Grahamstown to get new name
2007-08-01 21:10
Johannesburg - The names of at least 58 cities, towns, rivers and other Eastern Cape landmarks will be changed next year, The Herald Online reported on Wednesday.
Cities on the list included King William's Town and Grahamstown.
The provincial government-funded Geographical Names Committee signalled on Tuesday that the name change process had begun in earnest.
The committee was targeting names regarded as offensive, and those corrupted or misspelt in colonial times.
Chair Fumanekile Dyubhele told a workshop in Port Elizabeth the body aimed to have finalised new names by next March.
He said the name changes would be beneficial for the heritage of the province.
History 'skewed'
Municipal committees were looking at the names of streets, municipal buildings, cemeteries, towns and beaches.
"Our heritage is not representative of history. Up to now our history has been skewed," Dyubhele said.
"People who were defeated in the wars were not acknowledged and we need to do something about the fact that history is one-sided."
The committee was looking at changing place names which were offensive, corrupted or misspelt, or European.
Dyubhele said many names, in particular King William's Town and Grahamstown, "remind black people of the colonial conquest ... they should go, they are symbols of the colonial past".
- SAPA