Grahamstown’s name-change process continued at the city hall on Tuesday, when an “educational video” was screened to a handful of people in the Council Chambers.
Grahamstown’s name-change process continued at the city hall on Tuesday, when an “educational video” was screened to a handful of people in the Council Chambers.
The video came days after an advertisement from the municipality invited "individuals or organisations interested in viewing the recorded sessions of previous public consultations" to "indicate their interest to the Director: Community and Social Services".
Director of Community and Social Services Mandisi Planga introduced Tuesday's video.
In it councillor Julia Wells, head of the name-change task team, begins the presentation by saying that “this is an educational video created for the Grahamstown public to make their own decisions about the name-change in question”.
Wells, who is in support of a name change, states that to change the name of the town is “a part of the transformation agenda of the new South Africa”.
The video continues, with the opposing name-change options being advocated by their respective campaigners.
In support of keeping the name of Grahamstown, Jock McConnachie noted that the name is integral to the history and culture of the town and that “keeping the name would be true reconciliation, whereas scrapping it would just be a form of revenge”.
Local businessman Ramie Xonxa backs the changing of the name to ‘Makhanda’, the name of a Xhosa warrior who fought in battle against Colonel John Graham.
His defence lies on the foundation that “even the municipality is called ‘Makhanda’ (Makana) and this shows that the majority of the people recognise Makhanda as the leader”.
Planga concludes that after public and private consideration, a recommendation for the name-change will be made to the Geographic Names Committee, which will then be passed on to the Minister of Arts and Culture for a final decision.
