The Northern Cape History

The Northern Cape has been politically dominated by African National Congress since 1994. The Northern Cape has an Afrikaans speaking majority giving rise to many ethnic issues in the politics of the Northern Cape. One of the widely publized issues is the site of the controversial Orania settlement, whose leaders have called for a Volkstaat for the Afrikaner people in the Northern Cape province.

The Northern Cape is also the home of over 1,000 San who immigrated from Namibia following the independence of the country; they had served as trackers and scouts for the South African government during the war, and feared reprisals from their former foes. They were awarded a settlement in Platfontein in 1999 by the Mandela government.

Today the Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa (Almost 3 times the size of Germany) and it is also the most sparsely populated South African province. The Northern Cape is well known for it's grapes from Upington, Iron from Sishen and diamonds from Kimberley.