Cape Town – Nationwide public hearings have begun to debate the possible name changes of the country's geographical sites.
In what he called an “unprecedented” move in South Africa's history, Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan launched the public hearings process on Friday.

The Department of Arts and Culture and members of the South African Geographical Names Council will be holding hearings throughout the country, in all provinces, as it seeks to restore pre-colonial names to certain places, or to replace existing names with new ones.

The minister said there was no strict deadline for the process, and the views of South Africans would be taken into account in a process that would be as democratic and representative as possible.

The legislation for the process dates back to 1998, and the “roadshow” that the department and Geographical Names Council began on Friday will “test public opinion on the transformation and standardisation of geographical place names”.

It was part of the “healing process” needed to turn South Africa into a true democracy, said Mr Jordan, and as such would seek to nurture social cohesion in the country.

While certain names have already changed – for instance, the naming of Johannesburg International Airport to OR Tambo International Airport – it is important that people become “alert and aware” of the process, rather than reacting at the last moment, he said.

Top of the list for name changes are those place-names found to be offensive or insulting to ordinary South Africans.

Then the process will also seek to correct indigenous names or words which are spelt incorrectly or phonetically misrepresented.

Apart from colonial names such as Grahamstown which known as eRhini in isiXhosa, or Pietersburg which has reverted to the Pedi name Polokwane, there are also “corruptions” of names, Dr Jordan said.

In every instance, he asserted, there was a precolonial name – in the local, indigenous parlance - for all existing places or geographical landmark in South Africa.

Of course, the minister indicated, any place name found to be overtly offensive would top the list for transformation, but there are other cases too.

“There were also place names and geographical features that were given names that are offensive, either because of their racist implications or because they degrade one or other section of our diverse society.”

On top of these, there are also place names that a majority of South Africans might find “objectionable because of our past history and experience”, the minister added.

As the process has unfolded, there has as yet not been a single instance where a name change - or standardisation of an existing word – has been initiated by national government, he said.

In all cases, these changes have happened at the request of groups of citizens or municipal authorities exercising a popular mandate.

Central to the current process is consultation, said the minister, indicating that a change was unlikely to happen if it was found that majority of citizens in the areas were opposed to such a change.

There is “no rush”, Dr Jordan said, and “the streams, rivers, hills and mountains will still be there tomorrow, as will be the villages, towns and cities built in the past”. - BuaNews