What Ficksburg is known for
Ficksburg is a Free State town on the Mohokare (Caledon) River, which forms the border with Lesotho, and is best known for glazed cherries and its annual November Cherry Festival. Most of its people live not in the town itself but in the adjacent township of Meqheleng, which had 35,848 residents at the 2011 census against 5,400 in the town.
Founded on land taken from the Basotho
General Fick founded the town on 12 June 1867, during the Basotho Wars, on the border the Orange Free State Republic fought to hold. The republic offered settlers land, horses, guns and ammunition to hold the line, and it took the territory: the 1866 peace of Thaba Bosiu and the 1869 Convention of Aliwal North fixed the Basotho loss.
A festival built on a short season
Cherries reached the district in 1904 or 1905, depending on the source, planted near Clocolan with the help of German missionaries. In 1968 the local Jaycees held the first Cherry Festival: a street parade, a Cherry Ball and the crowning of a Cherry Queen. The festival grew from the white farming town and is held every November; the municipality calls it South Africa’s oldest crop festival. It now draws nearly 30,000 visitors a year, worth over R15 million to the area by one estimate.
A declining crop, and a town's other story
Free State cherry production is now declining with the climate; the province grew just 13 percent of South Africa’s crop in the 2018/19 season, yet South African Tourism still markets Ficksburg as the country’s largest cherry area. A 2007 study of Lesotho’s migrant farmworkers found them on farms in six eastern Free State districts, Ficksburg among them, though it named asparagus and potatoes, not cherries. The town’s history is not only festival: in 2011 Andries Tatane, a teacher, was killed at a service delivery march of about 4,000 people, and the seven accused police were acquitted because their identities could not be established.
Questions people ask about Ficksburg
What is Ficksburg known for?
Ficksburg, in South Africa's Free State, is known for glazed cherries and its annual Cherry Festival, held every November since 1968. Most of its people live in the adjacent township of Meqheleng, which had 35,848 residents at the 2011 census against 5,400 in the town itself.
When did the Ficksburg Cherry Festival start?
The local Jaycees held the first Cherry Festival in 1968, with a street parade, a Cherry Ball and the crowning of a Cherry Queen. It grew from the town's white farming community and is now held every November, drawing nearly 30,000 visitors a year.
Who lived on the land before Ficksburg was founded?
The area was Basotho territory before the Orange Free State Republic took it during the Basotho Wars. The 1866 peace of Thaba Bosiu and the 1869 Convention of Aliwal North fixed the loss, and General Fick founded Ficksburg on the border in 1867.
What happened to Andries Tatane in Ficksburg?
Andries Tatane, a teacher, was killed in 2011 during a service delivery march of about 4,000 people on Ficksburg's municipal offices. Seven police officers were charged over his death, but all seven were acquitted in 2013 because their identities could not be established.