East London and Graaff-Reinet are reportedly set to receive new names. East London will become KuGompo City (a quick Google said “KuGompo” refers to the name the area was referred to in isiXhosa) and Graaff-Reinet will be Robert Sobukwe Town ( in honour of the prominent anti apartheid activist).
I remember the conversations a few years ago when Port Elizabeth was renamed, and now Gqeberha seems to have been adopted widely.
As a born and bred East Londoner/KuGompo City-er myself, I’m curious what you think of this development?
Note, quoted in BusinessTech:
South African Geographical Names Council chair Johnny Mohlala confirmed the changes.
However, while the approvals are in place, Mohlala stressed that the changes still need to be gazetted, with the formal publication process expected to take place in the coming weeks.
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Simply another stupid and expensive exercise in helping to make SA invisible both locally and overseas. I now have to go to Google or Copilot every time one of our towns or municipal areas makes news so I know which place it refers to.
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Name changes were originally proposed to ‘reconcile’ our different communities. Far from reconciliation these changes exacerbate divisions and serve to divert attention from the inability to truly serve communities.
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I believed that the citizens of Graaf Reinet had all rejected the name change by referendum; what a waste of time annd money. Just deflecting from the real iisues as usual
I think it is good that the name East London be changed. It is often confused with East London, as in the big city on the small island overseas. KuGompo is short enough to be able to learn it quickly. Times they are a-changing. In my opinion Robert Sobukwe Town is a bit long and cumbersome to use, but Graaff-Reinet isn’t exactly easier to spell or to pronounce in English. And I have a niece called Reinet, but I presume this Graaff was male.
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Hi, I was raised in and around Graaff-Reinet (“the Gem of the Karoo”) and my extended family still populate the town and farming environs. We are conversant in the local dialect, Graaffrikaans. My farming grandfathers both contributed in different ways to the town’s development, as did my father to local rural civic matters. My Rubidge grandfather became an amateur paleontologist and developed a world renowned fossil museum on the farm Wellwood, now relocated to town and developed by, and under the curatorship of, my cousin Bruce Rubidge, formerly professor of paleontology at Wits University, named the Karoo Origins Fossil Centre https://fossilcentre.co.za/ supported by wife, Marina. My brother and nephew (Kingwill family), with wives’ support and that of their workers, have developed the family farm, Blaauwater, into an ever more thriving wool producing unit. I went to the white English-speaking school (with many Bloedsappe) in the now racially integrated Union High School/Union Schools. The Afrikaans medium school was/is Volkskool, attended by Anton Rupert. I still think of town and surroundings as ‘home’. I took part in the anti-apartheid struggle and am still active in land reform. What do I think of the name change? I am still processing it. Robert Sobukwe was an admirable human being and role model. We South Africans seem to get over initial resistance and eventually adapt. It IS harder when a small town is so closely associated with its former settler economy, architecture and associated multi-culturalism. Time will tell!
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Reinet was van de Graaff’s wife! Beautiful name
Did you attend any of the non-existent public hearings? I am not sure on what basis you make the statement about confusing East London with London’s east, Mercedes Benz does not seem to be confused. Anyway that is besides the point, the issue is the choice of an arbitrary name which was barely discussed at any o the public hearings, if enforced it will be another name that will never be used either than on the stationary of government, just like many other changed names. As if changing the name is going to fix all the incompetence and corruption. SA has more pressing needs for its limited resources.
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The new names have been gazetted. Check the population stats: the vast majority of the population is coloured and speak Afrikaans. It’s not to debase Robert Sobukwe to realise this name change is crazy. There are millions of natural features of the Plains of Camdeboo that could have been used if a name change was inevitable. 2011 stats for Graaff-Reinet by race (which proves that Afrikaans is the main home language)
An independent break down is here: Census 2011: Main Place: Graaff Reinet
People Percentage
Coloured 20,428 76.84%
White 3,113 11.71%
Black African 2,788 10.49%
Indian/Asian 137 0.52%
Other 119 0.45%
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