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Port Elizabeth will now be known as Gqeberha. (Photo: Stuart Fox / Gallo Images / Archive)
- The district attorney says the ANC government has gone too far with regard to the name changes.
- The party says the ANC flagged the public’s presentations, rejecting 139 objections.
- The district attorney says the government is simply engaging in a checkbox exercise under the guise of ‘transformation’.
After the Minister of Sport, Art and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, officially announced the renaming of the Eastern Cape cities and airports, despite the opposing presentations, the prosecutor said that the ANC government had gone too far.
Mthethwa in a government gazette on Tuesday officially approved the change from Port Elizabeth International Airport to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, as well as the change from East London Airport to King Phalo Airport.
Uitenhage has been changed to Kariega, Port Elizabeth is now Gqeberha, while King William’s Town will be known as Qonce.
On Wednesday, the Prosecutor’s Office said it will submit written parliamentary questions to the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture on the name changes, focusing on the cost and the process of public participation followed before the change of names of cities, towns and airports in the Province.
DA spokeswoman Veronica van Dyk said it was important to ask whether the public, especially residents living in those towns and cities, were given adequate and reasonable time to make their voice heard on the issue.
“Was the process announced in a timely manner and were all voices considered?” she asked.
“Given the public outcry … it would appear that the government was simply engaging in a checkbox exercise under the guise of ‘transformation’ and ultimately ignored the voices that opposed the name changes. This was clearly not more than a political ploy by the ANC government to obtain votes in an election year. “
She added:
“But this decision to sideline public submissions by rejecting 139 objections, including two petitions with 180 signatures, could have been a step too far for the ANC government.”
“In response to legitimate concerns about the cost of the project and suggestions on how the money could be better spent to energize the economy and maintain and upgrade infrastructure, the department had the audacity to respond in a statement that ‘this transformation agenda seeks to repair the imbalances of the past, therefore, could not be put at a quantifiable price, ”said Van Dyk.
Van Dyk said this was the same department that had failed to support South Africa’s arts and culture sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic, “forcing him to his knees and leaving crowds in the industry jobless, homeless and hungry.” .
READ | Two airports in South Africa, and Port Elizabeth, have just received new official names
The process that led to this name change, however, has not been unanimous.
It has also encountered a fair amount of resistance.
City Press reported in September last year that the proposal to change the name of East London Airport to King Phalo Airport had met resistance from some traditional leaders in the Eastern Cape.
The publication further reported that traditional AmaGqunukhwebe leaders in Tyolomnqa in East London expressed dissatisfaction with the name change.
The leaders preferred that the airport be named after Chief Pato of AmaGqunukhwebe because “they claim that the land on which the airport is situated falls under the land of Pato, and not Phalo de AmaXhosa.”
READ ALSO | Airport renaming irritates traditional Eastern Cape leaders
The DA, in 2019, opposed the renaming of the PE airport, saying it would cost millions and would be a slap in the face to the poor in the province.
TimesLive reported that, in 2019, the Eastern Cape Geographic Names Committee’s recommendation that Port Elizabeth be renamed Gqeberha had sparked an uproar among residents, prompting a petition titled “Keep Port Elizabeth’s Name.”
At that time, it had approximately 19,000 signatures.
Mthethwa’s spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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