrikaners). (Refer to the "Support" section above for Volkstaat specific support.)

Two mini Volkstaats exist, where towns have been bought as private property, and practice Afrikaner separatism. One minor conspiracy to establish a Volkstaat by force was stamped out in 2003.

Volkstaat by force

Die Boeremag (Boer force/power) was a violent Afrikaner separatist organisation. Most of its members were arrested in 2003, and are currently facing charges of treason.

Freedom Front

The Freedom Front has been the major political driving force for the formation of a Volkstaat. This Afrikaner-focused political party has representation in the national Parliament as well as several Provincial legislatures in South Africa. Support for this party has however decreased to just under 140,000 votes, being less than 1% of the total votes cast, by the last National elections in 2004. This would constitute less than 6% of the total population of 2,558,958 white Afrikaans speakers recorded in the 2001 census indicates. Note that no specific data is available on the Afrikaner voter turnout during the election, and that only Afrikaners who were older than 18 years of age could participate in the election, therefore the total population in this calculation is grossly overstated, indicating a significantly higher support than the 6% calculated above.

Volkstaats by private property

One Volkstaat attempt is the small town of Orania in the Northern Cape province. The land on which Orania is built is privately owned, and Afrikaners have been encouraged by promoters of the volkstaat concept to move to Orania, although only a small number has responded. Another attempt is the settlement of Kleinfontein outside Pretoria (in the Tshwane metropolitan area). Both towns fall within larger municipalities, and are not self-governing in any official sense. Orania is, however, petitioning the government to become a separate municipality.

South African legislation

Section 235 of the South African Constitution allows for the right to self determination of any community, which shares a common culture and language, within a territorial entity within the Republic, or in any other way, as described by national legislation.

This section of the constitution was one of the negotiated settlements during the handing over of political power in 1994 by Afrikaners. The Freedom Front was instrumental in including this section in the constitution. No national legislation in this regard has yet been enacted for any ethnic group, however.

International legislation

International legislation presents a recourse for the establishment of a Volkstaat over and above than what the South African Constitution offers. This legislation is available to all minorities who wish to obtain self determination in the form of independence.

The requirements set by international legislation are explained by Prof C. Lloyd Brown-John of the University of Windsor, Ontario as follows: "A minority who are geographically separate and who are distinct ethnically and culturally and who have been placed in a position of subordination may have a right to secede. That right, however, could only be exercised if there is a clear denial of political, linguistic, cultural and religious rights."

The rights awarded to minorities were formally enshrined by the United Nations General Assembly when it adopted resolution 47/135 on 18 December 1992, entitled the "Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities"

The salient terms of this declaration include the following:

• States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.
• Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities (hereinafter referred to as persons belonging to minorities) have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.
• Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and maintain their own associations.

Afrikaner presence in South Africa

The Afrikaner presence does not represent a geographically separate area within South Africa. This situation rules out any recourse with regards to international legislation for the proponents of a Volkstaat. The Orania Movement's primary objective is to realise a Afrikaner majority in the Northern Cape.

South African governmental response to the Volkstaat proposal

The ANC government formalised their stance on the issue in 1998-1999, when they announced that they would not support a Volkstaat, but would do everything they could to ensure the protection of the Afrikaner language and culture, along with the other minority cultures in the country.

The Volkstaat Council

The Volkstaat Council was an organisation of 20 people, created by the South African government, via the Volkstaat Council Act in 1994. This was in accordance with sections 184A and 184B of the 1993 South African Constitution, which state: "The Council shall serve as a constitutional mechanism to enable proponents of the idea of a Volkstaat to constitutionally pursue the establishment of such a Volkstaat,..."

The council's funding was terminated in 1999, without the council being formally disbanded. The council produced a final report, making three key recommendations:

1. That areas with an Arikaner majority should enjoy "territorial self-determination". Areas identified included the region around Pretoria, and a region of the Northern Cape Province.
2. That the government establish an "Afrikaner Council", as an advisory board to the government. "Representation in parliament, where numerical power is all that mattered, was not seen as a democratic system for minorities."
3. That the government create legislation enacting the other two points. Draft legislation for the Afrikaner Council was provided.

The provisions in the constitution allowing for formation of the council were removed in 2001, by the Repeal of Volkstaat Council Provisions Act, in accordance with the original act.

Government response

Johann Wingard, chair of the council, expressed the view in 2005 that he doubted if any government official ever opened any of the reports to read them. The opposite is suggested, however, by the fact that then deputy president, Thabo Mbeki, and then Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi, quoted figures from Volkstaat Council reports in a report to parliament in 1999. Nelson Mandela, the president at the time, specially requested that the delivery of the report be delayed until he could attend its presentation personally.

Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities

Subsequent to the disbanding of the Volkstaat Council, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities was established in 2003. This committee is charged with the protection of the rights to cultural identity of all self-identifying groups in South Africa, including Afrikaners. The committee includes an Afrikaner, JCH Landman, who is also a member of the Afrikaner Alliance. The reports from the Volkstaat Council were to be handed over to this committee.

See also

• Afrikaner
• Boer Republics
• Homeland
• Orania
• Separatism
• Ethnic nationalism
• White nationalism

External links

• Vryheidsfront/Freedom Front Plus Political Party
• Orania website
• Kleinfontein website