In the recent negotiations for provincial government, the ANC found itself in need of an extra seat to govern the Northern Cape. They reached out, not to the DA or the PA, who were both clamouring for provincial cabinet seats, but to the Vryheidsfront Plus, who turned these down, and were instead handed a blank check to demand what they could in exchange for political support.

What is much overlooked is that the DA-ANC-IFP coalition, while it has a majority in the parliament, lacks the requisite seats for reforming the constitution. Aside from the ungovernable minnows among the microparties and the hostile characters in the MK and EFF, the only little bloc that can be drawn from to make constitutional reform possible is the six seats of the VF Plus.

This will come in useful, since the DA have in mind a few constitutional reforms they would like to see passed, including the Twenty First Amendment Bill, which aims to introduce a new anti-corruption investigative department independent of the Presidency.

While the party lost a great deal of votes in the country, as all the DA’s allied parties did, they lost the least in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, where they supported secession. And for the first time in their history, the VF Plus have been able to deliver on their purpose – achieving Afrikaner self-determination.

What they took in the Northern Cape deal was an oversight role in local government committees, and the recognition of Orania as a legitimate community in the Northern Cape. The Afrikaner-only town was consulted in the process, and their leadership refused any of the available off-the-shelf legal solutions like traditional governance status or a new formal municipality, instead choosing to proceed with business as usual, exploiting the legal ambiguity of their current arrangement, as it provides greater freedom.

But this goes further. According to sources within the party, consultations at the national level have included the broader recognition of the principle demands of the Afrikanerverklaring – the recognition of a broader Afrikaner cultural development zone.

This is likely in part due to the negotiating power of the Solidariteitbeweging, which commands a membership of over half a million individuals, representing the majority of Afrikaner households. The Verklaring was signed by nearly every group representing Afrikaner interests – all of which derive their funding not from the captains of industry or legacy oligarchs, but from ordinary citizen donors.

It aims to find a gradual path to the realisation of the old Afrikaner Akkoord of 1991, whose demands were, at the time, highly unrealistic.

As Thabo Mbeki told the signatories of the original dissident plan to achieve a volkstaat back in the early 90s, they must “show me the animal” – meaning a de facto reality must be produced before it can be recognised in any way.

Orania forms the beginning of this, and for my part, I have made a submission to Solidariteit concerning the possibility of another such town elsewhere in this corridor.

What this means, is that at least until Ramaphosa is removed by his party, he will provide cover for the largest increase in Afrikaner self-determination seen in generations, and the Vreiheidsfront Plus have positioned themselves smartly, by remaining outside of the various coalitions, while seizing a key position as the tiebreaker in constitutional matters.

In spite of the reduced numbers in the polls, this may be the biggest victory the party has had to date.

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