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THE FREE STATE

Free State (province)

The Free State (Sotho: Freistata; Afrikaans: Vrystaat [ˈfrɛistɑːt]; Xhosa: iFreyistata; Tswana: Foreistata; Zulu: iFuleyisitata), formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later the Orange Free State Province.

History

Further information: Orange Free State

The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War.

The Free State

The Free State is one of the nine provinces of South Africa and is centrally located. It represents 10.6% of the total land area of the country. It boasts wide horizons, blue skies, mountains and goldfields. The province covers an area of 129 464 km2 and is roughly the size of Nicaragua. In 2011, the province had a population of 2.7 million with four district municipalities and one metropolitan municipality. The Free State is situated on the flat, boundless plains in the centre of South Africa. It borders most of the other provinces, the exceptions being Limpopo and the Western Cape. To the east, it has an international boundary with Lesotho nestling in the hollow of its beanlike shape, and the escarpment separates it from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

The Orange and Vaal rivers form the southern, western and most of the northern border and the last section of the north-eastern boundary is formed by the Klip River. The western part of the Free State consists of plains, with pans as primary hydrological feature. The eastern part is mountainous. The Maluti Mountains along the border are connected to the Drakensberg on the border with KwaZulu-Natal. The province consists mainly of grasslands with some Karoo vegetation in the south.

Climate

Almost uniformly at about 1,300m above sea level, the Free State climate is typical of the interior plateau with rain falling in summer, cold winters and lots of sunshine. Almost all precipitation falls in the summer months, with aridity increasing towards the west. Frost occurs throughout the region usually from May to early September in the west and up to early October in the east. To the north, the Vaal irrigation area nourishes the small assortment of farming towns below it, and the hue of the Free State countryside is often green.

Areas in the east experience frequent snowfalls in winter, especially on the higher ranges, whilst the west can be extremely hot in summer. The south brings hot, dry summer days and long, cold winter nights. This semi-desert area also brings fluctuations of temperature from day to night. The west is warm and cold in equal measure, its inhabitants making use of the many man-made water recreation facilities to endure the heat as much as using heating facilities in winter’s low temperatures.

Regions

The Fezile Dabi District is an important agricultural production area, mainly maize. The Vaal Dam is the main source of water and offers a wide variety of leisure facilities. Other attractions include the Vredefort Dome, which is the third largest meteorite site in the world, and San paintings. Sasolburg is the location of the country’s largest chemical and synthetic fuel plant.

The Lejweleputswa District boasts goldfields and it is a major agricultural area. The district forms part of the larger Witwatersrand basin. The first gold was discovered in the early 1940s. Bothaville is one of the important maize centres in the country. The annual National Maize Production Organisation festival attracts more than 70 000 visitors and is the second largest private show in the world.

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality contains the largest population and comprises mainly of open grassland, with mountains in the most eastern region. The main urban centre is Bloemfontein. The city is the trade and administrative hub of the Free State and boasts the provincial government and the seat of the Appeal Court of South Africa. It also has a rich history, which includes the establishment of the African National Congress in 1912 and the National Party in 1914.

The Thabo Mofutsanyana District borders Lesotho to the east and has beautiful hills and fruit farms. The district is one of the most important tourism destinations due to spectacular scenic beauty of the Drakensberg and Maluti mountain ranges. Other attractions include the Golden Gate Highland Park, the annual cherry festival at Ficksburg, a Basotho cultural village in Maluti-a-Phofung, and Khoisan rock paintings.

The Xhariep District is located in the south-west of the province and is a semi-arid area with extensive farming, mainly sheep. The district comprises open grasslands with small wide dispersed towns. The Xhariep Dam is one of the tourists’ attractions. It offers a variety of leisure facilities.

