On Friday, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa gazetted several name changes for some South African towns and villages, including Cradock and Morgan Bay.
Cradock name change: What’s the town now called?
In what the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture deems the promotion of “a common national identity, social cohesion, and national healing,” several communities, mostly in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), will, from Friday, receive new names.
Cradock and Morgan Bay are, perhaps, the most prominent towns from the list of name changes. Nestled about 250km northeast of Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), Cradock was established in 1816 by British colonial commander and former governor of the Cape Colony, John Cradock.
The town’s ties to South Africa’s colonial history are, for the most part, the reason behind Mthethwa’s decision to give it a new name.
As of Friday, Cradock, the town that holds the administrative seat of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, will now be officially recognised as Nxuba.
These South African towns have new names
Morgan’s Bay, a village in Eastern Cape’s Great Kei Municipality, is now recognised as Gxarha.
The holiday village was named after A.F Morgan, a master of a survey ship, the HMS Barracouta, that was part of a global expedition led by British naval officer and explorer Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen in 1822.
Here is the full list of towns and villages getting name changes:
- Pomeray in uMsinga Local Municipality, KZN, is now Solomon Linda
- Mooiplaas in Great Kei Local Municipality, EC, is now Khwenxurha
- Morgan Bay in Great Kei Local Municipality, EC, is now Gxarha
- Cradock in Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, EC, is now Nxuba
- Komga River in Great Kei Local Municipality, EC, is now Qumrha River
Several villages in Great Kei Local Municipality were also handed brand new names:
- Thembalethu Peace Village
- Siyathemba
- Nomgxaki
- Happy Valley
- Siviwe
- Mzomhle