Bloemfontein, aka Mangaung
One thing which originally surprised me about South Africa was that it wasn’t exactly what I imagined Africa to be. Indeed, as the local people themselves said, SA is one of the most modern countries in Africa, and most place you don’t see the stereotypical sights of animals walking down the streets, reed huts, and such.
Bloemfontein was no exception to the rule. It’s mostly quite modern, and most of it could fit perfectly well in Europe or the US.
The well known cities in SA are Johannesburg (Usually called Jo’burg by the locals), Cape Town, and perhaps Pretoria. Bloemfontein isn’t that well known, and is very emphatically not a tourist destination. The local airport was nice, but extremely small. There were more than enough things for me to do during my stay there, but with two more free days I would have exhausted it completely, from a visitor’s perspective. Physically it’s at the centre of SA (So no seaport, or sea), but not otherwise.
The city itself is not entirely uniform, though, and there are differences between the different neighbourhoods and city areas.
Most of my time in the city has been in a place more near the outskirts of the city, an area which was very modern, clean, and gave a very nice atmosphere. While being a part of a big city, the buildings aren’t placed too close together, and the feeling was more like that of a small town than of a big city.
The centre of the city was less impressive. The building is still modern, but it has a more urban feeling, with the buildings bunched together more, and far less greenery. The building’s fronts were also maintained far worse, and the streets had some junk thrown around them.
Another part of the city I saw was the poor “black neighbourhood”. It had a name, but I’m afraid I forgot it by now. I was also not taken inside, just drove around, since it was apparently not safe for a white person to go inside. This wasn’t a very big part of the city, which is good, but it still looked like a very run-down slum. Temporary houses made of metal sheets, and an incredible amount of junk spread between the houses and around the streets. Not a nice place to visit, and I wouldn’t want to live there.
It was located next to a big public hospital, though. But according to my host those public hospitals, while offering free medical care, also offer very bad medical care and hygienic conditions, and not someplace anyone who can pay will go to. I got the strong impression anyone who can afford to uses private medicine in the area, and that this is quite normal and acceptable.
The name of the city is in Afrikaans (the local language of the white population), meaning Fountain of Flowers, or somesuch. Which didn’t stop most local people from telling me it’s the City of Roses, and that they’re well known for their roses. Roses which I didn’t see, since it wasn’t the right season.
The name, though, was changed a while back (one and a half, or two, years ago. I don’t recall exactly) to Mangaung. If that name sounds strange to anyone familiar with Latin-based languages (which made it easier to make the Bloem=Bloom?=flower, Fontein=Fountain, connections), this is not surprising. The new name isn’t in Afrikaans, but in one of the local languages of the black population (Sesotho?).
Apparently this isn’t a unique incident. A lot of places are being renamed in the recent year. One the one hand, the feelings behind this are understandable. The mostly black population has been ruled by the white people for a long time, and this is some way for them to feel a measure of control and that the country is also theirs. But on the other hand I strongly disagree with changing the original names of places which have been called by the same way for so many years (Bloemfontein was founded in 1846). This is disrespectful to the existing history of the place, regardless of whether one likes that history or not. It is also totally confusing, since all records refer to the city by the original name.
Not to mention, what was obviously apparent when visiting there, the administrative nightmare. Road signs around the city still refer to it as Bloemfontein, since the cost of replacing them all is extremely high. And it is similar with almost every other reference to the city everywhere. The changes will happen over time, probably, but for now it’s not only that the people still refer call it Bloemfontein, but everything. The first time I realized the city was officially called Mangaung was on my last day, when I saw a welcome to the city sign, and asked what the heck Mangaung was.
On the language issue, SA has 11, yes, that’s eleven, official languages. English is one of them, as is Afrikaans, and the rest are a selection of the many languages of the local black population. Sesotho is one as well, naturally.
This makes for rather amusing radio stations, or TV news broadcasts, which often go through a wide selection of languages over time. All these languages are official languages of the country, so they have to be supported by public services.
The common language, which is not really native for everyone but which, thankfully, everyone knows, is English. Signs are mostly in English, both on the areas of the city I was in, and on the city centre, and even on the slums area I saw (at least on the outside of it). And nobody had a problem switching to talk to me in English once I made it clear I do not understand Afrikaans.
