White people are fleeing from black people to Russia. Reverse apartheid, is it fiction or reality? Parents shot in front of their children, villas torn to pieces by marauders, and a giant white cross in Limpopo, the legendary place from Doctor Aibolit. Who will cure the majestic country of South Africa from the black and white nightmare?
Local defense troops are the last chance for survival of the Afrikaners in South Africa as they don't trust the authorities or the police. They only trust the good old shotgun which, for 150 years now, still remains their best friend on the Dark Continent.
South Africa is witnessing an ongoing war for the right to live in this rich land. White farmers are killed almost every day. The Afrikaners have to unite to patrol the area every day.
If a farmer finds himself in danger, he announces a code red on the radio, and some neighbors will rush to his house to help while others block the roads. Today, it's a training alert. Each patrol should know well the ways to get to the neighboring farm, as well as the location of the buildings and rooms. The house of Benny van Seil, the head of the Transvaal Agricultural Union has been attacked once.
BENNY VAN SEIL: "There were several people, maybe 5-6, I think. They tried to break into the house. They managed to get inside despite the electric system and the alarm. Fortunately, they woke us up very quickly with the noise. I raised the alarmed, Ross and the others came to rescue quickly".
The police, as self-defense commander Ross Welsh says, hardly respond to the attacks on farmers on the grounds of the lack of cars or gasoline. Some stories are just hard to believe.
ROSS WELSH: "They came running to the house, they shot the father and the husband in front of the wife and children, then they tied the child with wire and boiled him alive. A normal person would never do anything like this. Even animals don't do anything like that to each other".
In the South African province with the name known to everyone since childhood, Limpopo, there's a memorial to the Boers killed on their farms. Each white cross represents someone's ruined life. Hundreds of small crosses form one big white cross that can be seen from the space, and that the descendants of the white colonizers continue to bear.
ALEXANDR ROGATKIN'S SPECIAL REPORT. THE WHITE CROSS OF AFRICA
“It was a husband and wife, killed at the time of the same attack. Here's the mother, the grandmother. Here are their children. Look at the age of the children. They were killed with a builder's pickaxe. This one here is Mariandra's husband.”
Two years ago, the world learned the tragic story of Mariandra Heunis. Two armed bandits broke into her farmhouse.
Mariandra Heunis: "Please, take whatever you want, just don't do anything to us". And one of the bandits said then, "You don't get it, we came here to kill you".
Mariandra was 8 months pregnant, and there were 3 more little daughters in the house.
Mariandra Heunis: "My little girl, she was 6 years old, she fell asleep with us on the sofa. The shooting woke her up and she ran away. They were shooting at her, but, thank God, didn't get her. I saw one of the shots my husband took to the chest.”
They shot him five more times, and when he fell they grabbed Mariandra.
Mariandra Heunis: "I was struggling, I knew they were going to rape and then kill me. That's when my 6-year old daughter came and said, "I have some money I keep in my room. Take it, let my mom go".
Meanwhile, Mariandra's husband came to his senses and started getting back on his feet begging them to stop.
Mariandra Heunis: "One bandit said to another, "Brother, just kill him. Just kill". And he shot him into the head right in front of us, right in front of our daughter".
After that, the bandits left at an easy pace, taking with them only mobile phones to prevent them from calling the police. Mariandra appealed to the President of South Africa through the internet, and even asked Donald Trump to help. She became famous both in the country and around the world, yet never got any answer from the politicians.
Mariandra Heunis: "I didn't get any reaction from the state, only silence. For them, it's an ordinary burglary that didn't go the way the criminals planned. That's why they started killing".
The suburbs of Pretoria, a previously expensive and prestigious residential area. Now it's deserted and ruined. As recently as two weeks ago, it was a luxurious residency with a huge garden and a huge pool. But due to the repeated attacks, the owners had to abandon their house after futile attempts to sell it. The residence was raided a few days later. It looks like they left in a hurry, abandoning even the family photo album.
"This house used to cost eight million rands. Today, it's worthless".
Vandals removed and sawed apart the wooden roof, and broke the statues and furniture. Even the electrified fence was cut and prepared to be removed.
