Founder member and president of the Patriotic Alliance Gayton McKenzie Picture Ian Landsberg
PATRIOTIC Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie believes municipalities around the country can adapt similar strategies for success much like in the town of Orania.
McKenzie spent a night in the whites-only town in the Northern Cape where he interacted with leadership and dared to order black coffee.
Speaking to eNCA, McKenzie said other municipalities could emulate the order, systems and structure found in Orania.
“Orania is a town where everyone works. Orania is working on ways to get off the grid. They have their own bank and schools and even a technical school and export to other countries. Our leaders go on fact-finding missions to other countries instead of going to learn right here in Orania,” he said.
McKenzie said that on the way to Orania he thought it would be a relic of the past, but was surprised to see how much the town was doing.
“What is wrong with Orania was the racism, however, it is a place with a population of 3,000 buildings, a city right in front of our eyes,” he told EWN in another interview.
McKenzie last week announced his resignation as district executive mayor of Central Karoo. He said he believed he left the community that he served better off than he found them.
He thanked coalition partners for keeping his administration “on its toes”.