[Although this is written by a Liberal, the facts are detailed and correct. Jan]

In December 1990, about 40 Afrikaner families headed by Carel Boshoff (husband of Hendrik Verwoed’s daughter) bought the dilapidated town of Orania for around R1.5 million (US$585,000), on behalf of Orania Bestuursdienste (OBD) from the Department of Water Affairs. In the lead-up to the move-in, some 500 black and colored people still lived in Orania (then called Grootgewaagd). 64 families were evicted by the Department of Water Affairs in early 1991, in one of the last largescale forced removals of Apartheid.

The families were provided newly built homes, but were taken more than 100 km (62 mi) away to Warrenton, Northern Cape.

This move was not to “preserve Afrikaner culture”. It was a last grasp at preserving Apartheid for a few families as the regime was facing fierce pressure.

How they keep the town vvhites only:
There are strict guidelines as to who can live here. The town’s laws have an application and interview process before one can move in. In order to apply, one theoretically needs to be a direct descendant of the original colonizers who immigrated to South Africa from Europe in the 17th century. However, that criterion is illegal under South African law. They are legally allowed to check for fidelity to Afrikaner culture, language, and history through an interview process, but they cannot ask for ancestral documentation.

Non-white people are technically allowed to apply, but coincidentally none have ever passed the vetting process and none ever will.

How they operate within loopholes:
Despite segregation remaining illegal in South Africa, the town survives under a constitutional clause that defends citizens’ right to self-determination. Since Orania is technically not a town, the South African government has limited jurisdiction over the town’s internal structure. Legally, the town functions as a company that bought the town’s land, wherein the mayor is the CEO who owns the company and all residents own stock.

How they weaponized this:
In a conciliatory gesture, President Nelson Mandela visited the town in 1995 to have tea with Betsie Verwoerd, widow of former Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. On 14 September 2010, the former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, visited Orania. He said that he was "warmly welcomed", that Orania had "interesting ideas", and, "the Oraniers were prepared to live in South Africa, but wanted a place to exercise their culture". But this olive branch we extend for peace as black South Africans is not being respected, Afriforum and Ernst Roets has made Orania a large part of their plans.

After all according to Wikipedia, Ernst Roets' own parents are from there. Afriforum has invested much energy into promoting Orania and changing it’s image among the majority of South African Afrikaners who don’t take it seriously. The aim is to no longer have it as a small old age home in the middle of the desert. The ambition is much larger.

The danger to South Africa:
Donald Trump has accused South Africa of oppressing white minorities and has cut off aid to the country. By giving right wing conspiracies about Afrikaner minority oppression recognition, the settlement of Orania now is riding an unprecedented wave of support from right-wing Americans for Afrikaner nationalists. They went to the USA recently, the residents of Orania - population, 3,000 - and want U.S. President Donald Trump to help them become a state.

This would have Orania move from existing as a “company” operating through loopholes into a full blown ethnostate.
Carel Boshoff, Orania’s founder envisioned a Volkstaat and proposed creating it in the Northern Cape (as you can see on the map in the image below). Boshoff died in 2011 before he could see his separate Volkstaat state become a reality, having only created Orania as a model.

Analyst Ryan Cummings had this to say on X: “Make no mistake, the town of Orania is the foundational stone for what will become the fight for the creation of a sovereign Afrikaner ethno-state within South African territory. My belief is that they more than halfway there already.”

South Africa’s government needs to approach this volatile problem with extreme caution. The new interest from foreign entities could coincide with the natural resources (Fracking) lying under the proposed “volkstaat” region. And while facts and truth is on our side, our opponents ability to lie and spread the lies is stronger.

One of the countries biggest opponents, billionaire Elon Musk controls a powerful spreader of misinformation (if not the most powerful). The platform X. With very thin evidence and very thick fake news, Elon and users on X have convinced a big portion of the planet that a vvhite genocide is happening in South Africa, especially American conservatives with some groups such as the young republicans coming to visit the town.

As a final note, many use Orania as an example of what "success" you can have if you kick out all black people in a town. But all the residents of Orania's small homogeneous community came from a financially stable background, it does not face the same complexities and challenges faced by larger municipalities. The successes they have here and there will not scale to a larger society if they grow much larger.