Suddenly the patrol commander spots a marauder amidst the ruins. There are more guests coming in a pickup truck. But upon seeing the armed patrol, they pretended that their car broke down, and, in fact, they were going in the other direction.
The adjacent farm is still inhabited by a retired couple. We were greeted by a very lively old woman with a holster on her belt. They don't put their revolvers aside even at night.
PETRA LEMMER: "I love this place. There's peace in my soul and God resides in my heart. I'm a Christian but they'd better not bother me. The man who stole my husband's revolver attacked my neighbor. She said she couldn't stay in this place. On the day when she left some people started to break into her house".
She's 74 and she sure knows how to put rounds into the cylinder. Her life turned upside down, what used to be white became black. But Petra Lemmer still looks on the bright side.
PETRA LEMMER: "In fact, we're not attacked often, people know us. I'd say, we've had only five attacks so far. But I'm not afraid, we're a wonderful community, we stay together. Whenever there's a problem, we take the radio and call for assistance. And in 10 minutes, this guy will be here".
They invested so much effort into these palms, yet now this 20-acre tropical garden costs no more than $4,000, and no-one is willing to buy it.
PETRA LEMMER: "We've had our plot up for sale for 15 years now, but we can't sell it".
- We're going to a gas station to buy some gas to burn the whites.
The label on his chest is a black fist nailed to the ground with a red star. On his back, there's an intimidating slogan: "Land or death".
TIDISO TIMO, Black First Land First Organization: "Our motto means, "Land or death", we're ready to kill for our land".
During their actions and meetings, they demand that the government immediately adopt a law to expropriate the land belonging to the white population without any compensation.
"What is there to talk about? They stole this land from us. They killed our ancestors to get this land. That's why it's our right. What compensation should we pay if we have nothing to pay with? It's our right. We'll kill for it if needed".
We're white too, yet they readily do the interview and invite us to their protest action. Because we come from the country where Lenin himself was born, the main ideologist of the expropriation other people's property.
"The red star symbolizes our ultra left wing that follows the ideas of socialism by Vladimir Lenin from Russia".
They participate in the seizure of land themselves and support those who have built their cabins on other people's property.
ANDILE MNGKCITAMA, Black First Land First Leader: "Due to the existing legislation, the politicians don’t rush to expropriate land. But we do it ourselves locally, we do the expropriation of people's land".
In between make-shift buildings and a dump, the black tents of the fighters for land appear. The movement's president warms up his followers with an intimidating slogan.
"One bullet, one settler.
One bullet, one settler!"
According to the official authorities and the police of South Africa, it's difficult to qualify the killings at farmhouses as hate crimes.
RICH CREW, POLICE RESERVIST (PRETORIA): "It's a difficult question, hard to answer. I don't have proof that it's just politics. In most cases I dealt with, they were financial disputes between a farmer and a worker. As a rule, the killer knows the farmer".
Rich Crew is a reservist who has the full authority of a police officer. He has the uniform and the arms, but he hasn't been on the payroll for 21 years. It's hard for a white man to get a position in the police. South Africa has a quota system. If only 9% of the population in a country with 55 million people is white, then they can claim only 9 positions out of 100 in law enforcement. In some cities, the white population is larger, while in some there aren't any. Reservists like him are a way to solve this problem.
RICH CREW, POLICE RESERVIST (PRETORIA): "In 1994, they adopted the law on quotas in accordance with the country's population. It took them 20 years to understand that they need professionals".
Rich's father, uncle, and brothers were all police officers. They all lost their jobs after the end of the apartheid. Now, he continues to hold on with their job as best as he can.
RICH CREW, POLICE RESERVIST (PRETORIA): "I live in this country and I want it to be safe, regardless of the color of the criminal's skin".
The criminal districts of Pretoria are patrolled by joint self-defense squads, a private security agency, and the police. It's the most efficient form of cooperation. The volunteer helpers to the police gain the right to arrest criminals and use arms when needed. They pay special attention to illegal migrants from Zimbabwe and road trippers in cars with Mozambique license plates.
