Extract from: Post- Apartheid Place Branding: Kliptown and Orania

"Since 1994, South Africa has been trying to heal the wounds of Apartheid. Everywhere you look now, there is political correctness. But how quickly can people really change the ways they’ve learned to think South Africa brands itself according the ideals of democracy, peace and reconciliation – yet, how do previously extremist attitudes manifest in its current society?
Many of the former freedom fighters have now found wealth and security in governmental positions. There is a growing black elite, driving BMW’s, moving out of the townships they fought for, into richer suburbs. The Afrikaner has been forced to curb his racist opinions and some have had to deal with extreme guilt, depending on their involvement in Apartheid. Afrikaans as a language remains celebrated and widely spoken, but Afrikaner culture as it used to be upheld under Apartheid has been reduced to something of a joke. Many of the bitterly disillusioned traditionalists, and those left with special police force training, have found a new home in Iraq with the Blackwater mercenary firm, and the added benefit of earning dollars.
I embarked on a hands-on investigation into specific sites in the country, which I thought might constitute the identities I was looking for. My first stop was Soweto, Johannesburg, where I found a new Freedom Charter-inspired development called Kliptown Open Air Museum. I then went on to Orania, the thirteen year old Afrikaner village/micronation in semi-desert conditions in central South Africa."

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