Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, has rejected all objections to the geographical name changes of several towns and cities in the Eastern Cape gazetted in February this year.
On February 23, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, gazetted 23 names that Mthethwa had approved on geographical name changes in the province.
These name changes include Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha, Uitenhage to Kariega, King William’s Town to Qonce, East London Airport to King Phalo Airport and Port Elizabeth Airport to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
According to the minister’s spokesperson, Masechaba Khumalo, the Ministry and the Department received a number of objections as follow: three boxes with petition signatures of 12 402 residents of Nelson Mandela Bay sent through to the office of the executive mayor and 690 emails. These objections are provided for in Section 10 of the South African Geographical Names Act 118 of 1998.
“The objections varied from claims that insufficient consultation was done at the local level, alternative names had been ignored, the renaming would drive away tourists or that the money spent on renaming could be better spent on service delivery. There were also claims that the new names have nothing to do with the people of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality or are a duplication of existing place names,” Khumalo explained.
“The minister consulted the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) to go through all the objections and advise the minister accordingly. The SAGNC submitted evidence to the minister that consultation was done throughout the province of the Eastern Cape by the Provincial Geographical Names Committee before recommendations of geographical names were submitted to the SAGNC.
“The SAGNC further advised the minister that all provisions of the SAGNC Act 118 of 1998 were followed at all processes during the consideration of the names gazetted on February 23, 2021,” Khumalo said.
She added that after receiving the advice of the SAGNC and applying his mind to the merits of all the objections, the minister has decided that all the objections do not merit the review of the decisions on geographical names gazetted on February 23. Thus, all the objections are rejected.
“The minister would like to reiterate that one of the main purposes of the SAGNC Act 118 of 1998 is to transform South Africa’s naming landscape and ensure that the names of places in South Africa reflect the languages, culture and heritage of the majority of the people of this country, instead of reflecting the country’s colonial and apartheid past,” she said.
She explained that the renaming of geographical features is also done in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that recommended the renaming of geographical features after those who contributed towards the attainment of freedom and democracy as part of symbolic reparations.
“As a country, South Africa needs to accelerate the transformation of the names of places we live in so that we can bequeath to our children and grandchildren a country whose place names reflect their language, culture and heritage.”
