Winburg
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Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State Province of South Africa. The trade of cattle for land between the Vaal and Vet Rivers, undertaken by Andries Pretorius and the Bataung Chief Makwana in 1836, led to a dispute between the Voortrekkers. When the dispute was settled, the first Voortrekker town in the Free State was proclaimed and its name (to "win" a dispute). Winburg acted as an outpost and religious centre. It was originally selected as the site for the main Voortrekker Monument but Pretoria won favour and a five tiered secondary Voortrekker (settler) monument was built on the outskirts of Winburg instead. It carries the names of the Voortrekker (settler) leaders: Uys, Potgieter, Pretorius, Retief and Maritz. The length of the tiers are in relation to the distances traveled by the five settler groups. On the 16th of December, the day on which the ancestors of the Boer settlers celebrate the battle of Blood River, the sun passes directly over the monument and a plaque with a Christian religios message at the base is illuminated. The monument is built near the site of the birth-house of Martinus Theunis Steyn who was president of the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State.
Winburg was also the site of the legislature of the Republic of the Orange Free State until the fall of the Boers to the English at the End of the Anglo-Boer War.
The town was the site of a concentration camp for women and children captured by the English during their campaign of Scortched Earth. Many of these woman and children died due to malnutrition and contagious diseases. Very few of the English soldiers guarding the camp suffered the same fate.
The town is situated next N1 highway, which links Cape Town to Johannesburg.
The white and black communities in Winburg, as in most South African towns, still lead segregated lives, a remenant of apartheid. The name of the black township is Mackeleketla. Since apartheid has come to an end, however, the social interaction between the two groups are slowly returning to normal.
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