Community
MANGAUNG HAS THE HISTORY — SO WHY ARE WE LETTING IT ROT?
if government says tourism is an economic driver, why are some of Mangaung’s most authentic tourism assets being allowed to decay while new entertainment spaces are being used to showcase the province?
There will be music in Bochabela on Sunday.
There will be cameras. There will be speeches. There will be a Tourism Month launch. There will be a Sunday Soul Session. There will be people talking about investment, lifestyle, experiences and the importance of tourism to the Free State economy.
But somewhere beyond the lights, the sound system and the celebration, another version of Mangaung is standing quietly.
It has cracked walls.
Broken windows.
Overgrown grounds.
Rusting gates.
Empty rooms.
Buildings that once welcomed visitors but now struggle to welcome anyone at all.
And that is where NovaSpeak believes the real tourism story begins.
Because on Sunday, 13 September 2026, the Free State Department of Economic Development and Tourism will launch the province’s Tourism Month programme at KLAK Lifestyle in Bochabela, with the department describing this year’s programme as an effort to position the Free State as a year-round destination for business, investment, lifestyle, sport and leisure. (Government of South Africa)
There is nothing wrong with music.
There is nothing wrong with entertainment.
There is nothing wrong with a lifestyle venue becoming part of a modern tourism offering.
But if Tourism Month is about asking people to visit the Free State, then perhaps the most uncomfortable question is not where are we taking tourists?
It is:
What are we allowing them to see when they get here?
Because Mangaung already has a tourism catalogue most cities would envy.
The province’s own tourism authority lists the First Raadsaal, Fourth Raadsaal, Old Presidency, City Hall, Maphikela House, Dikgareteneng Houses, Bram Fischer House, Jubileum Building, Klein Magasa Hall, Lebohang Building, the Free State Agricultural Museum, Wagon Museum, Freshford House Museum and other heritage attractions as part of the Bloemfontein tourism landscape. (Gauteng Legal Aid)
The problem is that having a list is not the same thing as having a functioning tourism economy.
A government planning document has already acknowledged the problem.
The Free State Provincial Spatial Development Framework describes tourism as an underutilised economic sector, saying Mangaung’s historical monuments and museums are underused and require refurbishment and marketing. It warns that urgent intervention is needed to save historical sites before vandalism and weathering destroy them. (Fspsdf)
Read that again.
Underutilised.
In need of refurbishment.
In need of marketing.
At risk of being lost.
This is not NovaSpeak inventing a crisis.
The province’s own planning documentation has identified it.
And some of the examples are difficult to ignore.
Take the Old Ramkraal Prison.
This is not an ordinary abandoned building.
It is a heritage site dating back to the late 19th century. The prison was built in Bloemfontein between 1893 and 1895 and was officially registered as a national monument in 1990. (Newsday)
Yet a project once envisioned as a prestigious provincial legislative precinct and museum has become one of the most glaring symbols of failed heritage investment.
Reports put government spending on the project at more than R100 million, with one report citing approximately R107 million. Yet the site has reportedly been left abandoned and deteriorating, with collapsed roofing, crumbling walls, overgrown vegetation, illegal occupation and theft. (Newsday)
Think about the contradiction.
More than R100 million goes into a project intended to transform a historic site.
And years later, the historic site is still standing as a monument to unfinished ambition.
What exactly is the tourist supposed to experience there?
Then there is the Arthur Nathan Swimming Pool.
Opened in the early 20th century, the historic pool was once described as one of Bloemfontein’s crown jewels of recreation and tourism. It was declared a heritage site in the 1990s.
Today, reports say it has been closed since the late 1990s.
More than two decades.
The entrance has deteriorated. Graffiti covers parts of the structure. Fencing has rusted. Weeds have taken over. The pool itself is dry and filled with debris. (Newsday)
A place that once represented leisure, sport, community and tourism now represents something else.
What happens when maintenance stops?
Then there is Waaihoek Wesleyan Mission Church.
This is not just an old church.
It is tied directly to the history of the founding of the African National Congress.
Yet a 2025 oversight process reportedly found serious maintenance problems, including water leaks, damaged wooden floors, poor maintenance and inadequate security. In January 2026, the site was described as a derelict shell. (FS DA)
Imagine explaining that to an international visitor.
You tell them:
This is where a significant part of South Africa’s political history lives.
Then you point at the leaking roof.
The damaged floors.
The insecurity.
The decay.
What message are we actually sending?
And then there is Klein Magasa Hall.
A heritage facility that Parliament records as having received funding intended for refurbishment.
The refurbishment never happened.
The hall was described as being in ruins, despite its potential as an important community facility. The municipality reportedly acknowledged the problem and said budget constraints emerged after feasibility studies. (Parliament of South Africa)
Again, the question is not whether Mangaung has heritage.
The question is whether Mangaung is doing anything meaningful with it.
Even the Old Presidency, one of the buildings promoted as part of Mangaung’s historic tourism offering, has attracted visitor criticism over maintenance and opening issues, including a 2025 review describing it as run down and poorly looked after. (Wanderlog)
Freshford House tells another story.
