Abstract

ROSSOUW, Jawik. A first estimate of Orania's gross geographical product. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2025, vol.65, n.2, pp.726-738. ISSN 2224-7912.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2025/v65n2a9.

Orania is a village with a population of about 3 000people on the southern bank of the Orange River in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The town is situated about 160 kilometres south of Kimberley, the Northern Cape's capital city. As an Afrikaner community, Orania's objective is growing self-determination. Given its nature as an Afrikaner community, all inhabitants speak Afrikaans. In addition, the town applies a policy called 'selfwerksaamheid ' (loosely meaning 'to work with our own for our own'), i.e., preference is given to the employment of people from Orania itself. Prospective inhabitants have to apply for approval before they may settle in Orania and these people are employed in terms of this policy of 'selfwerksaamheid'. Employment ofpeople from outside the town for a period exceeding two days is allowed only with prior approval. Furthermore, a coupon (the ora, or φ) is in circulation in the town. The ora is issued at a rate of ¢1,00 = R1,00. As the inhabitants of Orania prefer the use of ora when referring to amounts, that convention is used in this paper. While there is literature on Orania's objective of growing self-determination and developing other aspects of the community, reporting economic activity in the town receives scant attention in the literature. This paper contributes to filling this void. Comprehensive population and business censuses were undertaken in Orania in December 2021 and early in 2022. These censuses reported the town'spopulation, household and personal income, and business income. Based on these data, the total personal annual income of the town was estimated at ¢295 672 222, while the annual household income was estimated at Φ190 331 179. Business turnover was estimated at Φ281 950 000. A next step in researching economic activity in Orania is estimating the gross geographical product (GGP). Estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) are made for countries, but similar estimates for subregions, provinces, towns and the like are known as GGPs. GDP and GGP figures are best estimates and notfirm orfinal calculations. Thesefigures are subject to periodic revision for up to a decade after they were first published. This paper expands previous research by reporting the first estimate of Orania's GGP. The income method (GGP = income + taxes + profit + depreciation) is used to estimate GGP. The nominal GGP for 2021 is estimated at Φ344,7 million. For 2023, the nominal GGP is estimated at Φ462,0 million. These figures set a first base line for Orania's level of economic activity, which can be used as a reference for future estimates of a similar nature. Likewise, these figures serve as a base line for the future calculation of Orania's real GGP, which can then be used to calculate annual real economic growth.

Keywords : Afrikaans; Afrikaner; economic activity; gross geographical product; Orania.

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