Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa salted the wounds of the regressive minority in South Africa when he published the approved name changes for major cities and locations in the Eastern Cape.
New names for major cities in Eastern Cape
The audit process of marking names of locations with colonial and offensive symbolism has been ongoing since late 2020. In the midst of a global pandemic, this contentious issue fell below the cracks of the news that made headlines.
However, in the arts and culture ministry, history was being engineered. Cities and locations in the Eastern Cape, the first province to undergo this momentous change, have been stripped of their colonial heritage and these are the gazetted changes:
- Port Elizabeth will be changed to “Gqeberha”;
- Uitenhage will be “Kariega”;
- Berlin will be “Ntabozuko”;
- MaClear Town will be “Nqanqarhu”; and
- King Williams Town will be “Qonce”.
The province’s two airports will also undergo name changes, and they are:
- Port Elizabeth International Aiport will be “Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport”; and
- East London Airport will be “King Phalo Airport”
The changes of villages and settlements in the Eastern Cape can be viewed at the published Gazzette Issue 44181.
A brief history on Eastern Cape’s historic name change
Since the issue was first brought up in late 2019 it has largely divided opinion in South Africa, further exposing the deep-rooted racial disparities that still exist in our society.
Boy Lamani, a political activist from KwaMagxaki, a settlement in Port Elizabeth, former ANC MPL Christian Martin and Khoi and San chief Mervyn Allies can be credited for spurring the historic process.
At the core, the trio’s idea was to restore pride in the Eastern Cape, a province that holds a deep history with the Xhosa and Khoi-San people.
Here is a detailed look at why these name changes for Eastern Cape cities are so prominent for the region’s indigenous people.
Gqeberha
According to Lamani, Gqeberha is the first and oldest township in PE.
“Initially Walmer was called Gqeberha but because the Walmer name became prominent as industrialisation grew, Gqeberha lost its popularity,” he told Times Live in 2019.
Kariega
The removal of Uitenhage is seen by many as a form of restorative justice. The colonist Jacob Glen Cuyler who coined the name is regarded as one of the most brutal ‘masters’ to set foot on South African soil.
People who settled in the region before the colonial takeover referred to it at Kariega, from Willowmore, Somerset East to Uitenhage.
Ntabozuko
The small town in Buffalo City was known as Ntabozuko before German settlers, led by missionary Carl Pape, forcefully claimed the region in 1857. It was named after the German capital.
Nqanqarhu
MaClear was named after St Thomas MaClear, a renowned astronomer who is regarded as the architect of the trigonometrical survey of the Cape Colony. The region small town was referred to as Nqanqarhu Drift before European settlers came in and used it as a military camp.
Qonce
Xhosa people are the first settlers of the region now formerly known as King Williams Town. After falling to the advanced strategies and resources of European settlers in the infamous Xhosa wars of the early 1800s, the town was occupied by British colonists, led by Sir Benjamin d’Urban.