Tshwane ‘Orania' illegal, says court

Ruling stems from four shareholders unhappy with expansion.

- Antoinette Slabbert

The exclusive Afrikaner township of Kleinfontein, in the east of Pretoria, is illegal and those living in the 650-odd houses there are acting illegally, the High Court in Pretoria ruled on Friday.

The directors of Kleinfontein Aandeleblok have been acting illegally by allowing shareholders to use the land it owns for residential purposes without complying with several legal requirements, the court found.

It ordered the City of Tshwane to "immediately take appropriate steps to enforce all relevant laws relating to planning and building regulation in as far as it relates to the farms comprising the Kleinfontein settlement".

While criminal prosecution is one option open to the council, the court refrained from dictating which remedy the local authority should implement.

Kleinfontein is a substantial settlement on land zoned for agricultural use.

It was established by the BoereVryheidsbeweging in the late 'gos as a "growth point for Afrikaner self-determination" and consists of at least 650 houses, a school, a community hall, a shopping centre, an old age home, and a light industrial area.