The National Museum describes it as one of Bloemfontein’s surviving Edwardian-period houses, acquired by the museum, restored and opened to the public in 1986. Yet even here, the official museum website currently notes that it is closed on Sundays and public holidays until further notice. (National Museum)
None of these examples mean every heritage building in Bloemfontein is abandoned.
And that distinction matters.
Some are functioning.
Some are partially functioning.
Some remain accessible.
Some have custodians who are trying to preserve them.
But the pattern is impossible to ignore:
Mangaung has historic assets that are underused, inaccessible, poorly maintained or at risk of disappearing.
And that makes Sunday’s Tourism Month launch more than an event.
It becomes a test.
Because if we are serious about tourism, then tourism cannot only mean putting people into venues where there is already electricity, music, food, security and a functioning business model.
Tourism must also mean asking why the buildings that already tell our story are not receiving the same urgency.
The First Raadsaal is history.
The Fourth Raadsaal is history.
The Old Presidency is history.
Waaihoek is history.
Maphikela House is history.
Ramkraal is history.
Arthur Nathan is history.
Klein Magasa is history.
The stories are already here.
We do not need to manufacture them.
We do not need to import them.
We do not need to build an artificial identity for Mangaung.
We need to stop allowing the existing identity to decay.
And there is an economic argument here that deserves far more attention.
A restored heritage building does not have to become a museum that people walk through for 20 minutes and leave.
It can become the anchor of an entire local economy.
Train young people as guides.
Employ historians.
Create walking tours.
Develop township heritage routes.
Bring local restaurants into the route.
Create shuttle services.
Develop souvenir businesses.
Give photographers, filmmakers, artists and musicians opportunities.
Create school programmes.
Bring elderly residents into storytelling projects.
Turn forgotten houses into cultural spaces.
Turn historical streets into living heritage corridors.
Connect Batho, Waaihoek, Mangaung, Bochabela, Heidedal, Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo through stories rather than simply treating them as places on a municipal map.
That is tourism.
Not just a bus arriving.
Not just a conference.
Not just a launch.
Not just a Sunday session.
An economic ecosystem.
And perhaps this is where KLAK Lifestyle becomes significant.
Not because there is anything wrong with KLAK.
Quite the opposite.
If a contemporary venue can attract people, create an atmosphere, host events and generate economic activity, then it demonstrates something important:
People will spend money when there is something worth experiencing.
So why can’t we create that same energy around Mangaung’s heritage?
Why can we successfully create destinations around entertainment, but struggle to make destinations out of history?
Why can a new venue become somewhere people want to go, while an old heritage site becomes somewhere people are afraid to enter?
Why are young people more likely to know where the next entertainment event is happening than where some of the most important chapters of their own city’s history happened?
And perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all:
What are we investing in for tomorrow while allowing yesterday to collapse?
NovaSpeak is not arguing against entertainment.
We are arguing against a tourism strategy that risks becoming event-driven instead of asset-driven.
Because events end.
Heritage remains.
A concert happens on a Sunday.
A building can generate economic activity for decades.
A Tourism Month launch lasts a morning.
A properly restored heritage precinct can employ people every day.
A Sunday Soul Session can bring people through a door.
A functioning heritage route can bring visitors through an entire community.
That is the difference between hosting tourism and building a tourism economy.
Mangaung’s own documents have already acknowledged that its heritage attractions are underutilised and require refurbishment and marketing. (Fspsdf)
So perhaps Tourism Month should not only ask tourists to come.
Perhaps it should ask government to show us what it has done with what tourists are supposed to come and see.
Where is the heritage maintenance plan?
Which buildings are currently closed?
Which are deteriorating?
Which belong to the municipality?
Which belong to the province?
Who is responsible for each one?
How much has been budgeted?
How much has actually been spent?
Which projects have stalled?
Which heritage buildings could be restored through public-private partnerships?
How many young people could be employed through heritage tourism?
And where is the integrated Mangaung heritage route that connects these places into one sellable tourism product?
Because the irony is painful.
Mangaung is not suffering from a shortage of history.
It is suffering from a failure to turn history into a living, protected and economically productive asset.
The sandstone buildings are still speaking.
The empty halls are still speaking.
The broken swimming pool is still speaking.
Ramkraal is still speaking.
Waaihoek is still speaking.
The old houses are still speaking.
The question is whether anyone in power is listening.
On Sunday, the music will start at KLAK Lifestyle.
People will gather.
Tourism will be celebrated.
And perhaps it should be.
But when the last song ends and the chairs are packed away, NovaSpeak believes somebody should drive through Bloemfontein’s historic streets.
Look at the buildings.
Look at the fences.
Look at the empty spaces.
Look at what remains.
And ask one simple question:
If we really believe tourism is an economic opportunity, why are we allowing some of our greatest tourism assets to rot in plain sight?
Because Mangaung does not need another speech telling us that tourism has potential.
Mangaung needs to prove that it knows what to do with the potential it already has.
The Pink Print
We Look. We Ask. We Tell The Stories That Matter.