Situated a few kilometers south of Polokwane (Pietersburg), on the farm Sand River. The British manned seven forts in the Transvaal during the First Transvaal War of Independence (1880-1881 ); they were situated at Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Wakkerstroom, Standerton and this one at Marabastad.
After the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit at which a British force was defeated on 29 December 1880, this fort was hastily strengthened. A Boer commando besieged the fort for 105 days, in which time the British losses were five killed and one wounded, while one Boer was killed.
Concentration Camp
These were camps where Boer women, children and men unfit for service were herded together by the British army authorities during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). Many of these people had become homeless as a result of the destructive tactics, which the British army adopted in the Transvaal and Orange Free State after the last months of 1900 in order to deprive the Boer commandos of the means of subsistence and thus force them to surrender. There were 50 of them in which about 136000 people were interned.
