Grahamstown to get new name

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Source: News24
Johannesburg - The names of at least 58 cities, towns, rivers and other Eastern Cape landmarks will be changed next year, The Herald Online reported on Wednesday.

Cities on the list included King William's Town and Grahamstown.

The provincial government-funded Geographical Names Committee signalled on Tuesday that the name change process had begun in earnest.

The committee was targeting names regarded as offensive, and those corrupted or misspelt in colonial times.

Chair Fumanekile Dyubhele told a workshop in Port Elizabeth the body aimed to have finalised new names by next March.

He said the name changes would be beneficial for the heritage of the province.

History 'skewed'

Municipal committees were looking at the names of streets, municipal buildings, cemeteries, towns and beaches.

"Our heritage is not representative of history. Up to now our history has been skewed," Dyubhele said.

"People who were defeated in the wars were not acknowledged and we need to do something about the fact that history is one-sided."

The committee was looking at changing place names which were offensive, corrupted or misspelt, or European.

Dyubhele said many names, in particular King William's Town and Grahamstown, "remind black people of the colonial conquest ... they should go, they are symbols of the colonial past".
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It is interesting to see that European names had been added to the list of place names to be changed. This might include Afrikaans names, as Afrikaans is seen by some as European.
 
BTech said:
and the name Gauteng reminds me of another conquest....the day the criminals/hijackers/rapists/murderers took power
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I remember when they named gauteng. i think it was around 1995 or somewhere around there, it was the funniest stupidest thing ever, it took me a long time to get use to the name. Trying to get foreigners to pronounce the word was always one of my favourites (gooteng)
 
I have always been offended by people named Graham! ;)

Wife grew up in King Williams Town. Wonder if she will now call it the new name with all her friends on Facebook? hehe
 
Let them rename everything in SA, it still won't change the fact that the ANC stands for African Nincompoop Convention..
 
What is there to say but that these people are idiots.
History is history, is it everyone's history, a European name for a town still is history for that specific place.

George and King William's Town was not changed after the Boere war, goes to show which ethnic group is mature enough to face the past as it is.
It also shows which ethnic group spent time uplifting themselves rather than wasting money on spiteful ventures.

rofl ."colonial conquest". colonial expansion, the "Africans" did not defend their land in wars, they traded it.

These people are idiots. African inferiority complex working hard in the Cape.
 
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If goverment were as on the ball with fighting crime as they are doing name changes - WOW can you imagine?! South Africa would be one of the safest countries in the world.
 
About time! (Grahamstown that is)

This was established by the british and was meant to a post that they can "defend" the cape from the Xhosas'. So they shipped in a whole bunch of white people to the area and "granted" them farms in 1820. Where do you think that land came from? Not traded away as suggested by lsuacner, but forcibly removed.

BTW lsuacner, care to clarify who you think are the idiots?
 
sox63 said:
About time! (Grahamstown that is)

This was established by the british and was meant to a post that they can "defend" the cape from the Xhosas'. So they shipped in a whole bunch of white people to the area and "granted" them farms in 1820. Where do you think that land came from? Not traded away as suggested by lsuacner, but forcibly removed.

BTW lsuacner, care to clarify who you think are the idiots?
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Most of the land in RSA was not taken by force. It was traded by the locals. Furthermore, say it was taken by force, why did the Xhosa allow that? Nearly 200 years has passed and the Xhosas still feel this strongly about that piece of land? If they do why did they not defend the land properly?

I think the ANC leaders supporting this action and any person supporting name changes are idiots. They can uplift the poor in the area instead of being spiteful. In case you are wondering, you are an idiot for supporting name changes.

The Boere did not engage in such trivial matters after relieving South-Africa of the British, relieved on behalf of your precious Xhosa folk also btw. The Boere built up their nation efficiently, effectively. I wish the ANC had the same drive and similar intellectuals leading our country.
 
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sox63 said:
About time! (Grahamstown that is)

This was established by the british and was meant to a post that they can "defend" the cape from the Xhosas'. So they shipped in a whole bunch of white people to the area and "granted" them farms in 1820. Where do you think that land came from? Not traded away as suggested by lsuacner, but forcibly removed.
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Please cite some references. My recollection of the history is that the area was pretty sparsely populated, and by people some of my ancestors referred to as "bushmen" ( and shot, admittedly ). That is the area south of the Kei. At that time the people you call "Xhosa" were being pressured toward the south ( part of a great migration resulting from growing human populations ), and they met in the region of the Fish and the Kei. If you know the area you would understand that it is mostly a scrub kind of vegetation, not the greatest for cows. The "Xhosas" never owned that land.

If I have it wrong please cite reliable references not some govt propaganda revisionist crap.

I propose Grahamstown be renamed "Harare" - always a popular name it seems.
 
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The San were the original inhabitants of RSA. They even believe that all people are decended from them, and they could be correct. What gives the Xhosa people from the North, a better right than the Europeans from the North to name and inhabit that area?

Furthermore, I wanted to say this earlier but you don't build a fort in the middle of your enemy's territory. You build it on the borders of your own territory. Note the fort was for DEFENSE! It was the Xhosa people who were the aggressors.
 
This is horse ****, why don't they start renaming SA citizens soon? Wasting millions on name changes when they can use it on something like....ummm I dunno....EDUCATION, HOUSING AND CRIME PREVENTION!
 
History is history, even renaming a town, does not change history.
 
feo said:
This is horse ****, why don't they start renaming SA citizens soon? Wasting millions on name changes when they can use it on something like....ummm I dunno....EDUCATION, HOUSING AND CRIME PREVENTION!
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Doing the above is difficult and requires good planning and execution. Changing names in easy busywork and makes you look like you are doing something productive for the people.
 
icyrus said:
Doing the above is difficult and requires good planning and execution. Changing names in easy busywork and makes you look like you are doing something productive for the people.
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Not to me it doesn't, they still look like bumbling idiots no matter how busy they try to look. :D

Why don't we ever see them changing the names of places like Kahyaletsha, Mamelodi etc? huh
 
rwenzori said:
Please cite some references. My recollection of the history is that the area was pretty sparsely populated, and by people some of my ancestors referred to as "bushmen" ( and shot, admittedly ). That is the area south of the Kei. At that time the people you call "Xhosa" were being pressured toward the south ( part of a great migration resulting from growing human populations ), and they met in the region of the Fish and the Kei. If you know the area you would understand that it is mostly a scrub kind of fauna, not the greatest for cows. The "Xhosas" never owned that land.

If I have it wrong please cite reliable references not some govt propaganda revisionist crap.

I propose Grahamstown be renamed "Harare" - always a popular name it seems.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820_Settlers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grahamstown
 
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