Grocott’s Mail officially maintains its neutrality on the controversial debate about whether the name of Grahamstown should be changed or not. This does not mean, however, that we don’t care or that we don’t have any opinions on the issue.
Grocott’s Mail officially maintains its neutrality on the controversial debate about whether the name of Grahamstown should be changed or not. This does not mean, however, that we don’t care or that we don’t have any opinions on the issue.
On the contrary, the newsroom debating society has a wide range of opinions on a suitable name for this town, but eventually opinions tend to gravitate to the question about why we are worrying about names when there are so many other pressing problems to deal with.
The matter is serious because it is divisive – you only have to look at the number of lengthy letters devoted to the name change debate in this and in previous issues. As it has created so much ill-feeling in an already divided society, we have to wonder about the merit of raising this issue yet again after it was so spectacularly unsuccessful the last time it was raised.
Both sides have clearly articulated reasons for holding on to their respective positions, and looking at these positions dispassionately it is easy to see that both sides have valid points. The disagreement is really about how much weight one accords to each of these valid points.
There is no confusion about the motivation or rationale behind the arguments, but there have been a number of anomalies in the municipal campaign. For example, in the last two weeks, we have found out that there is a video (one maybe two) in the possession of certain municipal officials that clearly shows overwhelming support for changing the name of Grahamstown.
If this is true, and it must be true because advocate Loyiso Mpumlwana , chairperson of the Provincial Geographical Names Council (PGNC), says he has seen it – why has it only surfaced now instead of when it was made in 2008? Why was it not shown to the original Naming Task Team?
It is also rather odd that the municipal officials, who presumably commissioned the video which supports their position, have been so reluctant to show it publicly. We have on two occasions requested permission to see the video, and so far we have not seen anything.
Municipal spokesperson Thandy Matebese says that the old Name Change Task Team will make the video available to the new naming committee and only then will it be made available to the public. The mystery here is how a Naming Task Team that was dissolved last year is going to hand anything over to the new Naming Task Team that is yet to be formed.
