- Orania was founded in 1991 shortly before the end of Apartheid
- Ade Adepitan visited it for Channel 4's Whites Only: Ade's Extremist Adventure
With its plush homes, modern schools and busy churches, Orania looks on the outside like any well-run town.
A colourful mural on the road to the settlement in central South Africa proclaims: 'Welkom in Orania'.
But this welcome does not extend to everyone, because Orania is a whites-only enclave.
Now, the hostile side of the 3,000-strong community has been revealed in a new Channel 4 documentary.
Broadcaster and former Paralympian Ade Adepitan - the first black person to spend a week in Orania - is seen in Whites Only: Ade's Extremist Adventure being thrown out of a church after trying to speak with a member of the congregation.
He says: 'We just got kicked out of church. It's not very neighbourly or godly. I thought this was all about friendliness and community.
'We just wanted to meet the pastor. But yeah, they have bouncers at church here in Orania.'
With its plush homes, modern schools and busy churches, Orania looks on the outside like any well-run town. Above: Afrikaners during a parade in the town last October
Orania is a whites-only enclave. Broadcaster and former Paralympian Ade Adepitan - the first black person to spend a week in Orania - is seen in Whites Only: Ade's Extremist Adventure being thrown out of a church service after trying to speak with a member of the congregation
The guards at the Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk (Afrikaans Protestant Church, APK) are seen with pistols on their hips. Many other men in the town also carry guns.
Adepitan says of the church: 'They've never apologised for Apartheid, they are thought to be homophobic, and two journalists alleged they were thrown out of the church in 2017 because they were black.'
The Paralympian adds that the Channel 4 team were told he was thrown out of the church because they had allegedly broken their filming agreement, a claim they disagreed with.
The community was founded in 1991 during the last years of the racist Apartheid regime.
Potential residents have to be vetted and well-versed in the Afrikaans language and culture and also promise to employ only white Afrikaners.
frikaner youth parade with flags in a residential area of Orania last October
Ade Adepitan looks at a board displaying the rules and regulations of Orania
A sign at the entrance to the town of Orania, which is populated entirely by white people
Unmarried couples are banned from living together, in adherence to strict Christian values.
Later in the documentary, Adepitan reveals members of Orania's town council have withdrawn from filming and a meeting with the head of the settlement's security team has been cancelled.
He was earlier seen at an auction having a disagreement over the Black Lives Matter protests with Gawie Snyman, the CEO of Orania's council.
Adepitan says: 'My disagreement with Gawie over Black Lives Matter has got around. And it seems people don't like it.'
When Orania was founded, black people who lived in derelict buildings left behind by an earlier failed industrial project were forced off the land by violent means.
Statues of five 'architects and brutal enforcers' of Apartheid stand on Orania's Monument Hill.
The eventual plan for the town is that it will accommodate 30,000 and expand into an area the size of England.
Estate agent Marli, the wife of Gawie, says in the documentary that she came to Orania to 'live the dream and build the dream'.
At the town's school, children are taught in the Afrikaans language. Willem, the grandson of Carel Boshoff, the late founder of the town, tells Adepitan that he has not learned anything about Nelson Mandela, South Africa's late former president.
'I would stay true to the ideals instilled in Orania and keep the Afrikaans culture alive,' he says.
'I have nothing against other cultures but I think we have to look after ourselves before we start helping other people.'
Nelson Mandela became South Africa 's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his fight against racist apartheid rule, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. In 1995, in a conciliatory gesture, he went to Orania to meet Betsie Verwoerd - the widow of the man who virtually invented white rule, and who sent Mandela to jail. Above: Mandela looks at Verwoerd's statue with Carel Boshoff, Orania's founder, during the visit
Statues of five 'architects and brutal enforcers' of Apartheid stand on Orania's Monument Hill
Afrikaner youth wait before a traditional dance performance during a festival on October 6, 2023, in Orania
esidents take part in traditional dancing during a holiday on December 16, 2002 in Orania
Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his fight against racist apartheid rule, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
In 1995, in a conciliatory gesture, he went to Orania to meet Betsie Verwoerd - the widow of the man who virtually invented white rule, and who sent Mandela to jail.
The town boasts a statue of her husband, Hendrik, who was assassinated in 1966.
She said she was happy the then 77-year-old president was able to visit her.
But Betsie's granddaughter, Elizabeth van der Berg, was more guarded in her reaction, saying, 'We wish he was the president of a neighboring country.'
After Mrs Verwoerd and Mandela shared a cup of coffee and some cakes, the apartheid architect's widow read a speech in Afrikaans as she leaned on her cane.
'I identify myself with the wishes of my people for a volkstaat [people's state], which I believe could be developed in this part of the country,' she said, according to an English translation of her speech.
But Mandela said: 'I want a united South Africa, where we can cease to think in terms of colour.'
Adepitan adds in the new documentary: 'It's too simplistic to brand everybody in Orania a racist, but if you live in the desert for 30 years not mixing with anyone, that's going to lead to prejudice even if it wasn't there to being with
'I think people in Orania are traumatised by their fall from power and are trying to recreate the past. It's an extreme form of racial separatism.'