Tourism

The Free State lies at the heart of the country. The province disposes of inter alia 14 nature reserves with varying facilities; four large holiday resorts; 12 state dams with banks totalling some 760 km; numerous sports and outdoor opportunities; nine restored battlefields; some 12 000 tourist beds and a booming guesthouse industry. Each region offers its own unique tourism attractions;

Mangaung

Phillip Sanders and Maselspoort resorts near Bloemfontein
Botanical Gardens, Naval Hill and Franklin Game Reserve
Bloemfontein Zoo
National Museum – huge collection of fossils and archaeological discoveries
Women’s Memorial Monument
Anglo-Boer War Museum
SA Military Museum
Freshford House Museum
Waaihoek precinct, founding venue of the ANC
Digareteneng (Place of curtains), built to coincide with the visit of King George V in 1952
Maphikela House has been declared as a national monument and named after Mr Thomas Maphikela who was the first Secretary-General of the ANC
Dr Sebe James Moroka House historical site (Thaba Nchu)
Sand Du Plessis Theatre
Loch Logan Waterfront
Mimosa Mall Shopping Complex
Oliewenhuis Art Gallery
President Brand Street -housing inter alia Appeal Court, Free State Legislature, Gen. CR de Wet Statue, City Hall, Afrikaans Literature Museum

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Fezile Dabi District

Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site The Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site, declared a heritage site by UNESCO in 2005, came about in a matter of minutes an estimated 2 billion years ago when an asteroid that hit the earth, with the resultant rock formation today mainly between Parys, Vredefort and an adjacent part of North West Province spanning some 10 km in diameter. As such it is the largest known impact structure on earth.
Eco-tourism at the Ghoya Africa conservancy situated on the R34 ± 12 km south of Heilbron en route to Edenville and the Francolin Creek Conservancy situated approximately 30 km east of Heilbron
Two luxurious golf estates, private game ranches and nature reserves in the Parys region
Deneysville at the Vaal Dam, hosts the biggest annual inland regatta, the Round the Island Race – on the 300 km² sprawling Vaal Dam.

Lejweleputswa District

Aventura Aldam Holiday Resort and Willem Pretorius Game Reserve
NAMPO Harvest Farm near Bothaville
Golden Arts & Crafts Scramble at Hennenman and Virginia
Aco tractor factory near Hoopstad
Voortrekker Monument at Winburg
Gold Museum in the Welkom Library
Underground mine tours
Phakisa Racetrack
Folk Dancing Monument at Boshof

Thabo Mofutsanyane District

Golden Gate National Highlands Park near Bethlehem
Basotho Cultural Village at QwaQwa
Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve near Memel constitutes a wetland with RAMSAR status is a bird-watching mecca
Wolhuterskop Nature Reserve in Bethlehem
Sterkfontein Dam
Titanic Rock at the northern entrance of Clarens
Bushman rock art at 27 farms near Fouriesburg
Korannaberg Hiking Trail at Excelsior
Mountain bike trails at Marquard
Claerhout Art Gallery at Tweespruit
Cherry Festival annually in November at Ficksburg

Xhariep District

Gariep Dam and resort
Annual Equestrian Endurance event at Fauresmith
Railroad tracks running through the centre of Fauresmith
Landzicht Wine Cellar at Jacobsdal
Open Mine Museum and mining hole at Jagersfontein
Open Mine Museum at Koffiefontein
Transgariep Museum and Laurens van der Post Memorial at Philippolis
The ‘Little Gallery’ at Smithfield
Gariep Dam
The ‘Eye’ of Zastron
DH Steyn bridge near Bethulie

The Free State (Sotho: Freistata; Afrikaans: Vrystaat [ˈfrɛistɑːt]; Xhosa: iFreyistata; Tswana: Foreistata; Zulu: iFuleyisitata), formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later the Orange Free State Province.

History

Further information: Orange Free State

The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War.

Law and government

The provincial government consists of a premier, an executive council of ten ministers, and a legislature. The provincial assembly and premier are elected for five-year terms, or until the next national election. Political parties are awarded assembly seats based on the percentage of votes each party receives in the province during the national elections. The assembly elects a premier, who then appoints the members of the executive council.

The provincial legislature meets at the Vierde Raadsaal in Bloemfontein. As of February 2023 the premier of Free State is Mxolisi Dukwana of the African National Congress (ANC).[8]

Geography

Cornelia in the Riemland region

The Free State is situated on a succession of flat grassy plains sprinkled with pastureland, resting on a general elevation of 3,800 feet only broken by the occasional hill or kopje. The rich soil and pleasant climate allow for a thriving agricultural industry.

