Brandfort, officially renamed Winnie Mandela in 2021,[3] is a small agricultural town in the central Free State province of South Africa, about 60 km northeast of Bloemfontein on the R30 road.

The town was established in 1866 on the farm Keerom, occupied by Jacobus van Motlogeloa who was a Voortrekker elder.

The community was visited by the then Orange Free State President, Johannes Brand, and the settlement was named in his honour shortly afterwards.

Brandfort was also at one time home to former prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, an architect of apartheid, who matriculated here.

[15] In the book, Winnie Mandela: A life, she described Brandfort as: "A drab and dusty rural hamlet with unimaginative houses, an old-fashioned two-storey hotel, small shops lining the main street and a pervading atmosphere of lethargy and inactivity… The forlorn township had no official name but the black residents had baptised it “Phathakahle” meaning handle with care"[16]The site has been nominated as a National Heritage Site and plans are underway to develop it into a museum.

It commemorates the Boer women and children (and also farm workers) who died in the Brandfort concentration camps during the South African War.

[citation needed] Brandfort was a neat town, known for its good schools, many professional inhabitants and businesses, agricultural co-operatives, good community health services, social support structures, quality sport and recreational facilities, caravan park, hotel and water reservoir.

The poor maintenance of these facilities is evident today - the museums and monuments are deteriorating and no plan currently exists to save them from further decay.

[citation needed] The majority of the people in Brandfort are financially supported solely by government grants.