RICH CREW, POLICE RESERVIST (PRETORIA): "Now, we work in the eastern suburb of Pretoria. It's the best, wealthiest suburb. That's why there are many burglaries and assaults, carjackings, drugs, and so on. We keep an eye on this suburb. There's money here, therefore, there are crimes connected to the luxury".
South Africa has recently legalized the use of cannabis. Growing it for personal use is allowed now. The guys who got caught on the other people's farm at the time of this raid were so stoned that they couldn't possibly steal anything. They didn't arrest them. There was also a chase after a car was reported stolen, but the criminals happened to be more agile. It's a rare night in this suburb of Pretoria. There haven't been any murders or robbery. Even the road signs warn you that you're entering a criminal area. They recommend not stopping. They live behind tall fences with barbed wire and under an electric current.
OLGA PRIMAKOVA: "Welcome!"
18 years behind bars, the Russian Style hair salon owned by Olga Primakova, is face to face with local criminals.
OLGA PRIMAKOVA: "My salon was burglarized twice. They took everything, leaving nothing, they took even the sockets. The police came, had a look and left, and I heard nothing from them ever since".
A metal club and an electric shocker are essential for doing business in the Pretoria suburbs.
OLGA PRIMAKOVA: "A Russian blond, everybody tells me to get out of here. “It's our country. We'll sit wherever we like.” As they usually sit at the doorsteps of my parlor. And I usually make them leave. As I make them leave, they call me AK-472.
It's because of Olga's license plate number. They're patriotic. But for the locals to have respect for you, you need to have at least a Kalashnikov in the car.
OLGA PRIMAKOVA: "Actually, we live like we're at war here. We're always ready for anything that may happen. I always have pepper spray".
- Pepper spray?
- A razor. Being a hairdresser, I have an open razor in the glove compartment. Here! A razor! I have a knife. Here it is, right here. That's how we drive in the car, just in case.
Olga immigrated to South Africa from Kyrgyzstan and found a good husband. She's crazy about Africa, but criminals don't let her live a normal life. She's going to leave for America, where her sister lives.
OLGA PRIMAKOVA: "They threatened to kill me several times. They were running after me while I was getting into my car. They said they were going to kill me. So, I came home and told my husband. He took the pistol and went to sort things out".
- Hello!
When Russian Style is in danger, Russian Combat System comes to rescue. The Russian self-defense system taught in Johannesburg by a famous stuntman and former airborne forces officer Vadim Dobrin.
VADIM DOBRIN: "I've been attacked 13 times with firearms, with knives. They've never attacked one-on-one".
The hazardous items taken in the street by Dobrin and his students are neatly arranged on the shelves. They'll prove useful later for training.
VADIM DOBRIN: "Even a sharpened screwdriver is often used by attackers. Bayonets, knives like these are very common. They carry old knives on them".
To inspire confidence, Vadim advises to keep a Soviet entrenching shovel at hand in a car.
VADIM DOBRIN: "It's even better to have it in-between the seats instead of in the trunk. You never know when you'll need to do some digging".
Vadim Dobrin has lived in South Africa since 1991. At first, he was very annoyed by the criminals, but then he realized that he could earn good money due to the criminals if he started to teach the locals to defend themselves correctly.
VADIM DOBRIN: "One time, I was attacked by a lot of people. It was a very unpleasant situation. I grabbed him, shouted, and said, "This one is going straight to the morgue. So are you and you. As for the rest, I'm not sure. We'll see. But I'm definitely sending the three of you to the morgue, Forget the intensive care unit". And somehow they changed their mind.
One guy told me, "The black people have very hard skulls. It's useless to punch them in the face. You won't do any damage". I thought, "Well, yeah! How so? Can't be". Well.
- Are they hard?
- No, they aren't.
Afrikaners, Indians, and Arabs come to Dobrin's classes.
YUSEF ASVAT, JOHANNESBURG RESIDENT: "The Russian system is very good".
JEAN FOUCHÉ: "My construction office used to be there. On this corner. It was just demolished".