The province is high-lying, with almost all land being 1,000 metres above sea level. The Drakensberg and Maloti Mountains foothills raise the terrain to over 2,000 m in the east. The Free State lies in the heart of the Karoo Sequence of rocks, containing shales, mudstones, sandstones and the Drakensberg Basalt forming the youngest capping rocks. Mineral deposits are plentiful, with gold and diamonds being of particular importance, mostly found in the north and west of the province.

Fauna and flora

The flats in the south of the reserve provide ideal conditions for large herds of plain game such as black wildebeest and springbok. The ridges, koppies and plains typical of the northern section are home to kudu, red hartebeest, southern white rhinoceros and buffalo. The Southern African wildcat, black wildebeest, zebra, eland, white rhinoceros and wild dog can be seen at the Soetdoring Nature Reserve near Bloemfontein. The South African cheetahs were reintroduced in the Free State for the first time in June 2013 after a hundred years of regional extinction, at Laohu Valley Reserve near Philippolis.[9] Following the reintroduction of an adult female South African cheetah in early 2016, three wild cheetah cubs were born for the first time in Laohu Valley Reserve in February 2017, making the three new cubs the first cheetahs born in the wild since their disappearance from the Free State province in over a century.

Climate

The Free State experiences a continental climate, characterised by warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. Areas in the east experience frequent snowfalls, especially on the higher ranges, whilst the west can be extremely hot in summer. Almost all precipitation falls in the summer months as brief afternoon thunderstorms, with aridity increasing towards the west. Areas in the east around Harrismith, Bethlehem and Ficksburg are well watered. The capital, Bloemfontein, experiences hot, moist summers and cold, dry winters frequented by severe frost.

Bloemfontein averages: January maximum: 31 °C (min: 15 °C), July maximum: 17 °C (min: -2 °C), annual precipitation: 559 mm
Bethlehem averages: January maximum: 27 °C (min: 13 °C), July maximum: 16 °C (min: -2 °C), annual precipitation: 680 mm

Borders

Mafahlaneng township at Tweeling

In the southeast, the Free State borders seven districts of Lesotho:

Mokhotlong – farthest to the east
Butha-Buthe – northwest of Mokhotlong and northeast of Leribe
Leribe – southwest of Butha-Buthe and northeast of Berea
Berea – southwest of Leribe and north of Maseru
Maseru – south of Berea and northeast of Mafeteng
Mafeteng – southwest of Maseru and northwest of Mohale's Hoek
Mohale's Hoek – southeast of Mafeteng

Domestically, it borders the following provinces:

KwaZulu-Natal – east
Eastern Cape – south
Northern Cape – west
North West – northwest
Gauteng – north
Mpumalanga – northeast

The Free State borders more districts of Lesotho and more provinces of South Africa than any other province.

It is traversed by the northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Municipalities

Main article: List of municipalities in the Free State

Free State districts and local municipalities

The Free State Province is divided into one metropolitan municipality and four district municipalities. The district municipalities are in turn divided into 19 local municipalities:

Metropolitan municipalities

Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality

District municipalities

Major cities and towns

The Free State's major towns include:

Bloemfontein & Botshabelo in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality
Welkom, Odendaalsrus and Virginia in Lejweleputswa
Bethlehem, Harrismith and Phuthaditjhaba in Thabo Mofutsanyana
Kroonstad, Sasolburg and Parys in Fezile Dabi

Health

The Free State is the only province in South Africa that operates a free 24-hour dedicated rotor-wing aeromedical service from a public hospital. They are able to reach far-flung areas in only 45 minutes and deliver a high level of care on scene. On 31 October 2018, Free State Emergency Medical Service launched an additional 65 road ambulances to augment the fleet.

The Free State has many public and private hospitals.

Economy

The province is the granary of South Africa, with agriculture central to its economy, while mining on the rich goldfields reef is its largest employer.

