On April27, 1994, all registered adult South Africans will have the opportunity to vote on a new government that will take the country through a crucial five-year transition period. For the first time in the country's history a majority of the people--South Africa's blacks--will be able to vote in elections that will determine the course of their lives.

For Afrikaners, a great challenge looms. Since the Afrikaner-dominated National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948, it has governed according to the most fundamental beliefs of apartheid: that people of different races should live separate lives; that the Afrikaners had a God-given right to rule all the people of South Africa; that the Afrikaners were a chosen people; and that there is a biblical justification for apartheid.

At the heart of their steadfast determination and ability to rule the land was Afrikaans, a language jealously guarded and nurtured by its speakers since the Dutch arrived in South Africa in the seventeenth century But when they began to question the basic tenets of apartheid, many ideas emerged about who an Afrikaner is. Is an Afrikaner anyone whose first language is Afrikaans? Or is it anyone who shares Afrikaans values? Izak Barnard, who counts more British than Dutch among his ancestors and whose father was the only one of four siblings to marry an Afrikaans woman, undoubtedly considers himself and his family Afrikaners. Moreover, there are Portuguese Afrikaners, Jewish Afrikaners, and Anglo-Afrikaners.

However Afrikaners define themselves, it is a fact that their privileged position in South Africa has been surrendered. Their differences have become all the more significant as their very future as a people has been thrown in doubt. Today, as the nation stands poised on the brink of a new structure, with new leadership and laws, they wonder if their language and culture will survive.

Language battles

In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck and ninety of his countrymen arrived from Holland to set up a way station for ships of the Dutch East India Company. Religious upheavals in the Netherlands between Catholics and Calvinists led more settlers to flee their homeland.

The Dutch were followed in 1688 by an influx of French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution. They provided a wide variety of skills, improving the settlement's chances of survival. But under the rule of the Dutch East India Company, the Huguenots were forbidden to speak their own language; within a generation of their arrival, French had disappeared from the Cape Colony. Virtually all that remained of their roots were their family names, many of which survive to this day. It was the first round in the language war, and the Dutch won it soundly.

By the end of the seventeenth century, the Dutch community numbered about 37,000. Their farming settlement enjoyed a century of peace and stability. Then, in 1795, French armies invaded the Netherlands. The English took the opportunity to protect their shipping lanes around the Cape of Good Hope by seizing the territory and colonizing Cape Town.

By 1806, the British had firm control of the colony and had established English as the official language. English speakers took jobs that were once the sole province of the Dutch; for example, English teachers filled positions in Dutch schools. In 1820, the pressure increased as the arrival of British settlers in the eastern part of the colony doubled the number of English speakers. Included were British missionaries intent on improving the conditions of the Khoi, the people who occupied the land when the first Dutch arrived. Also present in the region were the Xhosa. The Boers (Dutch for "farmers") had frequently engaged in skirmishes with the Xhosa, and rival claims for land caused hostilities and anxieties among them. When the British passed laws abolishing discrimination on the basis of color, the Afrikaners (people of Africa) were determined to put themselves out of reach of British law. The result was the Great Trek, the defining moment in the Afrikaners' history, mythology, and character, exemplifying their determination to live as they wished and do whatever it took to be left alone.

The Great Trek

In 1834, explorations of the territory beyond the limits of the colony yielded reports of vast, unoccupied lands. A year later, the first of the Afrikaans families loaded their ox-drawn wagons and set out for the interior. Several groups, leaving from various points, slowly made their way north. Piet Retief, one of the trekkers, wrote of their reasons for going:

We are resolved, wherever we go, that we will uphold the just principles of liberty; but whilst we will take care that no one shall be held in a state of slavery, it is our determination to maintain such regulations as may suppress crime and reserve proper relations between master and servant.

There was no question as to who should naturally and properly fill the roles of master and servant. By the time the Voortrekkers, as they came to be known, were on the move, many Boers were living far from Cape Town; Afrikaans communities had been established as far as four hundred miles to the east.

The Boers encountered tremendous hardships during their trek over the Drakensburg Mountains. And, as they soon discovered, the land they were moving into was not empty of people. The Boers engaged in bitter battles with the Zulus, an aggressive and well-disciplined fighting people who did not see the Afrikaners as their masters. Indeed, the Zulus had chased other black tribes out of the region.

Additionally, the Boers were unable to elude the British colonial office, which refused to allow them their independence and moved to reclaim any region that they established as independent republics. Not until 1854 were they granted their independence in two regions, the Transvaal and Orange Free State. But this was not enough to put the Boers out of reach of the British and their laws.

When diamonds and gold were found in the Boer republics, the British annexed some of the territory, setting the stage for the two Anglo-Boer wars. In 1899, the Second Boer War began, with the Boer commandos well prepared to fight a guerrilla war suited to their skills and intimate knowledge of the land. With no more than 80,000 men, they challenged 450,000 soldiers sent from various parts of the British Empire. Initially, the Boer fighters achieved many successes, helped by the sympathy and support of the Afrikaners.