Jean Fouché was the richest businessman in the city of Welkom. He feels confident in black slums. He talks back to those treating him in an aggressive way. "They just don't know who I am", the descendant of French Huguenots says. 10 years ago, he constructed free housing for the poor on this private plot in the framework of a state-sponsored program. Small brick houses with gas, electricity, and running water.
JEAN FOUCHÉ, BUSINESSMAN IN WELKOM: "This was all my land, 156 acres. But the municipal authorities took it from me without compensation. I built 204 houses. But because of corruption, the construction process stopped. 1,000 more houses for locals were planned to be built here. It used to be a state-sponsored program".
The commission to build the social housing was granted to a person with different skin color. The price of a single house rose in by 4x in the municipal budget. Now there are slums on this land, metal cabins without any facilities.
"It's very hard to live here. It's very hot and dusty. The toilet is outside. My three children sleep right on the floor".
In the dreams of Nelson Mandela's followers, this district was supposed to be exemplary. But now it's just dirt and heaps of trash. The locals welcome the white businessman. They wholeheartedly curse the authorities who failed to finish the housing for the poor for 10 years.
RICHARD HOWAY, WELKOM RESIDENT: "The state didn't let Fouché keep building here. We don't know why, maybe because of his skin color which is considered to be wrong in South Africa. We want him to keep building houses for us. We don't want to live as we do".
- This is my house, I have two kids, they sleep in here.
- Because of racism and corruption, they stopped the development of our town.
JEAN FOUCHÉ: "All my workers who were building here, they all were black, they all were professionals. All of them lost their jobs. I was the only white man, but everybody suffered".
LUTIGA PRESENT, WELKOM RESIDENT: "It's the politicians who use racism. Us simple people want to live together in peace, so that Mr. Fouché continues to build houses for us in Thabung. I've known him for a long time, I know his wife, we don't want white people to leave the country. He's a citizen, and it's his country".
An exclusively white slum. 25 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has managed to build an equal society where everyone has a right to be poor regardless of the color of their skin. A house made of metal flooring, boxes, tents, and old trailers. They drown their problems in alcohol. Now, these white people know for sure how to live the black way.
INDREK STRUA, UNEMPLOYED: "I worked at a meat processing factory. My boss said we overfilled the quotas. There must be just one white person for 100 black people, and we had two. I got sacked".
There are dozens of settlements like this one in the suburbs of Pretoria and Johannesburg yet everything is clean and neat. There's even a flower bed.
"It's difficult now for a white person to find a job. I couldn't even find a job as a janitor".
JUGO FANEKIRK, THE HOMELESS COMMUNITY: "It's reverse apartheid. Since 1994, they've started to infringe on the rights of white people. Ever since, we lived in conditions like this, in settlements like this".
In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has already taken land from white farmers. The colonialists’ descendants were hunted down. Some were burned along with their farms, others left their centuries-old households and left the country at best, or, at worst, became the residents of slums like this. The land given to the locals was covered with weeds the following year. In 2008, Zimbabwe's economy collapsed. Inflation devalued money by billions of percent. Useless papers were carried around in handfuls.
JUGO FANEKIRK: "South Africa seems to be following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe. I don't think there are going to be any positive changes".
The magnificent monument of Voortrekker has towered over the capital of South Africa for 70 years. It's the main monument of the Boers Afrikaners, who conquered the areas where Pretoria and Johannesburg were built. Stone history pages tell a story about pioneer scouts who were killed along with their families by the Zulu people. After Nelson Mandela's government came to power, bas-reliefs with scenes of cruel killings of babies were replaced with more tolerable ones.
In the first half of the 19th century, migrants from Holland, Flanders, and France negatively called "the Boers" by the English, which means "peasants", started to leave their Cape Colony on the southern tip of Africa. Suffering from constant pressure by the British crown, the Boers declared the Great Trek. On these wooden carriages pulled by oxen, the Boers ventured into the heart of the African continent and founded the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic which were later invaded by the British.
Now it's time for the new Great Trek. The Boers are looking to relocate to Canada, Australia, and even Russia. A delegation of Afrikaners visited Stavropol Krai this summer. The Boers were studying the relocation conditions, if they’ll be able to farm in the northern latitudes.
