Changing the names of three Sunshine Coast landmarks is at a preliminary stage and this week’s meeting was merely intended to help identify additional stakeholders. This was the assurance from the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee (ECPGNC) at the Port Alfred Civic Centre yesterday [Wednesday August 6]. The disclaimer had already been delivered to lawyers for the Port Alfred Ratepayers and Residents Association (PARRA), albeit only hours before around 250 residents, businesspeople and politicians, bristling for battle, filled Memorial Hall.
What appeared to be a rapid backtracking came after PARRA’s lawyers said the meeting, billed as a stakeholders’ consultation to discuss changing the names of Alexandria, Port Alfred, and the Kowie River, should be postponed to permit proper engagement. A letter of demand from attorneys De Jager Lordan said in order for stakeholders to engage meaningfully with the proposal, they need more time, and more information.
First, it was less than two weeks from July 24, when ECPGNC secretariat head Mark Mandita’s wrote to say the committee had received applications to standardise some geographical features in Ndlambe, to this week’s stakeholder consultation.
The proposed name changes are: Port Alfred to iCoyi or iCawa; the Kowie River to iQoyi; Alexandria to Nkosi Chungwa or Emnyameni.
In a letter dated Friday August 1, De Jager Lordan attorney Marius Coetzee said, “Our client is committed to assisting the ECPGNC and other stakeholders by engaging meaningfully with it and providing evidence in support of its submissions. It can, however, only do so if given an adequate opportunity to engage with its members and relevant stakeholders. Given that our client represents a substantial component of the community, they must participate in the process and are committed to doing so. Unfortunately, they are being constrained from doing so because of the wholly unreasonable imposed, truncated timeframes.”
Those the letter is addressed to include arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie, deputy director of the South African Geographical Names Council Thulile Mthembu and Ndlambe’s municipal manager and council speaker, along with several officials of the provincial department of sport, recreation, arts and culture. The latter include head of the ECPGNC secretariat, Mandita, who is DSRAC assistant director of heritage resources.
By Tuesday, Mthembu had acknowledged receipt of the letter and confirmed that the matter was in the hands of the EPGNC for a consultation process.
“The SAGNC said their role only starts when the provincial body formally submits names to them,” Coetzee told Talk of the Town on Tuesday.
Identifying some of the procedural deficiencies PARRA believed had already compromised the bid, Coetzee told Talk of the Town, “There hasn’t been proper notice and the invitation hasn’t been properly circulated. For example, Alexandria is 50km away from where the meeting is going to be held. There’s no evidence that the invitation was circulated there, or indeed among any of Ndlambe’s residents who are either illiterate or don’t have access to internet.”
The letter to Gayton McKenzie and 12 others lists the seven steps required by the SAGNC Act to effect a name change.
“If we are correct in our assumptions, the meeting scheduled for 06 August 2025 is aimed at engaging stakeholders in the application submission phase [i.e. the first phase]. The letter says without seeing the supporting documentation for the name-change application, including the detailed motivation and/or historical and cultural research, and at such short notice, residents couldn’t engage with the issue on an informed basis.
The letter requested the full application and supporting documentation by close of business on Monday August 4. It also demanded that the committee should urgently convene a properly advertised stakeholder consultation meeting with at least 21 days’ notice.
The response on the eve of yesterday’s meeting was sent by the senior manager of legal services for DSRAC, advocate J Kruger, who warned that the ECPGNC would “vigorously oppose any intended court application aimed at halting the standardisation process”.
Kruger said the Department would additionally seek a cost order against PARRA should they choose to proceed, “given that the matter remains at a preliminary stage and any court proceedings will be premature”.
ECPGNC chair Christian Martin led the emotionally charged meeting on Wednesday August 6.
Residents wanted to know who had made the applications for name changes, why and no what basis; who were considered to be stakeholders and why the meeting had been called at such short notice.
Coetzee, who was present at the meeting, weighed in on the difference between a stakeholders meeting, and a public meeting. That discussion was sparked by opinions on the4 best time of day for the actual stakeholders consultation meeting, which has been set for September 10. A morning time (10am) would suit businesspeople; however 5pm would be better for working people.
He convinced both officials and residents that in order for a stakeholders meeting to be productive, it would make sense for representatives from interest groups to meet, rather than entire communities.
This, he said, was because the term “stakeholder” needed to be interpreted in the context of the meeting’s purpose, namely engagement. A smaller group representing the community’s diverse interests would allow for a more functional meeting.
Agreeing with that argument, Martin urged the agitated crowd to decide what they think, align themselves with the organisation that best represents their viewpoint and make sure it represents them in the stakeholder engagement. By contrast a public participation process, at a different time, would provide an opportunity for individuals to speak on their own behalf.
He acknowledged questions from the floor, but said that meeting was not the right place for them to be answered.
Businessperson Sunelle Miller could barely contain her frustration.
“We gave up our time to be here. You need to respect this town’s residents and answer our questions!” she remonstrated. “Otherwise what was the point of coming to this meeting?”
Ndlambe PR cuncillor Xolisa Runeli threw the cat among the pigeons when he said that not only the names proposed so far, but also that of Bushmans River should be changed.
Coetzee reiterated PARRA’s request for more detail about the application, including who the applicant/s were.
My clients need to know the motivation for the application so they can engage meaningfully with it,” he said.
The SAGNC establishes renaming policies and recommends standardised names to the Minister for approval. If they’re approved, it publishes them in the Government Gazette and on the South African Geographical Names Database. Name changes in the Eastern Cape in recent years have included Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), Kariega (Uitenhage), Makhanda (Grahamstown), KwaMaqoma (Fort Beaufort), Nxuba (Cradock) and Komani (Queenstown).
A search on the SAGNC website indicates that 1582 South African geographical features have been renamed. The argued basis for several name changes has been the country’s post-1994 transformative agenda. That usually means the applicants consider a name offensive because of its association with South Africa’s apartheid or earlier colonial past.
However, Ndlambe’s main economic driver is tourism and its tourism and business leadership fear a name change could undermine years of effort to build the local brand. “The possible disruption to our brand equity, tourism marketing strategies, and the economic well-being of the region’s communities cannot be understated,” they say in a statement dated July 29, 2025.
“We recognise the importance of transformation and inclusivity in South Africa’s heritage landscape. However, we strongly believe that any process to review or rename our region’s geographical features must be consultative, transparent, and carefully balance historical legacies with the need to protect the economic and tourism interests tied to these names.”
Among those present at Wednesday’s meeting were head of the Port Alfred Business Forum Clinton Millard, Sunshine Coast Tourism head Wouter Hensens and business and tourism representatives from Kenton-on-Sea and Bushmans River.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 7, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