When the guerrilla war was at its height, the British resorted to destroying Afrikaans homesteads that had been supplying the soldiers with food and shelter. And then, in another of the defining moments of Afrikaans history, the British rounded up Afrikaans women and children and placed them in concentration camps to prevent them from aiding the soldiers. Conditions were so harsh that 26,000 died. As a result of these deaths, the Afrikaners agreed to end the war, signing a treaty at the town of Vereeniging on May 31, 1902.

The Afrikaners were at the lowest point in their brief history. They were defeated, their homes and farms were devastated, and they were virtually without resources. Both in the Great Trek and the wars that followed, their culture and language were widely diffused. Isolated groups developed independently, without cultural support or exchange. Viewpoints and ideas became stultified.

The Afrikaners bitterly resented the ruling British. Then, in 1910, a glimmer of hope emerged when South Africa became a self-governing union within the British Empire. In an effort to bridge the gap created by the war, the British granted concessions. Most important, they declared that Afrikaans would be on a par with English in the schools. The battle for this dramatic gesture was waged by Gen. Barry Hertzog. A major figure of the Boer War, he was the man most responsible for the guerrilla tactics that had been so successful against the British.

In 1912, Hertzog declared, "All who gave their unconditional loyalty to South Africa were Afrikaners." He included even the English speakers, as he saw the nation moving forward as two great, parallel forces. He did not mention the blacks.

Shortly after union, South African whites were called to serve in World War I. Although many Afrikaners were aghast at the prospect of fighting the Germans on behalf of the British, others saw their loyalty as rightfully belonging to their country. They fought the Germans in the neighboring colony of South-West Africa. In 1925, their loyalty was rewarded when Afrikaans was granted equal status with English in the South African constitution.

The Broederbond

Right after the war, a small group of Afrikaners got together to begin he task of protecting, defending, and promoting Afrikaans language and culture. Given their history, the Afrikaners did not feel either would survive without stringent action. The result was the Broederbond Brotherhood), a secret organization founded in 1918. Its highly placed members were responsible for virtually the entire shape, structure, and political philosophy of South Africa as we know it today. Every repressive law that would follow, every act of segregation and subjugation, derived from their determination to promote Afrikaans culture and language.

The goal of the Broederbond was to create an Afrikaans nation separate from the English-speaking people. A 1934 letter to the membership stated, "What we expect of members is that they should have as their object the Afrikanerizing of South Africa in all aspects of its life . . . . The primary consideration is whether Afrikanerdom will reach its ultimate destiny of domination in South Africa."

The Broederbond infiltrated the schools with members who would promote Afrikaans culture even among English-speaking schoolchildren. They dominated the civil service, which became essentially an Afrikaans employment agency. If an Afrikaner could not find work, the railroads were bound to take him in. South African Railways became the largest employer in South Africa.

The battle for domination achieved singular success in 1948 with the first National Party victory. Now the Afrikaners were positioned to use the law to promote their language and culture. They methodically enacted a series of laws designed to separate, segregate, and control the population. The railways were instrumental in putting these apartheid policies into effect, moving vast numbers of black workers in and out of "white" areas when and as they were needed.

In all they did, the Afrikaners believed that the Bible contained justification from God for the policy of apartheid. The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, as it evolved from its original Calvinist teachings, connected the practice of religion with the political direction of the nation. Its members were told that God had foreordained certain groups as the chosen people and that everything they did was done with God's approval. The Voortrekkers took only the Bible with them as they searched for their own piece of land; many Afrikaners are still said to read no other book. There was no separation between their church, their Afrikanerness, and their nation.

In 1954, when the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa was challenged to provide the biblical proof for apartheid, its search for a specific citation was in vain. Consequently, the World Council of Churches condemned apartheid. The Dutch Reformed Church was forced to withdraw from membership, thus isolating the people from this very important religious connection.

The beginning of the end

Afrikaans culture and language remained dominant thanks to government control of virtually every aspect of life. Government-run radio and, eventually, television broadcast the official message and gave prominence to Afrikaans. Television was not allowed into South Africa until 1970, when the government felt policies were in place to control its influence. Dubbing into Afrikaans was extensive, in an effort to keep the language on an equal footing despite the onslaught of more readily available English programs. In time, a channel was established for the Zulu and Xhosa, but its content too was government controlled.

Early education for black children was in their mother tongues. Nevertheless, the curriculum was designed to make blacks useful to the apartheid-structured economy and keep them separate.

In 1976, the government declared that after black students had completed their early education, they were to be taught in Afrikaans. Rioting by black students, enraged at this further attempt to control and direct their lives, erupted in Soweto, the huge black township outside Johannesburg, and then spread to other black townships around the country. Though the uprising was brutally suppressed by the South African police, with great loss of black life, it was clear that the language issue had not lost its potency.

Over a decade later, when South African President F .W. de Klerk declared that apartheid was to be ended and released black leader Nelson Mandela from prison after twenty-seven years, he unloosed a torrent of doubts and despair among Afrikaners. The beliefs and laws that had guided them were now open to question. The country was to be run with full participation; jobs would be awarded based on merit rather than skin color. The laws of apartheid began to be dismantled.

