20 Years into Democracy

#Democracy

Twenty years into democracy but we still live in a South Africa where one can find a small town that is for 'white' people ONLY! Yep, there is a small farmland in the Karoo, Northern Cape Province in South Africa that is for white-Afrikaner people and it is called Orania.

Billboard: Written "Welkom in Orania" - welcome to Orania. The white-only enclave state of Orania. Image by: BBC 

Built on 8,000 hectares of private farmland along the Orange River in the desolate region of Karoo, the town has schools, shops and even its own currency, the Ora. Below, the Jonck family - DailyMail.

Among those to have made Orania their home is Kobus Jonck, a sheep farmer who moved there with his family last year.

Free country and Free people

#Orania 

According to DailyMail the residents of the small enclave city established during the fading days of Apartheid, 1991 - the most heinous system that sought apartness (segregation) between white and non-whites (blacks). "With only about 1000 residents. "Only white people who identify themselves as Afrikaners are eligible for residency" - TimesLive.

In my opinion Orania people enjoyed much of apartness then and they cannot not deal with #Democracy and the new RSA since the early days of post 1994-elections. BBC writer, Pumza Fihlani, who actually went there adds that Orania has also proved to be the answer for those Afrikaners who felt displaced in the land their people had ruled for many decades.

'Many of the inhabitants of Orania are farmers or traders, and prefer to have as little dealing as possible with the outside world' - DailyMail. One elderly man who was interviewed by the BBC crew that went in an exclusive pass inside the town says he saw nothing wrong with the Apartheid.

Still Stuck Between Black and White

The #BlackFace

Two White Stellenbosch Students donned the #BlackFace. Image by Twitter

#BlackFace

Moreover, Conrad mentions the latest varsity (Stellenbosch Univesiteit) where its students (two male students) polished their faces with polish to look perhaps black and reportedly wore clothes to look like the famous tennis, Williams sisters. However, University of Pretoria students were the first ones to do the black face and they were later suspended - this raised racial concerns. Unlike how professor Pierre de Vos wrote how "for many decades Stellenbosch University implemented race-based affirmative action policies to benefit white Afrikaners" - DailyMaverick (Opinion).

Although Chester Missing's 'sidekick', Koch is questioning and emphasises the problem with 'diversity discourse' that fails to raise serious debates about power and history. He argues that diversity has left those without power per-se under socially acceptable solutions. "Diversity is a product of the post-94 Rainbow Nation rhetoric, of the discourse that Born Frees are becoming post-racial, and that us old (I am 37) bigots all just need to get over it," Writes Koch.

South African Diversity

Picture credit: Stellenbosch University

Diverse People Unite - is the Republic of South Africa's coat of arm. But the question is 'how diverse is Suid-Afrika?', well, Afrika Borwa is very diverse. Yes 20 years of democracy, so what! A lot has happened, I may postulate. I can speak more than eight out of the eleven official languages or can I boast that I can write as well as I can speak all the eight languages. Some people seem to see a problem with the overrated word 'diversity', maybe because people may not define the word the same in social context, interesting enough, there are racial lines and historical stories involved.Indeed, there are people who hate even the word "diversity" because many of fellow South Africans are not quite even close to reflecting diversity in their social realms in fair terms if you like. One of the prominent figures that wrote: An open letter to 'Diversity,' is comedian, ventriloquist and speaker, Conrad Koch

   Koch and his puppet, Chester Missing

Conrad "Chester Missing" Koch   
           

Mr. Koch is a popular ventriloquist and 'columnist' for zanews as Chester Missing; a 'coloured', outspoken puppet and controversial interviewer to most known politicians. 

According to zanews: "Missing is South Africa's hottest new political analyst. Conrad Koch is his sidekick. It's strange, but you'll laugh... a lot".

Nonetheless, back to diversity, Koch is hard-knocking towards the word itself and "white" people, first he notes that white people seem to think 20 years is "enough to fix apartheid" and goes on to talk about the #BlackFace that has been making rounds in the news and causing social media buzz.