The Solidarity Movement has deepened its involvement in Orania, the Afrikaner enclave that markets itself as a self-governing alternative within South Africa. Over recent years, substantial financial resources have been channelled into the town’s development, shaping it into what backers describe as a model settlement.
But inside Orania, the scale of the spending and the growing role played by Solidarity Movement structures have sparked unease among residents—particularly around the question of governance and influence.
A decade ago, Solidarity research helped to drive the idea of a second Great Trek, in which investment in selected towns would encourage Afrikaners to migrate to so-called “anchor towns”. Orania became one of the central anchors in that strategy, attracting significant investment from Solidarity and AfriForum.
Yet the expected population growth has not matched those ambitions. Instead, Orania’s population has slipped—declining by 122 people in 2025 to just over 3 000 inhabitants.
Despite that shortfall, powerful interest groups have spent heavily. According to the reporting, Solidarity and AfriForum have poured more than R100 million into developing Orania into a model Afrikaner settlement over the past six years.
“Control all Afrikaner institutions” — senior source alleges a deeper motive
However, a senior Solidarity source—described as someone with direct knowledge of leadership decisions and thinking—told News24 that the organisation’s real motivation was not simply development, but a long-held desire to “control all Afrikaner institutions”.
The source, an experienced Solidarity campaigner with exposure to Orania’s affairs, characterised the town as “the right-wing Afrikaners’ own North Korea”, describing it as an attempt to establish a territory cut off from the South African state.
Solidarity Movement chairperson Flip Buys rejected the allegation, saying the organisation assisted Afrikaner institutions and withdrew once those institutions were self-sustaining. He dismissed claims that Solidarity tried to “take over” Orania as “total nonsense”.
“We are involved in several towns, and we don’t want to ‘take over’ any one of them, including Orania,” Buys told News24.
Alleged “ally” inside Orania and a claim of a coup
The source said Solidarity found what it believed was a willing ally in a central Orania figure: Frans de Klerk, who worked closely with Solidarity Movement entities since 2011.
“Flip [Buys] was unhappy with Orania for years. In Frans de Klerk, he found an ally for a takeover. He and Flip formed an alliance [in the early 2010s]. Shortly after that, Frans took control of the Orania town council in a coup d‘état,” the source claimed.
De Klerk denied the claim categorically.
“Flip Buys and I have never had an agreement to take over Orania,” De Klerk said.
He added that he first met Buys in the early 1990s and considered him a friend and colleague.
“The allegation that we wanted to execute a coup d’état is wholly devoid of any truth. If it [were] true, I would never have resigned as Orania town manager,” De Klerk said. De Klerk previously held the town manager position before 2010.
Solidarity says it channelled funding through its own development vehicle
Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Solidarity Movement, acknowledged that there had been opposition to Solidarity’s increased involvement in Orania’s affairs. As a compromise, the movement established its own development company—through which it channels funds to the town.
Gawie Snyman, Orania’s chief executive, told News24 that the town’s management guards independence “fiercely”. He stressed that self-governance sits at the heart of Orania’s identity.
“Given the independence part of Orania’s character and our focus on self-governance, it is important for Orania residents that our dream is not ‘hijacked.’”
The money figures: AfriForum and Solidarity investments listed
Information obtained by News24 indicates that between Solidarity and AfriForum, investments in the town include:
- R28 million by AfriForum to the Orania Development Company (OOM), established by Solidarity;
- R35 million in AfriForum loans to two entities in Orania; and
- R45 million from the Solidarity Building Fund on a vocational training institution.
News24 has previously reported on AfriForum’s finances by accessing its annual financial statements. Those documents, for the first time, provided insight into how the lobby group spends members’ monthly contributions and revealed that it collected R1.6 billion between 2019 and 2024.