Agriculture

Cattle grazing near Winburg

Agriculture dominates the Free State landscape, with cultivated land covering 32,000 square kilometres, and natural veld and grazing a further 87,000 square kilometres of the province. It is also South Africa's leader in the production of biofuels, or fuel from agricultural crops, with a number of ethanol plants under construction in the grain-producing western region. South Africa is one of the top ten Maize producers in the world (12,365,000 tons as of 2013).

Field crops yield almost two-thirds of the gross agricultural income of the province. Animal products contribute a further 30%, with the balance generated by horticulture. Ninety percent of the country's cherry crop is produced in the Ficksburg district, which is also home to the country's two largest asparagus canning factories. Soya, sorghum, sunflowers and wheat are cultivated in the eastern Free State, where farmers specialise in seed production. About 40% of the country's potato yield comes from the province's high-lying areas.

The main vegetable crop is asparagus, both white and green varieties. Although horticulture is expanding and becoming increasingly export-orientated, most produce leaves the province unprocessed.

The Free State's advantage in floriculture is the opposing seasons of the southern and northern hemispheres.

Mining

The Free State is also rich in mineral wealth, gold representing 20% of the world's total gold production. Mining is the province's major employer. The province has 12 gold mines, producing 30% of South Africa's output and making it the fifth-largest producer of gold in the world. The Harmony Gold Refinery and Rand Refinery are the only two gold refineries in South Africa.

Gold mines in the Free State also supply a substantial portion of the total silver produced in the country, while considerable concentrations of uranium occurring in the gold-bearing conglomerates of the goldfields are extracted as a byproduct.

Bituminous coal is also mined, and converted to petrochemicals at Sasolburg. The Free State also produces high-quality diamonds from its kimberlite pipes and fissures, and the country's largest deposit of bentonite is found in the Koppies district.

Industry

Since 1989, the Free State economy has moved from dependence on primary sectors such as mining and agriculture to an economy increasingly oriented towards manufacturing and export. Some 14% of the province's manufacturing is classified as being in high-technology industries – the highest of all provincial economies. The northern Free State's chemicals sector is one of the most important in the southern hemisphere. Petrochemicals company Sasol, based in the town of Sasolburg, is a world leader in the production of fuels, waxes, chemicals and low-cost feedstock from coal.

Tourism

On top of Koranaberg

In the northeastern Free State, nestled in the rolling foothills of the Maluti mountains, the Golden Gate Highlands National Park is the province's prime tourist attraction. The park gets its name from the brilliant shades of gold cast by the sun on the spectacular sandstone cliffs, especially the imposing Brandwag or Sentinel Rock, which keeps vigil over the park.

Brandwag (The Sentinel)

The sandstone of this region has been used for the lovely dressed-stone buildings found on the Eastern Highlands, while decoratively painted Sotho houses dot the grasslands. Some of South Africa's most valued San (Bushman) rock art is found in the Free State, particularly in the regions around Clarens, Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Ladybrand and Wepener.

Sesotho is the dominant home language in most of the province. Zulu is the major language in the far eastern municipality of Phumelela. Setswana is the main language in Tokologo in the northwest, and in and around the area of Thaba Nchu. The Free State is the only province in South Africa with a Sesotho majority. Afrikaans is widely spoken throughout the province, as a first language for the majority of whites and coloureds (who constitute a minority) and as a second or third language by Sesotho, Setswana and Xhosa speakers. Although there are relatively few native English speakers, English is becoming increasingly important as the language of business and government. This is evidenced by the shift of tertiary institutions such as the University of the Free State from solely using Afrikaans as the medium of instruction to using both Afrikaans and English.

Ethnicity

The majority of the population are black Africans who speak Sotho as a first language. The vast majority of white people in the Free State are Afrikaans-speaking. In 1880 the white population made up 45.7% of the total population. In 1904 this had fallen to 36.8%.[11] Of the 142,679 people in 1904, only 60% were born in the province. Of the 2,726 European immigrants born in non-British states, 1,025 came from the Russian Empire, mainly Jews. In 1904 whites made up a majority in most settlements, namely Ficksburg (52.3%), Wepener (60.2%), Ladybrand (60.0%), and Kroonstad (51.6%), and made up a substantial minority in Bloemfontein (45.7%) and Winburg (36.3%).