Names issue makes a comeback

KAROO NEWS - Karoo communities recently celebrated the announcement by Gayton McKenzie, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture and leader of the Patriotic Alliance, that the names of Graaff-Reinet, Adendorp, Aberdeen and Nieu-Bethesda will remain unchanged.

However, in an article, Graaff-Reinet's name may still change because process has 'not been finalised' on dailymaverick.co.za, Estelle Ellis reported that the Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee (ECPGNC), Christian Martin, said that the process had not been finalised and that these changes may still be implemented.

Graaff-Reinet Advertiser made numerous attempts to contact Martin and also submitted a written request for an official update on the name change process to him, but at the time of going to press, no response had been received.

In reaction to Martin's statement that the four towns may still be renamed, Samantha Graham Maré, Deputy Minister of Energy and Electricity and Constituency Leader of Democratic Alliance in the Dr Beyers Naudé region, said she spoke to McKenzie and is confident that the matter has been finalised.

"McKenzie is the final arbiter in the matter so Christian Martin can stand on his head - it is not going to happen," she said.

Let him try

It is believed that Council already resolved on 4 July not to recommend any of the proposed name changes to McKenzie, but before that the DA had submitted applications and petitions to prevent the renaming of the towns.

Graham-Maré said at this stage there is nothing else they need to do.

"We will just wait and see what Christian Martin tries, but we are ready for a legal battle," she said.

Public participation

But, many residents are demanding an investigation into the name-changing process saying it lacks public participation and transparency.

In spite of the majority op people at the public hearings in Graaff-Reinet on 26 and 27 February this year opposing the proposals, the ECPGNC still submitted a proposal to the Dr Beyers Naude Council on 14 May to change Graaff-Reinet's name to Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.

This followed after a representative of the department, Mark Mandita, stated that the names of other towns in the Eastern Cape had changed despite strong objections from the communities. Mandita made this statement when he announced the proposals during a special council meeting in August last year and, as a result, the integrity of the ECPGNC and the legitimacy of the process have been called into question.

Transparency

Mandita refused to disclose the identities of the two applicants who proposed the changes, but when applying to change a name the South African Geographical Names Council Database requires the applicant to be identified. Withholding the identities only served to intensify community members' already existing distrust and resistance.

Another issue was that the municipality allegedly only heard of the proposals when it was announced by Mandita and they too were left in the dark about the identities of the applicants. This despite the fact that the required steps also include that the application form has to be submitted to the local authority for signing or affixing of an official stamp.

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton Mckenzie