The Solidarity Movement—an umbrella organisation of which AfriForum and Solidarity are members—has also played a role in lobbying the US government on a range of matters on behalf of its members. During a visit to Washington, DC, last year, it asked the US government to provide aid to an Afrikaner development fund to ensure “cultural autonomy”. It has also asked for pressure to be put on the South African government on a variety of issues.
News24 previously reported that among the requests made to the US by a Solidarity Movement delegation in February 2025 was financial assistance towards a fund for Afrikaners to resettle in a “concentrated manner”.
The original version of a memorandum issued at the time said, “A start has been made to establish a place where Afrikaners can resettle”. That line has since been removed from an updated version of the memorandum.
Orania’s governance: share block model and “no monopolies” clause
At the centre of Orania’s promise is the idea of a separate “home for Afrikaners”. A News24 source with insight into leaders’ strategic thinking explained that Orania is meant to provide a new “home for Afrikaners”.
Buys has spoken in the past of the threat posed by the lack of concentrated Afrikaner populations, which made them “vulnerable”.
To address this, a broader strategy was formed, and spending by Solidarity Movement entities—particularly AfriForum—was centred on “anchor towns”. Orania, the reporting notes, was the smallest town on the list.
The Orania Town Council is described as a trading name for Orania Aandeleblok (OAB), a share block company set up to run the town. Property purchasers receive shares in the share block and are granted the right of abode.
Snyman said that in OAB’s articles of incorporation, a clause was included to prevent any individual, entity or trust from owning more than 5% of the issued shares, specifically to prevent monopolies.
“Any concerns about the hijacking of OAB or improper influence by the Solidarity Movement [are], therefore, nothing more than braai-fire theories that have no foundational basis,” Snyman said.
Residents raise questions as funds flow — and a scandal triggers new strategy
Yet, according to OAB’s annual financial statement for 2024, it received donations from Orania Ontwikkelingsmaatskappy (OOM)—Solidarity’s central entity in the town—totalling just over R18.8 million between 2022 and 2024.
As cash flowed in from Solidarity Movement entities after 2018, some residents began to question how the funds were being used. The source described the turning point as governance scrutiny: because the town council is a company that must account to shareholders, meetings became a forum for questions.
“The problem was, increasingly, that the Orania Town Council is a company [Orania Aandeleblok] that must account and report to its shareholders. At shareholder meetings, people started asking questions,” the source said.
Tensions escalated into a public scandal when allegations appeared in the Afrikaans press about Carel Boshoff IV, then the town president, involving alleged financial misconduct—specifically referencing a salary increase and the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz for R102 000.
Boshoff was cleared of wrongdoing in a forensic investigation, but tensions reportedly persisted because the report was never made public.
On the family and political history side, the reporting notes that Boshoff’s father—Carel—was one of Orania’s founders and is married to Anna Verwoerd, the daughter of “apartheid architect” Hendrik Verwoerd.
The unbundling plan: shifting contributions away from shareholder oversight
Following that fallout and threats of a larger battle, a new strategy was advanced.
“They said:
Then came the big strategy – it was decided that one of the town council’s subsidiaries that was established by [De Klerk] must be unbundled and transferred to the Solidarity Movement.”
“All the contributions from Solidarity and AfriForum would therefore not come via the town council, but through this company.”
The outcome, according to the reporting, was the creation of Orania Ontwikkelingsmaatskappy (OOM), a nonprofit intended to represent Solidarity’s interests in Orania while—critically—removing shareholder oversight from Solidarity’s activities.
This appraisal was disputed by Solidarity and the town council. Snyman said the unbundling was specifically aimed at preventing “potential risks of undue influence” amid an increase in Solidarity Movement activity in Orania, saying the move strengthened OAB’s independence.
Hermann said Solidarity is involved in projects in Orania but residents take responsibility for administering the town.
“Solidarity, or the Solidarity Movement, is involved in projects in Orania, but the residents take responsibility for Orania, and we are not involved in the administration of the town.”
