Afrikaner enclave silent on big day

11 December 2013 - 02:04 By SIPHO MASOMBUKA
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Hendrik Verwoerd. File photo.
Hendrik Verwoerd. File photo.
Image: Alon Skuy

As the world paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, life went on as normal with "no special arrangements" in the Afrikaner-only enclave of Kleinfontein in Pretoria.

The settlement has been slated for flying the old Transvaal flag - Die Vierkleur. It also displays a bust of Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid.

Asked what the community was doing to honour Madiba, Kleinfontein board member Pieter du Preez said: "I am not going to comment on that ... I have no contact with the outside world."

The Times was refused entry into the 800ha private settlement.

The guards at the gate said this was because no appointment had been made.

"You want to trap us as you did last time ... I am not going to take a risk and speak to the media," Du Preez said.

In May, The Times reported on the enclave's requirements for residency.

Applicants must swear to uphold the Blood River Covenant and be an Afrikaner with Voortrekker heritage .

The settlement's chairman, Jan Groenewald, said: "We are not a political party. We do not want to score points around [the death of] Mandela. We would rather respect the situation."

For over two decades the enclave, with about 1000 white residents, went relatively unnoticed on private land on the outskirts of eastern Pretoria.

Last month the Gauteng legislature's community safety oversight committee recognised the enclave as a "cultural community".

The community wants self-determination status but the Tshwane municipality will have none of it, arguing that that would be a breach of the Bill of Rights because it would condone exclusion on the basis of race.

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