Opposition parties slam Eastern Cape name changes

The name changes for Eastern Cape towns gazetted by arts & culture minister Nathi Mthethwa last week are going to cost the government and businesses “hundreds of millions of rand”, opposition political parties have warned.

Mthethwa published the name changes in the government gazette on Tuesday, despite objections over the past two years. Port Elizabeth has been renamed Gqeberha, while the Port Elizabeth Airport has been changed to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.

The town of Uitenhage, which forms part of Nelson Mandela Bay with Gqeberha and Despatch, becomes Kariega.

The other changes include East London Airport, which is now King Phalo Airport, while King William’s Town has been renamed Qonce and Maclear becomes Nqanqarhu.

The government’s decision to go ahead with the name changes has raised the ire of opposition parties who believe it is a frivolous exercise that will cost the cash-strapped government a lot of money.

It is not yet known how much it will cost to effect the name changes.

Freedom Front Plus MP Wouter Wessels told Business Day that costs associated with name changes pertained to national, provincial and local road signage and installation costs, and government and business stationery, including websites, letterheads, business cards and other related costs.

Physical maps, global positioning system (GPS) and tourism material will also be affected by the name changes.

“We can’t give a figure at this stage, but it’s going to be a lot of money, we are talking about hundreds of millions of rand that SA doesn’t have,” Wessels said.

However, University of Johannesburg political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana, who authored a paper entitled “Changing place names in postapartheid SA: accounting for the unevenness”, said any government activity cost money.

“The decision to change names was one of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of honouring those who had died during the liberation struggle,” he said.

Ndletyana said the name changes were an important activity and a national objective to recreate the country.

DA sports, arts & culture deputy shadow minister Veronica van Dyk disagreed, saying while they were not against name changes in SA, this project could have still been done in a year or two as it was not a priority “at this moment”.