Voortrekkers (youth organization)

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Voortrekkers can also refer to the historical mass migration of the Afrikaner people: see Voortrekkers.

Emblem of the Voortrekker Afrikaner youth movement

The Voortrekkers is an Afrikaans language youth organisation founded in South Africa in 1931. The Voortrekkers developed their identity based on what they called their ABC: Afrikanerskap, Burgerskap, Christenskap (Afrikanership, Citizenship, Christianity).

The founding of the Voortrekkers coincided with the growth of Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa, then a British colony. In some ways it was an Afrikaans language alternative to the largely English-speaking Boy Scout movement with its British heritage. However, the Voortrekker programme was substantially more nationalist and religious than the Scout programme.

Organisationally, the Voortrekkers are divided into a number of gebiede (areas) which correspond to the old pre-1994 South African provinces plus Namibia, which in turn are subdivided into oorde (districts) and then kommandos (commandos). Each kommando consists of a number of spanne (teams).