How many black people in orania

Residents say that they were, in part, driven to Orania for economic reasons. Joost Strydom, communications officer for the town, said that the government has essentially put in place a new form of apartheid.

But in South Africa, whites are still among the wealthiest South Africans. Still, Joost Strydom says there needs to be a change. Up a rocky, wind-whipped hillside overlooking the town was a garden monument of sorts — a collection of Afrikaner relics that had been taken down from other places in South Africa.

In a circle were weathered busts of prominent Afrikaners: former presidents, war heroes and, notably, Hendrik Verwoerd, the former prime minister of South Africa who has been credited as the architect of apartheid. For Boshoff, that debate is a personal one — Verwoerd is his grandfather — and she recognizes why the town is often so closely associated with apartheid.

And once you paint it with all that baggage, it's very difficult to protect yourselves in terms of other lines of thinking. Boshoff insisted that people of color could live in Orania if they were willing to acclimate to the culture and learn Afrikaans.

Prospective residents are screened by a committee and go through an interview process. Afrikaans is the language. Your neighbors and your friends would be Afrikaners. That's it. He added that he'd want them to have their own country only "if it's necessary and we can do that without bloodshed.

But in South Africa, where there is a history marred by violence, change and bloodshed seem to be inextricably linked. Boshoff had one plea. It [Orania] was an answer to not dominating others and not being dominated by others," says Carel Boshoff Jr, the community leader.

Mr Boshoff is one of the leaders of the town founded by his father Carel Boshoff Snr, an Afrikaner intellectual and son-in-law of apartheid architect, Hendrik Verwoerd. The town was founded by Mr Boshoff Snr as a registered company shortly before white-minority rule ended in the rest of the country.

Mr Verwoerd's grandson tells me that his people were faced with a tough question about their future when the black government was elected in It wouldn't make sense not to," he said. Orania has also proved to be the answer for those Afrikaners who felt displaced in the land their people had ruled for many decades. We were taken on a guided tour of the town's facilities by John Strydom, a retired doctor. The town's leaders insist that Orania is misunderstood.

We are for ourselves," is their message. Prospective residents are screened by the town council using a strict criterion, which includes first and foremost being an ethnic Afrikaner. It is not enough to simply speak Afrikaans, as is the case with many black and mixed-race South Africans. As we sat down with Mr Boshoff for a cup of what the cafe described as "proper Boere [Afrikaner] tea… strong", I took in some of the surroundings.

Near the entrance of the gated community was a statue of Mr Verwoerd, one of a few of the apartheid-era prime ministers, and the Orania flag - with similar colours to the old republic's orange, white and blue stripes - which hung proudly. The town was quiet; the sound of birds and rustling leaves interrupted by a few cars passing by. It is an eerie place for an outsider. The town boasts amenities such as shops, hair salons, a library, a post office, a hotel, a couple of schools - and churches, a lot of churches.

But beneath the surface of this solitude lurks a fear that leads people to abandon high-paying jobs in the city for lowly jobs in this arid land. Many of them have been victims of crimes," says Mr Boshoff. South Africa is considered to be one of the most violent societies in the world, with one of the highest murder rates.

Official statistics suggest that most crimes actually happen in poor communities between people known to each other, but this has not stopped the fear of crime in other communities. The Afrikaner community's totem is "the little giant", a man with rolled-up sleeves who features in the flag and the local money, the Ora which is pegged to the South African rand.

The people do their own work from gardening to plumbing, bricklaying and waste-collection - jobs usually done by black labourers in the rest of the country. It is more difficult for some people because they are used to how things were done in South Africa, they are not used to manual labour," says Mr Strydom. The locals explain that one of the goals in Orania is to help create a generation of pure Afrikaners untouched by the "outside world".

Bizarrely, the town's existence is protected by South Africa's constitution through a clause that ensures the right to self-determination - introduced to reassure those worried about the transition to democracy.

While there are no rules preventing black people from visiting, those who live nearby fear they would be met with violence. Twenty-five years after the fall of the brutal apartheid regime, South Africa's cities remain hugely divided, both economically and racially.

This week Guardian Cities explores the incredible changes taking place, the challenges faced and the projects that bring hope. Africa correspondent Jason Burke reports from the Flats, where violence and death are endemic just miles from Cape Town's spectacular beaches and trendy cafes. Author Niq Mhlongo pens a love letter to the "other Soweto", one that visitors to gentrified Vilakazi Street never see.

We hear from Port Elizabeth, where one architect is using recycled materials to transform his city, and Durban, where a surf school is changing the lives of vulnerable children. We explore the deadly underground world of zama zama gold miners operating illegally under the city of Johannesburg, visit the Afrikaner-only town of Orania and publish an extraordinary photo essay by Magnum nominee Lindokuhle Sobekwa, who documents life in a formerly white-dominated area where his mother once worked as a domestic helper.

By the end of the s, the probability of losing control had already occurred to many Afrikaners, with some believing that impending democracy posed an existential threat to the white Afrikaans way of life. A few felt protecting that required becoming a demographic majority somewhere, rather than remaining a minority everywhere. A community of poor black and mixed-race squatters who had made their homes in the buildings left behind by the project stood between the new owners and their whites-only vision.

It was carried out by the future residents of Orania, with the assistance of beatings, pistol whippings and dogs. After three decades as a quiet backwater, Orania is booming. Its population — currently around 1, — has doubled over the last seven years.

Population growth means a flourishing housing market and construction industry. Neat suburban homes have been joined by new apartment blocks and walkups which sell for as much as R1. There is an industrial zone of brick and aluminium factories which sell their products around South Africa. China buys most of the pecan nuts. The growth shows no signs of slowing.

A sewage works meant to accommodate 10, future residents is in the pipeline. Not a single brick has been laid by a black worker.