Afrikaans was to lose its privileged, protected position, and so were the Afrikaners.

A Volkstaat?

In an effort to preserve, protect, and nourish the Afrikaans way of life, the AWB, an extremist group, has been waging a campaign for its own homeland: a Volkstaat, or Boer state. Its determined and charismatic leader, Eugene Terre'Blanche, has been lobbying for a piece of land for all those who don't want to live with the changes or be treated as a minority. His group gathered at the Voortrekker Monument last December 16, a crucial day in the Afrikaans year. It was on December 16, 1838, that the Afrikaners won a battle with the Zulus and made a vow to God that they would forever honor that day. But the celebrations at the monument, previously honored by all kinds of Afrikaners, have been "hijacked," according to moderates. The faction that Terre'Blanche represents wants to turn back the clock to a mythical time when whites lived separately from blacks. They are looking for a piece of land without blacks on it. They have a very highly regarded supporter in the person of Gen. Constand Viljoen.

Viljoen, who led the South African force in Angola, is one of the most respected figures in the army. Along with Terre'Blanche, he is lobbying for a white homeland because he fears the results of the elections and the end of Afrikaans domination. Viljoen says, "With the election, the Afrikaans people only have 7 percent of the people; that is not democracy, because the 7 percent is not going to guarantee your freedom. You will have no place of your own. You won't have your language. The use has been scaled down tremendously already."

Symbolically, months before the election, Coca-Cola and local beermakers began sending out their products in English-only cans. For a people who erected a monument to their language, such a loss is significant.

Some have already tried to make their own little Volkstaats by creating white-only towns. Orania is the best known of these, a tiny town in which all property was bought by the members of an Afrikaans group. Located near the Orange River, far from any city, Orania has tried to develop an economy that can be supported only by its white residents. However, there are already reports that they have brought in people of color to do work they are unable or unwilling to do themselves.

The prospects of a real Volkstaat are uncertain. Mandela, the heavy favorite in the April elections, initially said there will be no "Boerstaat." But after sometimes violent opposition, Mandela recently stated that the African National Congress was willing to guarantee provincial rights in a new constitution, a key demand of both white separatists and conservative black homeland leaders.

Perhaps the ultimate Volkstaat is Radio Pretoria, a homeland of the airwaves, broadcasting the ideas of rightwing Afrikaners. Even if the transitional government had granted the Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF) its own state somewhere in South Africa, few would actually move there. But Radio Pretoria gives them an outlet, a place to hear a message they agree with, a place to hear their language uninterruptedly. When Radio Pretoria was inaugurated by General Viljoen in September 1993, it gave voice to the aspirations and fears of the Right. But it has been a pirate station, largely operating without permission.

When the station lost its temporary license to operate and was threatened with closure by the Transitional Executive Council (TEC), the body that now governs South Africa, nearly 2,000 white commandos under the command of Willem Ratte took action. They dug trenches, prayed, and waited for orders. Anxious to avoid an armed confrontation, TEC granted another extension. The Afrikaners were responding to the virtual about-face taking place at SABC, formerly the Afrikaans government-controlled radio and television network. One of TEC's first moves was to name new black executives to head the network and change the programming's heavily Afrikaans bias. For Afrikaners, the changes have felt like a cultural earthquake.

A people in transition

The use of Afrikaans among English speakers will diminish, as the law regarding its forced teaching has been repealed. But in business and in educated, cosmopolitan areas of the country, the Afrikaners will speak English, as they always have. Although bilingual whites are not few in number, they are a minority compared to those who never use the Afrikaans they learned in school and the great number of Afrikaners who speak English.

Another benefit is that more white people will learn a black language. Already, Zulu is being offered as an option in some English-language schools. Living in Zulu areas, notably Natal, they find it more useful to be able to speak the language of the majority of the population.

As one of its first acts, TEC made eleven languages "official." But as George Orwell put it, some will be more equal than others. There are, after all, far fewer people speaking Venda than Xhosa or Zulu. The act was a highly symbolic and effective acknowledgment of the previous government's policy of marginalizing or making invisible non-Afrikaans cultures until 1990. It will be up to the new government to find a reasonable way to put the edict to practical use.

Although the most radical Afrikaners cling to the past, the rest are working hard to come to grips with the future. They are not trying to run away to a mythical white homeland, nor are they leaving the country. This is their land and has been for many generations. They are trying to make the accommodations necessary to share without losing everything.

Lize Hugo, active on the South African Association of Arts Council, says, "The Arts Council was supporting things like opera and ballet. Now funding will go to community centers. Money must go to education and housing. We don't know the future. The imbalance that was created by apartheid has been cracked." When schools were opened to all races, for example, the decision was made on a school-by-school basis. "Each school board had to vote, to decide if it wanted to open up," explains Hugo. "Most of the schools voted to open. My children's school voted to open, and it was a traditional Afrikaans school named for Jan van Riebeeck." Whatever happens, she is staying. "I want to be here; I want to vote," she says. `We have waited for this for so long."