VLADIMIR POLUBOYARENKO, Aide to human-rights ombudsman: "Now it's about 200 families. They officially applied to receive Russian residency. I think we'll find jobs for all of them. Actually, hardworking and efficient people like this are in high demand everywhere".
Vladimir Poluboyarenko is a human right defender in Stavropol. He met with Boers in Russia and has now come to Africa to summon people to immigrate. He's traveling around Boer enclaves, meeting with farmers.
VLADIMIR POLUBOYARENKO: "Your children, grandchildren, and grand-grandchildren will become true Russian Boers. You're welcome!"
They barely know anything about Russia here. But Havy Stoltz is ready to relocate. After the locals killed his brother, he can't help but think of how to save his children.
HAVY STOLTZ, BLOEMFONTEIN RESIDENT: "Of course, it's cold in Russia. But I like that it's a great country with a strong army. It's very important for me. They don't talk much about Russia in the media. But I personally respect President Putin. I believe that he's a good leader. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind in Europe and in America. He defends his nation's interests. I wish we had something like that in South Africa. I wish we had a president like him".
LOUIS MENKIS, the Transvaal Agricultural Union: "The expropriation without compensation is a gloomy image of the future. Our farmers are starting to think about Russia as an emergency exit.
VALY DE BRINE, FARMER: "My children are in university, but I have grandchildren too, they are 3-4 years old. Of course, I worry about their future. I want a better life for them. We don't know what awaits them here in South Africa2.
ALBRECHT SWICHERS, FARMER: "I'm too old now to go anywhere. Someone needs to stay here to close the gates after everybody else leaves".
Moreover, they still remember here that hundreds of Russian volunteers went to South Africa at the end of the 19th century to help the Boers fight the English.
VALY DE BRINE, FARMER: "In Russia, they knew what was happening here, that it was a war against British imperialism. They sailed here to help us".
Russians composed a song about that war.
"Transvaal, Transvaal, my country.
You're all burning in fire.
There was a Boer sitting under a great tree contemplating his life.
Why are you so sad, old man? What are you contemplating about?
I'm sad thinking about my country.
I pity my homeland".
CHRIS VAN ZELL, EX GENERAL OF THE ARMY: "We remember the support in the Boer War. A friend of mine called this morning and asked to say a big thank you to the Russians. We won't forget their medical help to our wives and children in the English concentration camps".
A fan of colonial style hats, Johannes Du Tois is the most active advocate for emigration to Russia. He hasn't just learned Russian, he even married a Russian woman from Kansk. They recently had a girl and have another on the way.
JOHANNES DU TOIS: "When I came to Siberia for the first time I fell in love with it, it's so vast. The taiga, the tundra, a river... We do have rivers in Africa but when I first saw Siberian rivers, I thought, wow! It's a totally different world!"
For this world, Johan is ready to abandon the spectacles of Africa, which has recently grown so hostile.
JOHANNES DU TOIS: "There are many problems everywhere. I say... The problems in Russia are different from those in South Africa. For me, it's a problem when they kill us, violently. It happens every day in South Africa. Every day our farmers are attacked".
40% of the peanut and pecan market in South Africa belongs to Alfonso Fisser. He's one of the biggest farmers in the country. His nuts are sold even in Russia. But the businessman is indignant that they only get there through China and Europe. The farmers don't see any benefits from the BRICS agreements.
ALFONSO FISSER, BUSINESSMAN: "There's no direct contact between the state and the farmers. BRICS doesn't work for mere mortals. Someone else is getting the money".
But it's not the biggest problem. Alfonso can't help but think about the possible expropriation of his land. The bill is presented before the parliament.
ALFONSO FISSER, BUSINESSMAN: "A hundred black people would come here and say, "Now, it's the law. Your land is our land now. And you, get out of here!” It's not just about me and my family. 4,400 black workers are here. There are five members in each of their families, they feed them. It's not just me who will lose a source of income, but so will thousands of locals".
Alfonso currently owns three big processing factories. Boundless fields of alfalfa and gardens of pecan trees.
