Did you know?

• The Free State is the third largest province is South Africa and covers 10,6% of the country’s surface area.
• The largest fire service museum in South Africa is situated at the Ehrlich Park fire station in Bloemfontein.
• Though in its early days Bloemfontein was a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking establishment, it was actually founded by Major Henry Douglas Warden, a British army major.
• In preparation for the 2010 World Cup, MANGAUNG will receive R221 million to upgrade the Free State Stadium. When finished, the stadium will be able to host 46 000 people.
• Sesotho is the predominant home language of MANGAUNG’s residents.
• With more than 30 000 farms, which produce over 70% of the country’s grain, the Free State is known as South Africa’s breadbasket.
• MANGAUNG is the meeting point of two prominent national roads – the N1, which runs from Cape Town to Beit Bridge – and the N8, which runs from Kimberly to Maseru in Lesotho.
• Since MANGAUNG`s inception in 2000, almost 80 000 waterborne sanitation facilities have been constructed.
• The Free State Stadium, also know as Vodacom Park Stadium, is host to the Central Cheetahs (the super 14 rugby team) and the Free State Cheetahs (the Currie Cup rugby team). It is also host to many matches played by Bloemfontein Celtic, the Free State’s only football franchise.
• Since 2000, 17 000 low-cost houses have been built and an expanded Public Works programme has seen some 20 contractors and 40 supervisors trained by the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA).
• One thousand Non-Government Organisations have been trained in office management, the drawing of business plans, financial management and filing.
• Liverpool in the United Kingdom has a street called Bloemfontein Avenue.
• An often spoken story tells of how Bloemfontein was named after a Griqua Leader from the nineteenth century, Jan Bloem. This is a myth. The British did not have a history of naming places of nearby non-white inhabitants.
• The Bloemfontein airport has 33 flights per week departing for short-haul destinations.
• It was forecast at one stage in the 1970`s that, because of the rate of desertification, Bloemfontein would be a part of the Karoo by 2030. Contemporary climatologists are not so sure about this.
• For the 2010 World Cup, the city will require 20 000 tourism beds.
• In the apartheid fashion of naming airports after South African prime ministers, the Bloemfontein Airport was previously called JBM Hertzog Airport, after South Africa’s longest-serving head of government (1924-1939) of the same name.
• Road maintenance on the N1 highway, which runs through MANGAUNG, is estimated at R800 000 per kilometer.
• MANGAUNG translated into English means “place where the Cheetahs dwell”.
• MANGAUNG is South Africa’s seventh-largest municipality area and sixth-largest continuous urban settlement.
• MANGAUNG has a population of just under 700 000 people.
• Famous residents and former residents of MANGAUNG include athlete Zola Budd and author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, JRR Tolkien.
• The ANC, then the South African National Native Congress, was founded in Bloemfontein on 8 January 1912. John Dube was its first president and Sol Plaatjies was among the founding members.
• The Free State’s gold and diamond mines are among the most productive in the world.
• Bloemfontein Airport is the third-largest airport under the jurisdiction of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA ).
• The Bloemfontein Airport is only 10km from the city centre and transports about 200 000 passengers per year.
• “Bloemfontein” is also the name of a four-piece Canadian rock band.
• Bloemfontein was the site of one of the world’s first concentration camps. The National Women’s Memorial, on the outskirts of the city, pays homage to the 45 000 women and children who died in a British concentration camp set up during the Anglo-Boer War.
• South Africa’s judicial capital is Bloemfontein, the seat of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
• Botshabelo has approximately 300 000 residents, and although during 1980’s apartheid it was the fastest growing urban settlement in the country, now it is the slowest.
• Windhoek in Namibia also has a Nelson Mandela Street, along with many other streets named after famous leaders. This includes the address of the Namibian presidential house – on Robert Mugabe Avenue.
• Bloemfontein is also known as “The City of Roses”.
• MANGAUNG joins Johannesburg, Tshwane, Port Elizabeth and a host of other small South African town in having a Nelson Mandela Drive.
• The population of MANGAUNG is equivalent to the entire population of Guyana, a country on the Atlantic side of South America.
• In the findings of January 2007 poll run by Men’s Health, which was also published in the Sunday Times, Bloemfontein was rated the best place to live in South Africa.
• In a survey done by Ask Africa and Finweek in 2006, Dan Pienaar in Bloemfontein was identified as the most sought after suburb in South Africa.
• President Brand Street – named after the 19th century Orange Free State President, Jan Brand, has been declared a national monument.
• At one time, the First Raadsaal Building, with its dung floors and thatched roof, housed almost all the city’s original civic institutions.
• Bloemfontein was officially founded in 1846.
• The Free State Stadium was first built in 1952. It is expected to host 2010 World Cup matches to at least the second round.
• The Free State Stadium’s track record of hosted events includes Rugby World cup 1995 matches and certain 1996 Africa Cup of Nations games.
• Since the inception of the Soccer World Cup, Europe has hosted the event 10 times, South America five times, North America twice and Asia once. South Africa’s awarding of the rights to host the event was based on a new FIFA policy to swing the event from continent to continent. In 2014, the event will be hosted in Oceania.
• The MANGAUNG Fire Station Museum is the only museum of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and currently displays 17 vintage fire engines dating from 1926 to 1984, as well as vintage mayoral cars, steam engines and ambulance equipment.
• In 2006, the 8th annual MANGAUNG African Cultural Festival (Macufe) had
  6 200 performers and was attended by 142 000 people.
  The Free State comprises 10,6% of South African’s geographical area but only houses approximately 6,4% of the population.
• The Free State comprises 10,6% of South African’s geographical area but only houses approximately 6,4% of the population.
• Since 2000, eight SMME’s have been appointed by the MANGAUNG Local Municipality to render solid waste management in areas where council employees cannot reach.
• The bulk of MANGAUNG’s economy is formed by community services. This contributes to a third of the city’s economy revenue. Financial services are the second biggest sector.
• The Free State Cheetahs have won the Currie Cup three times, including the game they drew with the Blue Bulls in 2006. They have been in the final 10 times.