Mafikeng

Town in North West Province (formerly the independent homeland of Bophuthatswana), South Africa, on the Molopo River. The British officer Robert Baden-Powell held the town when it was besieged by Boers from 12 October 1899 to 17 May 1900, when it was relieved by Colonel (later Field-Marshal Lord) Plumer. It was the extraterritorial capital of Bechuanaland until 1965.

The spontaneous celebrations in London of the news of the relief of Mafeking led to the coining of the word ‘mafficking’ to describe an uproarious celebration.