VRYHEID
Vryheid, an Afrikaans name meaning ‘freedom’, was established in 1884 as the capital of a Voortrekker republic proclaimed on 16 August of that year. The settlement of a group of Transvaal Voortrekkers in the upper reaches of the White Mfolozi River came after a commando led by Lucas Meyer helped Dinizulu (son of Cetshwayo) to defeat Zibhebhu, a headman who drove Cetshwayo out of power. The ‘Nieuwe Republiek’ (New Republic) was incorporated into the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) on 20 July 1888 and at the end of the South African War it was transferred to Natal. Among Vryheid’s places of interest are the Old Raadsaal (Council Chamber), dating back to 1885 and now a museum, and the Old Fort at the rear of the Raadsaal, which accommodated a prison and the house of President Meyer. Other noteworthy buildings are the imposing dressed-stone Dutch Reformed Church and the Carnegie Library, built in 1908.
Source http://www.southafrica.org.za/tour-sa-heart-of-zululand.html
