The Fourth Raadsaal (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: "Vierde Raadsaal") is a historic building in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, which serves as the meeting place of the

Free State Provincial Legislature The Free State Provincial Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of Free State. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the Premier of the Free State, who in turn selects the members of the Executive ...

, the legislature of the Free State. It is located opposite the Supreme Court of Appeal in President Brand Street. In the early 1880s, it was resolved to build a new presidency office and chamber council. The designs for both buildings were awarded to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

-based Lennox Canning. The new presidency office was completed in 1886, yet work on the chamber council had not begun until 1889 when a tender of £27,183.10 was accepted by another Johannesburg-based architect, TR Robertson.

State President of the Orange Free State The state president of the Orange Free State had the Executive (government), executive authority in the Orange Free State. By the constitution of 1854, the president was elected by the Burgher (Boer republics), Burghers, from a list of candidat ...

Francis William Reitz Francis William Reitz Jr. (5 October 1844 – 27 March 1934) was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist, and poet who was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free ...

laid the foundation stone on 27 June 1890. Due to construction issues, another tender of £12,500 was awarded to JJ Kirkness. The new building was formally inaugurated on 5 June 1893 when the members walked from the old chamber to the new one. A further £4,000 were spent on internal furnishings over the following years. In March 1900, British forces occupied Bloemfontein and the building became a military hospital. Most of the furnishings were acquired and are now in private homes. The

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

became the legitimate government in 1907. The colony had a two-chamber legislature consisting of a council and a legislative assembly. The lower council continued to meet in the Raadsaal, while a separate building facing Aliwal Street housed the upper house. In 1910, the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, was formed and the Raadsaal housed the provincial council. The chamber and its rooms were occupied by the Appeal Court until its own premises was ultimately built in 1929. After the first non-racial elections in 1994, a decision was taken to house the newly-established provincial legislature in the building.

References

External links

Free State Legislature - Fourth Raadsaal
{{coord, -29.11575, 26.21798, format=dms, type:landmark_region:ZA, display=title Buildings and structures in Bloemfontein Former seats of national legislatures Legislative buildings Afrikaans words and phrases History of Bloemfontein