Keep Port Elizabeth as name for our city
Just thinking about the proposed renaming of Port Elizabeth, I was interested to read in a newspaper article on public hearings for the renaming of Port Elizabeth that “to make a decision regarding any name change in South Africa, the South African Geographical Names Council takes a closer look at the history of the proposed name”.
This statement piqued my interest and I decided to do a little research.
The article gives the proposed new names for the city as Gqebera, I-Bhayi and Nelson Mandela City.
My comments are as follows:
Gqebera is already in use in the area [as a name for Walmer Township].
I believe this name can be ruled out immediately as it will only cause confusion.
I-Bhayi is a direct isiXhosa translation of the name, The Bay, which was the term used extensively from early in the 19th century by local people to refer to the destination of ships delivering passengers and freight from other places to Port Elizabeth.
Strangely despite its name, the city only had an enclosed “port” from about May 1926 (information from Margaret Harradine’s book, Port Elizabeth: A social chronicle to the end of 1945).
Prior to that date, ships bound for the town/city anchored out in Algoa Bay, and discharged their passengers and goods onto smaller craft, by which they were ferried to the town beaches or, later, to wooden jetties.
In fact, ships’ tickets were printed from their departure harbour (Cape Town, Durban, etc) to “The Bay”, which signified Port Elizabeth.
Nelson Mandela City is a more familiar title because, after the start of the new dispensation following the 1994 general election, the new ANC government named the newly created metro the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.
This is understandable as Madiba had recently been released from a long term of imprisonment on Robben Island, followed by shorter periods at Pollsmoor and Victor Verster, and the Port Elizabeth-Uitenhage-Despatch area managed to adopt the name for the new metro.
Referring to my copy of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (in the Abacus soft cover version of 1995), I find “Port Elizabeth” mentioned in the index only four times, namely on pages 218, 255, 257 and 313.
Of these, Mandela only visited the city in 1955 (page 218) and 1961 (page 313).
On both of those dates he met Raymond Mhlaba and Govan Mbeki, with Frances Baard included on the first visit.
In both cases, his visit was only for 24 hours or less.
Although, as a resident of the city for nearly 30 years, I am happy with our metro being named after Mandela (which is also good for tourism), I believe this brief association is hardly a reason for using Mandela’s name for the city of Port Elizabeth itself.
Returning to the original name of the infant settlement, this was given by acting governor of the Cape Colony Sir Ru- fane Donkin on June 6 1820.
Contrary to the belief of many people that the city was named after the present British Queen Elizabeth (yes, I have heard it stated!), the truth is rather more tragic and romantic.
Donkin named the future town after his young wife, Elizabeth, who had died in India aged 28 after giving birth to a boy, while accompanying her husband on his tour of duty in that country.
One plaque on the pyramid monument to his late wife on the Donkin Reserve describes her as “one of the most perfect human beings who has given her name to the town below”.
The plaque on the opposite side of the pyramid describes Donkin as “the husband whose heart is still wrung by undiminished grief”.
History records Donkin could not bear to leave her heart behind in India.
He arranged for it to be removed from her dead body and embalmed.
It is said that he carried it with him for the rest of his life – or at least until he remarried in 1832.
But the new marriage did not work out well and Donkin committed suicide nine years later.
When one learns this touching story, is it right to give this city a new modern name?
And why has this romantic story not been given better publicity in the city?
Richard Tomlinson
Port Elizabeth