Afrikaner group declares independence from South Africa

A separatist organisation identifying itself as the “Boervolk of the Orange Freestate” has placed a formal notice in the South African Government Gazette declaring the secession of the “Republic of the Orange Freestate.”

They are also laying claim to vast swathes of South African territory, including the entirety of KwaZulu-Natal.

The notice, published on Friday, 30 January 2026, in Gazette No. 54036, asserts that the group is “taking back” land it claims is currently in the “illegal possession” of the South African government due to historical “colonial subjugation” by Britain.

The group, which describes itself as a “minority group within the Afrikaner minority,” claims sovereignty over the territory between the Orange and Vaal rivers, as well as the region formerly known as the Republic of Natalia.

This claim encompasses land east of the Mzimvubu River, extending north through KwaZulu-Natal to the Black Umfolozi River, and includes Lake Saint Lucia.

The notice justifies these claims based on “willing buyer and seller agreements” allegedly made with Zulu kings Dingaan and Mpanda prior to British colonisation in 1843 and 1848.

Citing the 2003 Constitutional Court ruling in the Richtersveld case, the group argues that Britain’s annexation never extinguished indigenous title, and therefore the land could not be legally transferred to the Union of South Africa in 1910 or the current administration in 1994.

In addition to territorial sovereignty, the notice demands restitution for the “expropriation” of private farms and the “hardship which we had to endure.”

The group explicitly demands that this reimbursement be paid “not in fiat currency but in gold, to the weight of 2000 (two thousand) metric ton of fine gold of 999 purity.”

Not their first rodeo

This is not the first time the group has utilised the Government Gazette to air its grievances.

In 2025, News24 reported that the “Oranjevrijstaat Boervolk” had placed a similar notice, basing its claims on the 1854 Bloemfontein Convention.

The placement of these notices highlights a bureaucratic quirk within the Government Printing Works (GPW).

As reported by News24 last year, the system allows for private or civil society submissions under specific categories—such as NGO notices—without ministerial vetting.

A government official previously clarified that the GPW does not verify the “truth or legality” of such submissions, printing them “verbatim” provided they meet formatting and payment requirements.

Government officials have previously emphasised that the publication of such notices “does not confer legitimacy or recognition.”

Following the November 2025 notice, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso dismissed the group’s claims, comparing them to the Cape independence movement.

He said that “they just need to be reminded that we’re in a unitary state. It’s not a federal system.”

The current notice, signed by Wim Rossouw as an “Acting Volksraadsmember,” invites the South African government to enter into dialogue for a “smooth, seamless and peaceful succession of governance.”

Interested parties have been given 30 days to lodge objections with the group’s office in Bloemfontein.

Their submission in the gazette can be found on page 33 below: