Zastron is a small agricultural town in the Free State province of

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 ...

, some 30 km from the border of

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. It is situated at the foot of Aasvoëlberg (Vulture Mountain), named for the rare

Cape vulture The Cape vulture (''Gyps coprotheres''), also known as Cape griffon and Kolbe's vulture, is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to southern Africa, and lives mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and in some parts ...

s attracted by a feeding project a short distance out of town. The township is named "Matlakeng",

Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

for Vultures. A curious rock formation in the mountain, Die Oog (The Eye), has been adopted as the town's unofficial emblem. The town was founded in 1876 on the farm Verliesfontein, and named after the

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

of President

Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

's wife, Johanna Sibella Brand, née Zastron.

Notable people

* David Rabin (1934-1984), university endocrinology professor *

Steyn von Rönge Steyn von Rönge (born 7 April 1955) is a South African farmer and the incumbent president of the (AWB). He was born to George Napier van Ryneveld and Elsie Catharina (Née Cailtz). He is married to Cornelia (Née de Beer). von Rönge was t ...

(*1955), farmer, politician and President of the

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging The (, meaning 'Afrikaner Resistance Movement'), commonly known by its abbreviation AWB (), is an Afrikaner nationalism, Afrikaner nationalist, white supremacist, and Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi political party in South Africa. Founded in 1973 by Eug ...

(AWB) * Lucas Majozi DCM (1916-1969) Stretch-bearer during the Second World War

Notes

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20091213045952/http://www.zastron.co.za:80/ Populated places in the Mohokare Local Municipality Populated places established in 1875 {{FreeState-geo-stub