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| website = {{official website|https://municipalities.co.za/overview/1043/masilonyana-local-municipality}}
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'''Brandfort''', officially renamed '''Winnie Mandela''' in 2021,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2021-08-06-free-state-town-of-brandfort-renamed-winnie-mandela/|title = Free State town of Brandfort renamed Winnie Mandela}}</ref> is a small agricultural town in the central [[Free State (province)|Free State]] province of [[South Africa]], about 60 km northeast of [[Bloemfontein]] on the [[R30 (South Africa)|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 Madikizela-Mandela|Winnie Mandela]], during her banishment.
==History==
The town was established in 1866 on the farm Keerom, occupied by Jacobus van
The [[United Kingdom|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.
==Main sites==
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===Concentration camps===
[[Internment|Concentration camps]], derived from the Spanish word "{{lang|es|concentrade}}", were first used in [[Cuba]] in 1896 by General Butcher Weyler.<ref name="War Museum p81">{{cite book|last=War Museum|title=Black participation and suffering in the South African War 1899-1902: An untold story|publisher=Firefly Publications|page=81}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="War Museum p81"/> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warwick|first=Peter|title= Black people and the South African War, 1899-1902|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=149}}</ref>
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Other monuments and heritage sites
The [[Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site]] lies about 46 km west of Brandfort and the site was declared a National Monument (now a Provincial Heritage Site) in 1997. The [[Florisbad Skull]], an early hominid from the Middle Stone Age, was found here.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sahra.org.za/sahris/declaredsites?title_op=contains&title=&field_fullsitename_value_op=contains&field_fullsitename_value=&province_op=is&province=&field_declarationtype_tid_op=or&field_declarationtype_tid=All&field_archivestatus_value_op=contains&field_archivestatus_value=&field_sitetype_tid=All&page=64|title=Declared sites|website=SAHRIS|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-date=7 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207014816/http://www.sahra.org.za/sahris/declaredsites?title_op=contains&title=&field_fullsitename_value_op=contains&field_fullsitename_value=&province_op=is&province=&field_declarationtype_tid_op=or&field_declarationtype_tid=All&field_archivestatus_value_op=contains&field_archivestatus_value=&field_sitetype_tid=All&page=64|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The first aeroplane built in Africa was built in Brandfort on property owned by Rear-Admiral John Weston. The house has been turned into a restaurant and tourist attraction setting out the history of the Rear-Admiral and Brandfort.<ref name="freestatetourism">{{cite web|url=http://freestatetourism.org/brandfort-attractions/|title=Brandfort Attractions|website=Free State Tourism|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-date=8 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208003547/http://freestatetourism.org/brandfort-attractions/|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has been nominated a National Heritage Site by SAHRA. This is where John Weston lived and designed both the aeroplane and Gnome engine now exhibited by the Bloemfontein Museum. The engine is a Provincial Heritage object of memory. He also designed the first RV/motorised caravan in the world. He travelled through Africa with his family for 18 months from Cape Agulhas to Palestine. Their journey was interrupted because the children had to attend school in England. He married Lily Roux in 1906. They had 3 children: Anna, Kathleen and Max. Weston lived an extraordinary life which came to an abrupt end in 1950 when he was murdered in Bergville.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Weston - 1872-1950 - Pioneer Aviator and Overland Traveller |url=https://www.johnwestonaviator.co.uk/tragedy/ |access-date=2023-04-22 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In front of the Dutch Reformed Church, there is a wall of names which honours [[Voortrekker]] settlers in the area.<ref name="freestatetourism"/>
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://showme.co.za/south-africa/free-state/goldfields/brandfort/#introanchor|title=Brandfort|website=Showme Community websites|access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref>
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