Well, that’s about it as a general introduction. To be continued in further posts. In the meantime, these are a selection of some resized pictures of Bloemfontein taken from the top of Naval Hill (called so despite the obvious lack of anything naval on a city without a shore, and for reasons I was not able to surmise):
December 19th, 2005 at 23:14 EET | Categories: Trips |
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December 24th, 2005 at 16:41
Hallo, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed South Africa. It’s a pity you didn’t also make it to Cape Town, my home town. It’s beautiful and, dare I say, on par if not better than most European cities! Thought I should just let you know Afrikaans is not just a language spoken by the white population. It’s actually predominantly spoken by non-whites, especially in the Cape. Do visit my blog sometime. Best wishes.
December 25th, 2005 at 20:25
If I had had more time there, Cape Town would have certainly been a part of the tour. I was told by a few people that flying there for a few days would be a good idea. But with less than a week, and needing to work on some of the days, that wasn’t quite feasible.
If I’ll get to South Africa again, I’ll certainly try.
August 29th, 2006 at 17:04
I haven’t seen a single part in your article about Tolkien, who was born in Bloemfontein (1892). I would have thought that the city would advertise about the famous writer, organizing trips to “Tolkien’s birth place” (ironical). But I can understand they didn’t, either because few people know about Tolkien being born in South Africa, or because Tolkien hated the sort of urbanizing that Bloemfontein has undergone after the photos.
August 30th, 2006 at 1:16
Hi sarastro,
No, there wasn’t any mention there of J.R.R. Tolkien there that I could find. I only heard he was born there after I came back, and someone mentioned it to me after I said I’ve been to Bloemfontein. Nothing at all mentioned about him anywhere in any place of the city I’ve seen.
It’s a very nice city, but not really a big tourist attraction. The main things there which received some publicity were the game farms, and a historical war museum. Some of which I visited, and will hopefully sometime manage to force myself to actually post on.
October 5th, 2006 at 20:05
I happened upon you blog while looking for an image of Bloemfontein on Google Images. I have lived in Bloemfontein for most of my life. I am a Civil Engineer and work for a road building construction company. Because Bloemfontein is in the “centre” of the country it is a good place to be based in.
Your assumption that it is dangerous in the black area’s (called a lokasie or plakkerskamp-shanty town) is totally wrong. I often go into the “lokasie” and have never felt that I am in danger.
Should you ever visit again I will take you for a visit in exchange for some information ragarding Israel – i want to tour it soon.
Please feel free to email me before you visit.
Louis Raubenheimer
October 5th, 2006 at 21:38
Hello Louis, thanks for your comment.
Naturally I haven’t been in Bloemfontein enough to get first-hand knowledge on whether it’s really dangerous there. I did hear it from a few different people, though.
Good to know that maybe what they had was not a universal bad experience.
I don’t expect another visit there in the foreseeable future, but one can never know. Thank you for your offer.
If you do have some specific questions about Israel, feel free to send me an email as well. I’ll be happy to help.
March 6th, 2007 at 13:53
First of all – of all the South African cities to visit you ended up in Bloemfontein? What a waste of a trip.
I also noticed that you have got a lot of your information wrong. Afrikaans is not spoken purely by whites. Neither do whites speak purely Afrikaans. After 200 years of being a British colony there is a huge number of english home language speakers who are either Indian or white. You would have noticed this if you had gone to Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth or East London – or even Cape Town and Pretoria.
Most importantly – Bloemfontein has NOT been renamed into Mangaung. Mangaung is the new name of the Bloemfontein municipality, which is joined by other towns and townships such as Botchabela. In other words, Mangaung is the name of the muncipal area. Bloemfontein is still the name of the city.
March 6th, 2007 at 13:57
Yeah I also noticed some inconsistencies there sweety. Get your facts right before you start telling us all the stuff…
March 8th, 2007 at 2:35
@Disappointed – This was a business trip, as such the choice of destination was not exactly my own. Had I went for a trip of Africa on my own accord the Bloemfontein, as nice as it is, would not have been my first, or second, destination.