JOHANNES DU TOIS: "All this was built by private parties, who didn't have any assistance from the state. Now, they're talking about expropriation without compensation. Meaning, there's a generation of young black people in South Africa who may see pictures, see that these facilities are here. And they'll say, "You sailed here. Your ancestors stole our land. They breathed in our oxygen. Give us back all you have built. Because you, white people, are thieves. And go back, to Europe, to wherever you came from 350 years ago". This way of thinking is really getting on my nerves now".
There's an old brick wall on the grounds of the peanut processing facility with a semicircular window. It's all that's left of Alfonso's father's home. The petty farmer finally ruined himself in the beginning of the 90s of the last century. After a horrible drought and international sanctions over the apartheid regime.
ALFONSO FISSER, BUSINESSMAN: "At the start of my career in agriculture, I had only 5,000 rands in my pocket. Those saying that we stole everything from the locals have no right to do so. Because I built everything from scratch. We were poorer than many black people".
He doesn't want to leave the country and abandon everything. He says that he'll fight for his rights until the end. There are a number of Boers like him.
The town of Orania is called the last stronghold of apartheid. Well, it's if we literally translate this word from Afrikaans, which the Boers speak, apartheid means "separation". So here, white people live separately from black people. To be precise, there aren't any native people in this town. The Boers regard Orania as a prototype of an ideal nation-state. It has its own blue and orange flag depicting a boy rolling up his sleeves to fight. It symbolizes the Boers' readiness for both labor and defense.
SEBASTIAN BILL: "It's a little giant, he's still a boy. But he, like our Orania, will become big and strong in the future".
They've introduced their own currency, the oro, which equals the South African rand.
"This is our oro. It has value only in Orania. Any shop will take these bills".
In the hills over the town, there's a monument dedicated to the Boers who became the presidents and prime ministers of South Africa. The only bust missing is Nobel Prize winner Frederik de Klerk who, along with Nelson Mandela, destroyed the apartheid regime.
"If we put a bust of de Klerk here, it would be gone in half an hour2.
However, the first prime minister of South Africa, Hendrik Verwoerd, who is called the architect of apartheid for creating the harsh system of racial discrimination, is the most popular politician in Orania. Busts of him are scattered throughout the town. There's even a museum.
"Of course, there was discrimination and racism, which is not good, but the party's ideology, separate development in equal conditions for everyone, so that everyone has equal opportunities for development, but in their own tribe, in their own culture, with their own people".
The black population of South Africa was deprived of voting rights. The largest people, the Bantu, were relocated to reservations called bantustans. They were allowed to leave only with a special permit. Transport, beaches, benches on the streets, schools, and hospitals were segregated for white and black people. Some white cities were closed for the native peoples. Mixed marriages were outlawed. Sexual contact between black and white people was prosecuted.
Verwoerd's grandson, Karl Bosoff, is one of the ideologists and founders of Orania. He lives in a house which was built in 1870.
KARL BOSOFF, ORANIA FOUNDER, VERWOERD' GRANDSON: "The wooden roof was imported from England. Since there were virtually no trees in South Africa back then".
Karl says that now in South Africa they're trying to erase the memory of his grandfather.
KARL BOSOFF: "Here I'm sitting on my grandfather's lap when I was little".
The cities and dams named after Verwoerd were renamed. Karl agrees that there was racism, but there was incredible growth of the economy. Roads, factories, and canals were built. That enabled South Africa to become the most developed state in Africa.
KARL BOSOFF: "They say he was a criminal, that's now the official point of view. But they forget that it was he who granted education to black people. He developed the areas for black people, even to a larger extent than those for white people".
Now, Orania is to become a small economic copy of South Africa in the 1960s. But exclusively for the Boers. If there are no other ethnic groups, it means there's no source for nationalism.
KARL BOSOFF: "The liberals keep saying that nationalism is the source of the conflict. We think the opposite. When we don't know who we are, when we don't realize what nation we belong to, what our traditions are, that is the real source of conflict. Our goal is freedom. Despite any circumstances, we want our people to live freely".
