DA march on 'racist enclave'

The Afrikaners-only enclave of Kleinfontein, near Pretoria, has been accused of trying to sustain apartheid in a multiracial democracy.

The government has expressed its shock about the settlement and DA Youth leader Mbali Ntuli will today lead a protest outside the property. The DA has said the settlement has no right to enforce "racist policies" under the veil of privacy.

Yesterday, The Times reported on the 800ha stretch of private land where only white Afrikaners are allowed to live.

"We as young people want to take this country forward. What they are doing goes against what we want to build," Ntuli said.

"We want to take a stand against people who want to take us back to where our country used to be."

Ntuli said the community was using the fact that they are living on private property "to hide away from what they are actually doing".

"What they are trying to do is build a colony [that] excludes other people and that is what we have a problem with."

Jan Groenewald, chairman of the board of directors of Kleinfontein, said the board will invite the protesters inside for a "constructive engagement".

"They are welcome.

"We will assess their attitude and, if they are peaceful, they will be invited in to promote constructive discussion," he said.

The acting head of the Government Communication and Information System, Phumla Williams, said it was shocking that there were still people who did not want to integrate into a democratic South Africa that belonged to all who lived in it.

"We just celebrated our hard-earned freedom last month.

"This disintegration is extremely disappointing because it perpetuates the ills of the apartheid era.

"Such acts were the main causes of a divided South Africa," she said.

Williams said the government discouraged the Afrikaner community from lobbying the Tshwane municipality to grant the settlement independence.

"It should be noted that the Kleinfontein community benefits from the services provided by the government and we strongly discourage them from lobbying for the town to be declared independent because this will be contrary to the constitution of this country," Williams said.