Orania: From Town to City to Canton

25 August 2023

During this past week the town council of Orania, a Boer-Afrikaner town with a population of around 3000 people, officially revealed its new development plan, in which they outline how they plan to grow the town into a city and a canton, ideally with constitutionally recognized autonomy within a federal framework similar to that of the cantons of the Swiss Confederation. The city will be modelled after traditional small European cities that are very pedestrian-friendly as opposed to the rather extensive modern cities characteristic of North America and South Africa. The idea is for every neighbourhood in the city to form its own little community with its own community institutions. The heart of the city will be a church square with a statue of Paul Kruger at the centre. The plan is to move the large statue of Kruger that is currently in Pretoria’s church square to Orania by 2025.

Step one of the plan is to try and grow the population to 10 000 people as soon as possible. Orania also plans to move to complete energy independence within the next couple of years. Hundreds of new homes and a number of new neighbourhoods are being built and planned as we speak.
Around the city itself, the canton would span a radius of 20 miles on both sides of the Orange river. According to the city council the canton, which would be around the same size as Hong Kong, would eventually be able to provide a home to more than half a million Afrikaner-Boers.

The Pactum Institute is encouraged by Orania’s development plans and we pray that all endeavours will be conducted in complete dependence upon the Triune God of Scripture and to His glory alone.