Young Afrikaners Reversing Decades of Migration, Moving Into Orania Enclave

Stokkies bar in Orania fills up on Friday nights with a crowd that skews heavily under 30, a detail that would have seemed unlikely a decade ago in this small, whites-only Afrikaner enclave in South Africa’s Northern Cape.

The shift is real and measurable. Orania, which marks its 35th anniversary this year, is drawing a new generation of young white South Africans, some arriving for the first time, others returning after stints in Cape Town, Pretoria, or Johannesburg. The catalyst, more than anything else, has been the arrival of a training college in 2019.

The institution now enrolls nearly 250 students, selected on the basis of ethnicity, religion, work ethic, and criminal record. Town spokesman Joost Strydom says the college plans to expand to 800 students within four years, with dormitories currently under construction to house the larger intake. Most students come from outside Orania. Employment in the town is scarce, and Hopetown, the nearest significant settlement with 10,000 residents, lies 40 kilometres away. Few graduates are expected to stay. But while students are present, they spend money at petrol stations, shops, and social venues, injecting life into a local economy that otherwise offers limited prospects.

Thomas de Villiers, 31, owns Stokkies and traces a path that has become familiar here. He left Orania as an adult for Cape Town’s cosmopolitan environment, found the cost of living unsustainable, and moved back. His bar, which reserves a table for arm-wrestling competitions to settle disputes, now draws engineering and plumbing students alongside local young people.

Charlotte van Niekerk, 22, who works in marketing, lived in Orania between ages four and 14 before her family relocated to surrounding farms. She has watched the pattern repeat itself among her peers. “Lot of kids that grew up with me can’t wait to be 18 so they can just leave this place,” she said. “But it’s funny because they go away and then a lot of the time they just come back after a couple of years when they’ve seen it’s not so wonderful out there.” She misses amenities like a cinema but credits the college with revitalizing the town’s social atmosphere.

By contrast, those arriving from major urban centers describe the adjustment in terms of pace and freedom. David Loock, 21, notes that residents spend free time fishing in the adjoining Orange River or riding motocross bikes, a rhythm he contrasts sharply with Pretoria or Johannesburg. Divan van der Westhuizen, 19, relocated from Johannesburg, roughly 600 kilometres away. “It’s been a big change coming from where you mingle with a lot of people,” he said. “It did me good to be back with my own people, the Afrikaners.”

Orania was founded in 1991 and now hosts just over 3,000 residents. Afrikaners constitute roughly 2.6 million of South Africa’s 62 million people as of 2022, a distinct minority in the broader nation. The enclave’s reinforcement of Afrikaner identity resonates with young arrivals in ways that observers have compared to political movements elsewhere, including MAGA conservatism in the United States and far-right parties in Europe, all of which have attracted younger demographics in recent years.

Doret Le Cornu, 23, moved to Orania three years ago and frames the appeal in terms of cultural preservation. “This is a place where we want to build on that culture and not lose it,” she told AFP. “We are the majority here, without having to fear that there are a bigger majority around us.” The statement reflects anxieties that took hold among some Afrikaners after South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, when the black majority gained voting rights following decades of apartheid-era oppression led by Afrikaner-dominated governments.

For Cara Tomlinson, 25, the draw is more personal. “Orania is a place where you can be yourself,” she said, describing the difference between relaxing at home and observing social formalities in unfamiliar settings.

The enclave’s appeal to this younger cohort stands in contrast to thousands of other Afrikaners exploring emigration, including those considering US President Donald Trump’s offers of refuge. For the generation settling into Stokkies on a Friday night, Orania offers a different answer: a constructed homeland inside their own country. Whether the college’s planned expansion to 800 students actually materializes, and whether enough of those students stay to sustain the town’s economy long-term, remains the open question.