Brandfort, Liberation Capital (1977-86)

A special edition of Chimurenga Chronic, exploring the intellectual, social and political work of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela during the period of her banishment in Brandfort from 1977-86.

Banished to Brandfort in 1977, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela noted that this act, carried out by the apartheid authorities, was intended “to bury me forever.” However, it was her presence that ultimately repositioned the small rural town in the Free State as a centre for black radicalism.

Before Mama Winnie was removed from Soweto, along with her daughters Zenani and Zindziswa, and dumped outside of 802 Mothupi Street, Brandfort, the town was infamous as the location of British concentration camps, during the Second Anglo-Boer war, and the once home to Hendrik Verwoerd, a man synonymous with apartheid. Mama Winnie fundamentally changed that, as she recalled, “I was never as active as in Brandfort.”