Is Afrikaner Leadership Network gunning for more towns like Orania?

Lester Kiewit speaks to Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School.

A group of prominent leaders representing various Afrikaner organisations have issued a joint declaration offering what they say is an outline of a way forward.

A way forward, they say, in light of the 'serious crisis the country and the Afrikaner community are facing'.

Calling itself the Afrikaner Leadership Network, it comprises members of groups such as AfriForum, the Solidarity Movement and The Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations.

"They belong, by and large, to a solidarity AfriForum, it's a rather conservative group of people."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor/Senior Lecturer - North West University Business School

"If you read the document they've drawn up, it also corresponds largely with the views and the policies of the Freedom Front Plus."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School

The declaration outlines three objectives:

- We want all South Africans to take note of the disposition and good faith of Afrikaners.

- We want as many other Afrikaner organisations, networks, leaders and individuals as possible to sign the declaration.

- We want to convince the government of the necessity to conclude a cultural accord with Afrikaners, for the sake of stability and for the benefit of the country and all its people.

"It's a very specific document from a very special group of people."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School

Do white, Afrikaans-speaking people still feel a level of marginalisation, asks Kiewit?

"They [ the Afrikaner Leadership Network] seek an agreement with government, ironically the ANC government, that this process will be allowed to happen, it's almost a privileged position they seek for themselves."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School

"They want it to be accepted that they live in certain communties and that they are the dominant culture...but then that's at the expense of someone else's particular culture."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School

You cannot demand to be the dominant culture, like in Orania for instance, says Croucamp.

"One seems to get the idea that they want more Oranias to exist as a form of freedom of association without necessarily being called Orania."

Dr Piet Croucamp, Professor at NWU Business School

Croucamp adds that he doesn't want to appear too sceptical about the ALN, saying he knows a number of those involved and that they are "really, really good people with interesting minds."

ALSO READ:

The race to govern - identity politics in election campaigning