Name change for Grahamstown 'final and settled'
The Department of Sport, Arts & Culture says that the 2018 name change of Grahamstown to Makhanda is final and settled, with the changes for Graaff-Reinet still being challenged.
The process to change the name of Port Alfred has yet to reach the SA Geographic Names Council (SAGNC) – with court challenges already lined up.
BusinessTech reports that the department was responding to a parliamentary Q&A from Action SA MP, Athol Trollip, who questioned the processes followed to change the names.
The name change for Grahamstown to Makhanda was approved in 2018.
The SAGNC considered the application submitted by the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee, and it was satisfied that the correct processes were followed.
Sport, Arts & Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said that the records show that interested and affected parties were notified and invited to participate in the consultation process.
Objections were lodged by, among others, the Keep Grahamstown campaign and the local residents’ and ratepayers’ structures, and were considered by the committees.
The matter was eventually escalated to court in 2019 on the grounds that not enough consultation was done.
However, the court ruled that the correct procedures were followed, and the name change was finalised in 2022.
‘On 10 March 2022, a full Bench of the Eastern Cape Division dismissed the appeal…confirming the lawfulness of the process followed in the renaming of Grahamstown to Makhanda,’ McKenzie said, adding that the change of Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town is being challenged.
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