Image Source: ActionSA
Local – Despite a News24 investigation alleging that AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement spent around R108 million transforming Orania into a centre for Afrikaner self-determination, AfriForum Deputy CEO Werner Human said the organisation is becoming increasingly desperate to portray its work as sinister.
Human said the report forms part of a series of articles News24 has published over several months attempting to disparage AfriForum and the wider Solidarity Movement, none of which, he said, had landed. He argued the coverage ignores the organisation’s wider footprint of community projects across the country.
“They are becoming more and more desperate to create an impression among ordinary South Africans that the work we are doing is perhaps sinister or not acceptable. But even if you look at the content, it’s very clear that they try to forge a narrative and place that narrative out in the open. There’s nothing that we are doing that is untoward,” Human said.
AfriForum Defends Orania Spending
AfriForum has strongly rejected the article’s framing, saying its own figures put Orania’s spending at around R42 million over six years, representing roughly 2.5 per cent of its income during that period. The organisation maintains its involvement in the town covers infrastructure, safety and education projects rather than any bid for control.
Human dismissed suggestions that AfriForum was working towards a complete takeover of the town, pointing to the article’s dependence on a single, uninformed source.
“No, it’s not a takeover at all. A large part of the article was focused on trying to create the impression that we are taking over a town or institutions,” Human said.
AfriForum’s Constitutional Case for Orania
AfriForum argues its involvement in Orania mirrors a broader pattern seen across South Africa, where cultural and traditional communities operate under long-established legal recognition. The organisation points to legislation dating back to 1997 and 1998 that grants such communities specific powers within local governance structures.
Human said Orania fits into this framework as one of many cultural projects AfriForum supports nationwide, alongside its network of roughly 177 neighbourhood watches and 150 branches focused on local service delivery.
“Orania is important for us because it is a cultural town, and we support that. We will continue to say we unashamedly support that, because we think it’s much more a normal phenomenon in South Africa,” Human said.
