| Brandfort | |
| Other Name: | Winnie Mandela |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Free State#South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -28.7014°N 26.4589°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Free State |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Lejweleputswa |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Masilonyana |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1875[1] |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Area Total Km2: | 27.1 |
| Population Total: | 3143 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2011) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 52.3% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 1.9% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 0.7% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 45.1% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 0.0% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2011) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Afrikaans |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 49.1% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Sotho |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 33.4% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | Xhosa |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 6.7% |
| Demographics2 Title4: | Tswana |
| Demographics2 Info4: | 4.1% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 6.7% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 9400 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 9400 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 051 |
Brandfort, officially renamed Winnie Mandela in 2021,[3] is a small agricultural town in the central Free State province of South Africa, about 60 km northeast of Bloemfontein on the R30 road. The town serves the surrounding farms for supplies and amenities. It is well known for once being home to the anti-apartheid stalwart and wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, during her banishment.
The town was established in 1866 on the farm Keerom, occupied by Jacobus van Zijl who was a Voortrekker elder. The community was visited by the then Orange Free State President, Johannes Brand, and the settlement was named in his honour shortly afterwards. Brandfort was proclaimed a town in 1874.[4]
The British built a concentration camp here during the Second Anglo-Boer War to house Boer women and children as well as a separate camp for Blacks. Brandfort was also at one time home to former prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, an architect of apartheid, who matriculated here.
Concentration camps, derived from the Spanish word "Spanish; Castilian: concentrade", were first used in Cuba in 1896 by General Butcher Weyler.[5] Half a million Cuban civilians were rounded up and incarcerated in fortified villages in which about 100 000 died. In South Africa, the first concentration camps were erected in early 1901 during the Anglo-Boer South African War (1899-1902), also known as the Second Boer War.[5] Thousands of women and children were removed from their farms and towns to the concentration camps.
Conditions in the concentration camps were poor due to overcrowding and inadequate supplies. Malnutrition and disease spread rapidly leading to the deaths of many civilians in these camps.[6]
Segregation persisted during wartime and there was a camp for whites called Dwyersdorp (named after Captain Dwyer who assisted white women and children who had been incarcerated at the camp) and the adjacent one for blacks was called Nooitgedacht.[7]
The camp cemetery was declared a National Monument in 1985 and currently holds Provincial Heritage Site status. It contains the remains of 1263 women and children. The cemetery was opened on 22 September 1962 by President Charles Robberts Swart.[8]
Winnie Mandela (politician, convicted murderer,[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] liberation struggle stalwart and former wife of the late Nelson Mandela) was banished to Brandfort in May 1977. She lived at house number 802 in the black township in Brandfort. The area had no running water and electricity and, when she moved to the house, there were no floors and ceilings.[15]
In the book, Winnie Mandela: A life, she described Brandfort as:
"A drab and dusty rural hamlet with unimaginative houses, an old-fashioned two-storey hotel, small shops lining the main street and a pervading atmosphere of lethargy and inactivity… The forlorn township had no official name but the black residents had baptised it “Phathakahle” meaning handle with care"[16]
The site has been nominated as a National Heritage Site and plans are underway to develop it into a museum.
Other monuments and heritage sites
This statue stands prominently in front of the Dutch Reformed Church. It commemorates the Boer women and children (and also farm workers) who died in the Brandfort concentration camps during the South African War.[20]
Due to a dwindling economy, Brandfort is a ghost town as of 2021 compared with what it was in previous decades. Brandfort was a neat town, known for its good schools, many professional inhabitants and businesses, agricultural co-operatives, good community health services, social support structures, quality sport and recreational facilities, caravan park, hotel and water reservoir. The poor maintenance of these facilities is evident today - the museums and monuments are deteriorating and no plan currently exists to save them from further decay.
The Admiral John Weston House Museum is under new management and the house is undergoing renovations. It is open to the public and entrance is free of charge. School educational visits are held on a regular basis.
The majority of the people in Brandfort are financially supported solely by government grants. There are only full-time employment opportunities for about 3% of the people.