[5][7][12][13][14] Living in the town requires application, and acceptance is dependent upon being Afrikaner, demonstrating fluency in Afrikaans, a clean criminal record, and sharing the community's values and goals.

[26][27] The town's monoculturalism and monoethnic philosophy rejects the concept of baasskap, where the White minority exploited Black labour for economic gain, in favour of a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency.

[34] The earliest indication of the presence of Afrikaner people in Orania dates to 1762; in the early 19th century, many farmers moved seasonally back and forth across the Orange River in search of better grazing.

The Department of Water Affairs changed the name to Orania, a variation of the Afrikaans word oranje, referring to the adjoining river,[38] after it was chosen in a competition.

[46] May 1984 saw the establishment of the Afrikaner Volkswag, an organisation founded by Carel Boshoff, a right-wing academic and the son-in-law of former South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd.

[citation needed] The National Party government led by F. W. de Klerk opposed the creation of an Afrikaner state, and the existence of Orania, but it took no action, believing it would fail on its own.

[citation needed] A journalist for the Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, visiting in 1993, noted that houses had been repaired, but the town lacked any meaningful economic activity.

Acknowledging that early growth expectations had not been met, the town's chief executive argued that Orania should employ its limited resources to grow into a 'city' of around 50,000 inhabitants.

I was enormously impressed by its success, decency, safety, modesty, friendliness, cleanliness, by its spirit of goodwill, by its egalitarian attitudes and, above all, by its prevailing philosophy of freedom".

[84] Vadim Nikitin, writing for The National in 2011, described the conventional narrative about Orania as the last bastion of apartheid, and a "pathetic outpost of embittered racists" who refuse to live in equality with black South Africans.

Nikitin notes that Orania lacks some of the conventional indications of privilege found in other post-apartheid White South African suburbs, such as black servants and some material luxuries.

[87] Leon Louw, the executive director of the South African Free Market Foundation, questioned the perception that the town is a refuge for racial bigots.

Even then, their plan involved separating parts of Transvaal Province, including Pretoria, to form a state where the many black residents would have only limited voting rights.

[citation needed] In 2010, Marida Fitzpatrick, journalist for the Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger, praised the town for its safety and environmentally friendly approaches to living, but also wrote that overt racist ideas and ideology still underpinned the views of many residents.

[98] In 2018, Afrikaans trade union, Solidariteit, and civil rights group AfriForum named Orania as one of their 30 "anchor towns"[99] to which Afrikaner migration should be encouraged[100][non-primary source needed] with the aim of becoming the majority population in these areas, making self determination possible.

[citation needed] Exhibits housed in the museum include the Felix Lategan gun collection and a Vierkleur flag carried by Jopie Fourie.

[citation needed] The Volkskool, established in June 1991 with Julian Visser as its first principal, uses a self-driven teaching (selfgedrewe) system which is unorthodox by South African standards.

[citation needed] Because the town had few school-aged children when it was established, the school adopted a computer-based learning system that allowed students of different levels to be taught by a single teacher.

[citation needed] Bo-Karoo Opleiding, a vocational training college, offering courses in technical subjects such as welding, metalworking and engineering, was opened in 2017.

The town hosts diverse industries, from macadamia farming, a toffee factory, a brewery, a call centre, stockbroking services, architecture, construction, etc.

[citation needed] The lack of cheap labour means that living in Orania is more expensive than the rest of South Africa;[171] at the same time, unskilled workers are scarce.

[175] Rapid growth over the four years to 2014 led to the construction of new commercial developments and a rising number of young adult immigrants, but also caused an increase in class differences between residents.

Though deemed one of the most modern dairies in South Africa at the time,[43] the increased cost of imported machinery caused by a decline in value of the rand combined with a rise in the price of corn used to feed cattle led to its liquidation.

[199] In 2013, the Sonskip / Aardskip earthship living museum construction started in Orania,[200] designed by Christiaan van Zyl, one of South Africa's foremost experts on sustainable architecture.

Ownership of plots and houses is in the form of shares in the company,[61] according to a framework known as 'share block' under South African law, similar to the strata title or condominium in other countries.

[citation needed] By 2020, the town had a doctor, a physiotherapist, a radiographer, and a pharmacist according to Frans De Klerk, head of the Orania Development Company.

[231][232] Over the years, Orania has been visited by many public figures, including Northern Cape Premier Dipuo Peters (in 2004),[187] Julius Malema (in 2009),[233] Desmond Tutu (in 2010),[234] and former President Jacob Zuma (in 2010).

[238][239] Members of the Orania Beweging, including its president Carel Boshoff, went on a European tour in 2013, meeting with MPs from the Partij voor de Vrijheid of the Netherlands, the Vlaams Belang party in Belgium and Südtiroler Volkspartei in Italy's South Tyrol province.

[240][241] In 2022, representatives of Orania visited politicians and two Parliaments in Europe (The Netherlands and Belgium) to make the case that Afrikaners are a victimised minority in South Africa.

[242] Boshoff rejected an invitation to the funeral of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader Eugene Terre'Blanche in April 2010, as he saw him as having chosen a path of confrontation and conflict.