Ficksburg

Ficksburg is a small farming town situated at the foot of the 1,854m Mpharane Mountain in Free State Province, South Africa. It is the region's top producer of grain, corn, potatoes, fruit including cherries, livestock and dairy products. The town was set up by General Johan Fick who won the territory in the Basotho Wars. The last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and the first State President of South Africa, Charles Robberts Swart was imprisoned here in 1914 by the British during the Boer War and released one day before his scheduled execution.

Many of the buildings in the farms surrounding and near to the town were burnt by the British during the Anglo-Boer war, also known as the South African War, as part of the English Scorched Earth policy.