I also did not say Afrikaans was spoken purely by the whites. Just that it’s “their” language. And if you look at the main population split as between whites and blacks (I did not really see many, or any, Indians on my trip, and was not aware there’s more than a token population of them in SA), I still think that this statement is accurate.
I certainly did not even imply that the white speak only Afrikaans and not English. I spoke English with everyone, and most of those I spoke with where whites. I even explicitly said that nobody had a problem speaking English with me.
As for the Bloemfontein/Mangaung name, I see that you are correct, it’s the municipality that was renamed, not the city itself. Thanks.
@Double jointed – My information, as much as there is of it, was based on either impressions I gathered during my short visit, or things I was told by the people I spoke with. This post is a short report on my impressions, not a well researched travel guide.
Which is to say, while I do thank Disappointed for the corrections, and do appreciate the info, I don’t really expect an attitude that would fit a badly researched paper article. I’d prefer if all my impressions during a short visit would be true, and if everyone I talked to would know everything completely and be entirely unbiased. But that’s not the case, nor do I think it reasonable to expect it to be.
I suggest, when reading posts on personal blogs, you’d take these reports as a “This is what I saw, did, and thought when what I write about happened” style, and not a “This is how things are, I’ve done the research” style, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the post.
June 16th, 2007 at 5:05
Thanks! Something positive about Bloemfonten … it is about time! I’m on my way to Bloemforntein for a well deserved, eight month stay with my parents.
Although it is true that Mangaung refers to the municipality, (rumour has it that the city name will be changed eventually) I found your comments in general very accurate. And yes, as someone else stated on this blog, Afrikaans is not spoken purely by whites. However the statement does not hold true for Bloemfontein. Fact is: Afrikaans is spoken by the majority of white people living in Bloemfontein, as you have experienced from your travel.
Naval Hill was named after the 2 British Naval fleet canons left behind after the Anglo-Boer war 1899 to 1902. It is the only game reserve in a city centre to be known in South Africa.
There is also Maselspoort Pleasure Resort and State President Swart Park and Kings Park with its more than 4 000 rose bushes, and visiting the Rose Festival in October is well worth your time.
And then there is the “new” Loch Logan, Bloemfontein’s own waterfront. I hear the new development is looking spectacular.
June 26th, 2007 at 16:47
Hi Alett,
Thanks for your comment, and for the Naval Hill name explanation. Sorry for not being around to respond sooner.
I did enjoy the city of Bloemfontein when I was there. Some parts looked less impressive, like in any city, but many parts were very nice, and so were the people.
Enjoy your home visit.
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:42
CORRECTION – Afrikaans is the Original language of the coloured (brown, san , khoi and cape malay) people of South Africa. The whites who arrived here only spoke Dutch or English. Afrikaans originated amongst different ethnic groups (SLAVES) in the Cape at around 1654.
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:58
I’m an Indian person staying in the Coloured township called Heidedal, Bloemfontein . There is nothing wrong with the black townships or squatter camps. Whenever I went there, I received royal treatment. I never felt that I was in danger. Such a comment you made is pure discrimination. The Sesotho people is the warmest most loving people on earth. About the Hospital…hmmm…Let me tell you mister! It is is called Pelonomi Hospital. For a government/PROVINCIAL Hospital the service is excellent and outstanding. Overseas you will never find good service as you yourself found in South Africa. I went to the US, Europe and the UK. Everywhere the service is nothing to brag about. Anyone who has travelled there will agree. I have never expected that kind of behaviour from people in "so called FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES". Many people flee from their FIRST WORLD countries to come and stay here and take advantage of our Hospitality.
September 23rd, 2007 at 15:40
Chesley, as far as I understand Afrikaans has mostly evolved from Dutch, as spoken by the immigrants. Over time obviously it took a lot of words from other local languages, but it doesn’t seem like it was an actual language there before Dutch-speaking people arrived. If you have sources claiming otherwise, I’d be interested to know what they are.
Jenny, thank you for your comments and the information.