He explained that when AfriForum contributed to infrastructure development for the town council, the projects were undertaken by the town and not AfriForum—after criticism arose that funding could create the impression that AfriForum and Solidarity had a say in town council administration.
“It was therefore decided to establish OOM, through which funds could flow and through which our own funds could be managed,” Hermann said.
This was meant to create “clearer lines of separation”, he said.
“AfriForum and Solidarity do not wish to be involved in the administration of the town in any way. History has shown that this was the correct decision,” he said.
Buys echoed this point.
“Our motivation was good governance, not response to criticism.”
De Klerk leads OOM amid further criticism and alleged distance from oversight
Since 2020, the reporting states that De Klerk—identified as Buys’ alleged ally in Orania—was chosen to lead OOM.
The unbundling, too, reportedly faced heavy criticism over fears that assets belonging to OAB and its group of companies were transferred without oversight.
News24 said it gained access to the OAB share register to clarify issues, but that the register provided was anonymised, showing different shareholders with unique “shareholder identification numbers” rather than legal names.
Litigation by a residents’ group was reportedly staved off by a mix of limited funding for attorney’s fees and the procedural distance created, on paper, between Solidarity and the town council.
De Klerk’s background is described as long-standing. He is a long-time Orania resident and was among the first inhabitants when the town was founded in the early 1990s. He has been involved in its development for decades. The reporting also describes him today as a director of more than a dozen companies and as sitting at the centre of a contentious nexus of power in Orania, overlapping the town council, historic structures, and a newer, monied structure built by the movement.
It also says that since 2011, he has been a director of AfriForum and serves on the organisation’s founders committee, described as a key power centre within AfriForum, and that he is involved in various other entities within the Solidarity Movement.
The unbundling of OOM out of the OAB group is said to have been completed in 2020. Based on AfriForum’s financial statements and Solidarity’s confirmation of the amounts, the two entities have spent or committed an estimated R108 million since then.
Spending on vocational training, property and security: BKO, Eendracht Properties and more
OOM was founded with a cash injection. A R28-million, 10-year “development agreement” was signed with AfriForum in 2020.
As of 2024, the reporting states, R11.2 million of the funds promised in this agreement had been paid over, with R16.8 million still held for spending by 2030.
AfriForum also loaned approximately R35 million to two other companies—Orania Groeikrag and Orania Saambou—and in 2021 the loan accounts were transferred to AfriForum Investment Company, meaning values may have changed.
Solidarity’s focus in Orania included developing Bo-Karoo Opleiding (BKO), a vocational training college. Hermann said R45 million had been spent out of the Solidarity Building Fund between 2021 and 2026. The fund is described as a ring-fenced pool of additional donations from union members and public donations.
Eendracht Properties—owned by the union—developed student accommodation, workshops and office space, and Hermann valued the assets at R100 million. BKO pays rent to Eendracht for use of the properties.
Solidarity was approached in 2009 for assistance with an educational institution, Hermann said, because there were no suitable places within a 160km radius.
BKO now has 261 students, with plans in place to grow to 800, and Hermann said the college offers “some of the country’s leading agricultural programmes”.
The projects funded include property developments, a fibre-optic network, town planning expenses, and construction of a safety centre, which includes AfriForum’s security headquarters for the Northern Cape. The facility is described as monitoring a network of cameras and coordinating response to incidents.
Independence debate continues as Orania’s growth lags behind spending
Even with massive investment, the population figures have not kept pace with expectations. The controversy—about control, influence, funding channels and governance—has continued to simmer.
Solidarity insists residents remain in charge and that structures were created to protect independence and governance standards. Residents and critics, however, say the money flows and decision-making networks raise questions that cannot be brushed off as mere theory—especially in a town built on the promise of self-rule.
For now, Orania’s status as a carefully curated enclave continues to attract large-scale funding and intense scrutiny, leaving residents caught between the promise of a “home for Afrikaners” and a growing debate over who holds the levers of power.