Karl is proud to say that Orania is a fully self-sufficient settlement which, unlike other towns in South Africa, doesn't receive any contributions from the state budget. The town on the bank of the Orange River is covered in construction sites. They're building their own security complex. Even now, there's a CCTV on every corner, and it's going to be even better than this. There are both the ordinary militia and the so-called political security service.
DAVID DU PLESSIS, HEAD OF THE SECURITY SERVICE: "A member of the INF left-radical party once came here. Our political team greeted them and talked to them calmly, so they left back to where they came from".
"Good evening! It's Radio Orania. I hope you'll have a good time with us".
KARL BOSOFF: "A few years ago, the authorities confiscated the whole set of equipment from the local radio station. But now, the broadcasting license is no longer an issue".
ANES SAIMAN, RADIO HOST: "The main subject of our programs now are the farmer killings and expropriation without compensation. You need to be very cautious on the air, so as to not give the authorities a reason to blame the radio station for counter-state propaganda".
New migrants from all over the country come to Orania every day. If they have enough money for the relocation and the purchase of the land plots that are no longer cheap. They live in trailers until their houses are built.
HRIKKI VAN SCHALKWYK, MIGRANT: "I was seized by two men with a hammer. He started beating me with it. I don't remember anything that happened afterward as I fainted. Every year, when I apply for my firearms license, I show them these photos, and they extend my license at once".
They sold all of their property in Bloemfontein and moved here. They bought a plot and are building a big house with a beautiful view of the savanna.
HRIKKI VAN SCHALKWYK, MIGRANT: "We're not racists, we forgave the guys who did it to us, to me. My heart is not burning now. I forgave them. I thank God for being alive".
CHRIS VAN SCHALKWYK, MIGRANT TO ORANIA: "There are places where only Zulu people live. There are many places, many settlements where only Koso people live. They have their own language and culture. Where's the place for us, the Boer Afrikaners? I believe that places like Orania are the future for our people".
There aren't any checkpoints or fences around the town. The nearest black settlements are dozens of miles from here. But black people are free to enter the town, to bring food, buy things in the stores. But only Boer Afrikaners allowed to live and work on the private property. There aren't even any Anglos.
KARL BOSOFF: "In theory, there's a possibility, we don't have any rules regarding skin color. But we have a special committee that solves such issues".
The classes at school are exclusively in Afrikaans. Teachers complain that all of the educational institutions in South Africa are gradually transitioning to English. History is taught in a wrong, too, according to the Boers.
ANDRÉ DU TOIS, HISTORY TEACHER IN ORANIA: "The text saying that white people are thieves is wrong. The white people are said to have arrived and stolen land from the black people. The textbooks don't mention that when Jan van Rigby sailed here in 1652, he didn't even meet any black people. Because we met the Bantu peoples only 120 years after that".
There's a different point of view both on apartheid and the colonization of South Africa in general. Children should be proud of their ancestors instead of repenting for their sins.
ANDRÉ DU TOIS: "When the Anglo-Saxon people came to North America there were 20 million local people. Now it's only 2 million. When the Dutch Boers came to the southern tip of Africa, there were only 2 million black people. Now there's 40 million black people in South Africa alone. So, it's not clear who is actually the racist".
The land of boundless savannas, gold mines, and diamond fields became the land of sorrow for the Boers. There are almost 2,500 names in the book under this title. They're the Boer farmers who have been killed in recent years.
PETER KRIEG, ORANIA MOVEMENT DEPUTY DIRECTOR: 2On this page, there's the date of the murder of Peter Atern, my grandfather. He was beaten to death with a iron stick. They also used an ordinary lash. He was 80, he was deaf, and it was early in the morning. He was still sleeping in his bed when they attacked him".
Peter Krieg decided not to push his luck and moved to Orania with his family.
PETER KRIEG: "Now, there are 1,500 people here. But when it'll be two million, when we will be an enormous city, it will be less risky".
The idea of the independent state for white people is like a red cloth for a bull to the black majority.
"The white people are racists. They organized an enclave on our land. It belongs to us, therefore we must liberate it".
It's Sunday mass in the Danish Reformed Church which many Boers belong to. The pastor is telling the parable about Jesus and the leper. Now, the Boers are the lepers in South African society.
