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Fifteen thousand people have voiced their objection to the Eastern Cape Geographical Names Council’s (ECGNC) quiet attempt to effect a name change from Cradock to Nxuba, without following due public participation processes.

The ECGNC does not have a website or online platform where individuals can access information, find notices of public hearings, provide input, or even find the names and contact information of authorities they need to engage with, making it impossible to contact the council.

On Heritage Day, over 100 people gathered and handed over signed petitions at the internationally renowned Cradock Four memorial, honouring anti-apartheid activists Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkhonto.

See photos here, here and here.

On 27 June 1985, on their way back to Cradock from Port Elizabeth, the four were arrested at a roadblock set by the then Security Branch, assaulted, and murdered.

These heroes fought and died for our freedom, to have a democratic system of governance of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The current way the ECGNC is dealing with name changes in the province is trampling on these democratic freedoms, by excluding the very people most affected from the process.

Name changes have become a box-ticking exercise, with no meaningful engagement with the communities concerned. If the ECGNC want the residents of Cradock to consider a name change, they need to come back and engage with residents in a meaningful way, with due notice, and ask the residents for their views.

The DA, together with Cradock Business Chamber and various other civil society organisations, handed over signed petitions to DA Shadow MEC for Sport, Recreation Arts and Culture, Nomvano Zibonda, who sits on the portfolio committee that oversees the ECGNC.

The region is currently suffering severe economic hardships, with an unemployment rate of 41%. The renaming process will cost millions of rands in rebranding, which the municipality simply does not have.

The DA recognises the important role that entities such as the ECGNC play, but it is of vital importance that they engage with the communities they serve openly and honestly, not hide what they are doing out of fear that the changes they are proposing will be rejected.

Issued by Kobus Botha, MPL - DA EC Midlands Constituency Leader