Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Free State — Facts and Figures

4 min read

Bloemfontein, founded in 1846, is known as Mangaung in Sesotho, which means ‘place of the cheetahs’.

  • Although JRR Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) was born in 1892 in Bloemfontein he nevertheless claimed to have early memories of “a hot country”.

  • The famous South African artist Tinus de Jongh (a contemporary of JH Pierneef) died in Bloemfontein in July 1942.

  • Bloemfontein’s Franklin Game reserve on Naval Hill is the only city in the world with a game reserve at its centre.

  • South Africa has 8 Unesco World heritage sites, one of which is situated in the Free State. (The Vredefort Dome is the world’s oldest and largest impact crater, see page 6)

  • The Free State has more than 30 000 farms which produce over 70% of the country’s grain. Crop production contributes two thirds of the provinces GDP.

  • The Free State’s subterranean rock is mostly mudstone, sandstone and shales, evidence that the region formed part of the Great Karoo, a region of 400 000 square kilometres that was a vast inland basin or shallow sea for most of the last 250 million years. The famous Brandwag rock formation in the Golden Gate National Park is a good example of the scale of some of the Free State’s sediments.

  • The rare bearded vulture (with one of the largest wingspan’s in the world) and the bald ibis are found in the Golden Gate sanctuary.

  • South Africa’s best examples of bushman rock art are found in the mountains and caves near Clarens, Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Ladybrand and Wepener.

  • The Free State is the only province in South Africa where Sesotho speakers are in the majority.

  • While the Free State is the third largest province at 129 825 square kilometres, and comprises more than 10% of South Africa’s landmass, it is the second least densely populated province, with just 2.82 million (or 6.4%) of all inhabitants.

  • Bloemfontein is the capital of the Free State, and the 7th largest South African city (behind Port Elizabeth) and just ahead of East London, with 753 000 residents.

  • In 2010 the Blomefontein suburb of Langenhovenpark was rated as the second best for property in South Africa based on sales, just behind Parklands in the Western Cape’s Milnerton area.

  • The largest church in Bloemfontein is the Christian Revival Church (CRC) with over 30 000 members.

  • Bloemfontein Airport is approximately 15km from the city centre and transports about 200 000 passengers per year.

  • One of the world’s first concentration camps was situated outside Bloemfontein. An estimated 26 370 women and children died in a single camp, with mortalities peaking at 50 per day.

  • The British welfare campaigner, Emily Hobhouse, campaigned actively for the rights of South African women. She gave her wedding veil to the Oranje Vrouevereniging (Orange Women’s Society), the first women’s welfare organisation in the Free State, as a symbol of her commitment to the upliftment of women. While her home county of Cornwall did not record her death, her memorial service in Bloemfontein (where her ashes rest today) is probably the largest ever granted to a non South African in the country’s history.

  • Welkom, about half the size of Bloemfontein, is the second largest Free State city, and the 19th largest city in South Africa with just over 405 000 residents.

  • Sasol, a specialist converter of coal gas to liquid (and world leader in this technology) is based in the Free State town of Sasolburg.

  • 90% of South Africa’s cherry production comes from Ficksburg, as well as the bulk of asparagus exports.

  • The Free State exports about 1.2 tons of cut flowers per year.

  • 12 gold mines representing 20% of the world’s reserves are the regions largest employer

  • 14% of the Free State’s manufacturing is classified as high-technology — the highest of all provincial economies.

  • In 1880 the white population comprised 45.7% of the Free State’s total population. This figure has fallen to below 10%.

  • The Mangaung African Cultural Festival or Macufe, was launched by the Free State government in 1997. Today Macufe is one of the largest cultural festivals on the African continent.

  • The premier of the province is Ace Magashule.

    • This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial supplement