The Freedom Front Plus (FF +) says it is not calling for an independent state in Orania.
The party’s spokesperson Wouter Wessels told The Star that the FF+ was literally calling for the advancement of Section 235 of the Constitution, which according to him was not just limited to territorial self-determination.
Wessels said the agreement the party had with ANC in the Northern Cape was not only limited to the “self determination” of Orania but also included the promotion of communities.
“Our agreement includes promoting communities’ constitutional right to self-determination as provided for in Section 235 of the Constitution.
“This includes Orania, but is not limited to such. We agreed upon an agency which will advance private-public partnerships regarding infrastructure development in the Northern Cape,” he added.
Orania is an Afrikaner Nationalist town in the Northern Cape province. It is located along the Orange River in the Karoo region.
The agreement between these two parties saw the re-election of Zamani Saul as the province’s premier for the second time.
In 2023, the FF+ had also called for the “right to self-determination” which sought for the independence of the Western Cape.
The bill at the time was submitted to the Western Cape government by the FF+’s Peter Marais.
The committee recommended that a legal opinion on the bill should be obtained.
The move was characterised as “historically significant“ given that it was the very first time that self-determination was formally discussed on this level in the new dispensation.
“Section 235 of South Africa’s Constitution makes provision for self-determination by any community sharing a common cultural and language heritage, within a territorial entity in the Republic or in any other way, determined by national legislation.”
The FF+’s team, which presented the briefing was Peter Marais (MPL), the party’s Western Cape leader, Dr Corné Mulder, and advocate Gert van Niekerk (deputy leader: Western Cape). Phil Craig of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group supported the initiative.
The Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za