Boer republics
The Boer republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent, self-governing republics formed (especially in the last half of the 19th century) by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers, and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north-eastern and eastern parts of present-day South Africa. Two of the Boer republics achieved international recognition and complete independence: the South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, ZAR; or Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. The republics did not provide for the separation of church and state, initially allowing only the Dutch Reformed Church, and later also other Protestant churches in the Calvinist (specifically Afrikaner) tradition. The republics came to an end after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which resulted in British annexation and later (in 1910) incorporation of their lands into the Union of South Africa.
2014 land claim[edit]
On 24 April 2014, political party Front Nasionaal (FN) submitted a land claim to the Land Claims Commissioner in Pretoria on behalf of the Afrikaner nation. The claim pertains to the land described in National Archives of South Africa R117/1846: "From Ohrigstad to the north till the Olifantsrivier, then downwards to the Delagoa Bay line; to the south till the Crocodile River; to the west to Elandspruit till the 26 degrees line; east till where the Crocodile River joins the Komati River."[16] FN states that the sale of said land was between King Masous (representative of the Zulu) as seller; and Commandant SJZR Burg (representative of the Dutch South African nation) as buyer. A copy of the agreement is filed in the Government Archives under file R117/46. FN further states that the land was legally bought and paid for on 25 July 1846 as an ethnic group and not as individual landowners and was only in custodianship of the pre-1994 government as they were regarded as descendants of the ethnic group. There was therefore no legal right to hand this land over to a "foreign" government in April 1994 and away from the original ethnic group.[17] The new land claims process has not yet been finalised however.[18][19][20]