Changing economic bases: Orania as a case study of small-town development in South Africa

The economic base is the most fundamental factor controlling the growth of a town. Orania’s economic base has changed three times. The town came into existence as a result of the development of the Orange River Project. After completing the project, the Department of Water Affairs withdrew from the town in 1989, with the result that it lost its economic base. The town was sold to the Afrikanervryheidstigting (AVSTIG), which saw it as the first town in an envisaged Afrikaner homeland. This provided the impetus for the second, political economic base. The farm Vluytjeskraal, adjacent to Orania, was bought in 1991 and subdivided into smallholdings, which provided the stimulus for the third, agricultural economic base.