Whites Only: Ade's Extremist Adventure is available on Channel 4's On Demand streaming service.
How apartheid tore South Africa apart
Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that dictated the social structure in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 until the early 1990s, after white South Africans voted to abolish it in a referendum on March 17, 1992 after decades of racial struggles.
Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture rooted in White Supremacy, or 'baasskap', which enshrined South Africa's minority white population as the dominating group in politics, society and its economy.
According to the apartheid system of social stratification, white citizens in the country had the highest status, followed by Asians and Coloureds, followed by black Africans.
Before 1948, some aspects of apartheid were in place and enforced by South Africa's white minority rule, segregating public facilities and separating black Africans from other races. This was known as 'petty apartheid', while 'Grand apartheid' dictated housing and employment opportunities by race.
While a codified system of racial stratification began to take form in South Africa under the Dutch Empire in the eighteenth century, the first apartheid law was passed in 1949 - the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950.
These made it illegal for most South Africans to parry or have sexual relationships across the racial divides defined by the classifications that would later follow.
Pictured: Picture taken on March 1, 1989, of a sign saying 'Whites only / Slegs Blankes' in the empty mining town of Carletonville due to the black consumer protest after the re-introdction of apartheid traditional law
The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: 'Black', 'White', 'Coloureds', and 'Indian'. The last two classifications included several sub-classifications.
Places of residence became determined by racial classification, and between 1960 and 1983, 3.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into neighbourhoods segregated from others.
These were some of the largest mass evictions in modern history, with legislation and the removals mostly intended to restrict the black population in South Africa to ten designated 'tribal homelands', four of which went on to become independent states. The South African government announced the relocated people would lose their citizenship.
However, the authoritarian system of racial oppression did not go unnoticed abroad, and apartheid sparked significant backlash. It was frequently condemned in the United Nations, and resulted in an extensive arms and trade embargo, as well as cultural boycotts, such as artists requesting their work to not be displayed in the country.
South Africa was also boycotted in the sporting world, with FIFA banning the football team from major events. white South Africans ranked the lack of international sport as one of the three most damaging consequences of apartheid.
1959: South African police beating Black women with clubs after they raided and set a beer hall on fire in protest against apartheid, Durban, South Africa
In South Africa and abroad, some of the most influential social movements of the twentieth century were formed as a result of the oppression, and during the 1970s and 80s, resistance to the system became increasingly militant, while countries - such as Sweden - provided support to the ANC.
The increasing resistance prompted brutal crackdowns by the ruling National Party government, with protracted sectarian violence resulting in thousands being left either dead or detained by officials, including the most prominent figure of the anti-apartheid movement, Nelson Mandela, who served 27 years in prison and was leader of the African National Congress (ANC).
Statistics show that between 1960 - 1994, the Inkatha Freedom Party was responsible for 4,500 deaths, South African security forces were responsible for 2,700 deaths and the ANC was responsible for 1,300 deaths.
Government agents assassinated opponents both within South Africa and abroad, and carried out cross-border military and air-force attacks of suspected ANC and PAC bases. In return, the resistance groups detonated bombs in restaurants, shopping centres and government buildings. A state of emergency was declared in 1985.
While South Africa underwent some reforms of the system, such as allowing Indian and Coloured political representation in parliament, this did little to appease the majority of activist groups who wanted apartheid abolished.
Finally, in 1987, the then-ruling national party entered negotiations with the ANC - leading the anti-apartheid movement - to end segregation and introduce a majority rule, leading to the release of Mandela in 1990.
Apartheid legislation was repealed on June 17, 1991, with the 1992 referendum called two years earlier by then-State President F. W. de Klerk. In his opening address to parliament in 1990, de Klerk announce that the ban on certain political parties such as the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party would be lifted and that Nelson Mandela would be released.
Pictured: South African anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela waves to the press as he arrives at the Elysee Palace, June 7, 1990
On 21 March, 1990, South West Africa became independent under the name of Namibia, and in May that year the government began talks with the ANC. June saw the lifting of the state of emergency and the ANC agreed to a ceasefire.
In 1991, the acts limiting land ownership, separate living areas and that classified people by their race were abolished.
The National Party and Democratic Party campaigned for a 'Yes' vote, while the conservative pro-apartheid right-wing was led by the Conservative Party, that campaigned for a 'No' vote.
De Klerk, who with Mandela led the negotiations to abolish apartheid, staked his political career on the referendum. He would have resigned and general elections held had the 'No' vote been successful. However, with support from abroad, the media and major political parties, the odds were stacked against the 'No' campaign.
While there were questions raised over the decision to allow only whites to vote in the referendum, the result of the election was an overwhelming victory for the 'yes' side (with 68.73 percent), which resulted in apartheid being lifted, while universal suffrage was introduced two years later.
In the proceeding 1994 election - the first fully representative democratic election - Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black President of South Africa, serving in the post from 1994 to 1999.