As I wrote, the opinions about the hospital, and the coloured townships, came from several of the white people I talked with. I did not visit the hospital, but rather just saw it from the outside. And my pass through/near the squatter camps was in a car, we did not stop to talk to people. The area did look very neglected and run-down, but I had no way to judge for myself the behaviour of the people toward strangers. I do not know whether you received kind treatment because the people there are nice to anyone, or because they are nice to anyone except some of the white people.
No need to get too excited about the hospital, though. I’ve travelled a little myself, and though I usually have little reason to stay in hospitals I can tell you that the quality varies a lot, and all places have both very bad, and very good hospitals. But to be honest, when you don’t say that the hospital is good, but that it’s good "for a government/provincial hospital", well, that does say something about it. There’s a difference between something being absolutely good, and something just being good compared to its class.
BTW, I’m curious, are the two of you together? The two comments came within about 15 minutes of each other, and from the same IP address…
October 9th, 2007 at 5:26
Yes we work together. It is always best to keep it to yourself if you have nothing good to say about anything.
October 9th, 2007 at 13:04
Jenny, on a general level I’m more of a believer in "If you have nothing to say, don’t say it" than in "If you have nothing good to say, don’t say it".
In this specific case, well, I did like Bloemfontein, and the people I did meet there, very much. Originally I planned to cover some of the places I’ve been to, and the things I saw, more deeply in future posts. I just haven’t counted on my laziness, which caused me to only have this single post that was supposed to be a sort of an introduction-overview.
Which sort of explains why it does seem to have less good parts than others, because I plan on covering the good parts again later in more details, and not the other parts.
Still, given that it’s not overall a bad piece even as-is, I don’t intend to edit it. Especially considering that the only acceptable editing will be to expand on the good parts, and if I do that, I might as well do it in future posts as intended.
October 14th, 2007 at 19:04
I now agree with you 100%.
December 18th, 2007 at 22:15
What would it be like living there? We might be moving there and I have no idea what its like besides what Iv’e just read.
December 19th, 2007 at 15:09
I really have no idea, Petra. I was only visiting for a short while, which is really not the same. The locals I met (at least the ones I talked with) seemed pretty happy with the city, and some of them have lived elsewhere before, but I don’t have any specifics or know how their tastes apply to yours.
Try checking a little on the specific neighborhood you’d live in, there are differences. Also, as a pretty general rule, maybe try to go there for a short visit yourself to get a feeling of the place.
But if you’re just concerned it may be terrible and make you regret going, I think you have nothing to be worried about, as long as you don’t need to have a very large and active/crowded city around you.
March 18th, 2008 at 23:56
i just love BLOEMFONTEIN
September 4th, 2008 at 21:51
"Exe" houz-it?It’s Mateki from Bloemfontein.I see that people are dissing my city.I want to let them know that 051-City is not a rural place.There is life here at Bloemfontein,and we are proud about it.There was no need to compare it with other cities.We like it the way it is,we don’t really care which monkey from which city says what about Bloemfontein.We have a soccer team of our own city,BLOEMFONTEIN CELTICS a.k.a "Siwelele".Don’t tell me about ‘kaap stad’.All you know is drugs,prostitution and crime.
June 12th, 2009 at 13:52
I hate BLOEMFONTEIN sorry but i just do
Jill xx
June 14th, 2009 at 16:25
@Jill – Why?
February 24th, 2010 at 18:28
Hi my name is cheri Browne i was born in blomies in 1984 and have never regretted it for a second i am now in England been here nearly 4 years and miss my home town. The sights and people are lovely and welcoming and i will always feel at home when i come visit. love bloem
May 11th, 2010 at 6:13
You are helping people to enlighten their minds in different aspects in life through your excellent writing skills! Thanks so much!
June 30th, 2010 at 6:57
opinions about the hospital, and the municipalities of color, came from several people I talked white. I have not visited the hospital, but only from the outside. And my pass through or near the camps of squatters was in a car, we have not stopped talking to people. The area was very neglected and abandoned, but had no way to judge for myself how people behave towards foreigners. I do not know if you received a good treatment, because the people are friendly with someone, or because they are kind to anyone, except some of the whites.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:16
wow…so beautiful place!Bloemfontein – The city of Roses and the capital of the Free State Province Enjoy warm hospitality friendly but diverse peoples many attractions ….