Welcome to the King Phalo Airport in KuGompo.
Those are the two proposed names for the East London Airport and East London.
King William’s Town has been proposed to be renamed Qonce and Berlin will be known as Ntabozuko if the proposed name changes are gazetted.
Residents have been given 21 days to object to or comment on the planned remaining of the airport and the three Buffalo City Metro towns. The 21 days end on September 21.
The renaming project forms part of a national programme aimed at transforming the geographical naming landscape in SA by the department of sports, recreation, arts & culture.
The Eastern Cape provincial geographical names committee issued a public notice this week, calling for comments or objections after public hearings in November 2019 resolved on the four names.
During the public hearings other names were proposed. For the airport, it had been proposed that it be renamed to Chief Pato, King Hintsa, or King Rharhabe as a way of honouring the Xhosa warrior monarchs. But King Phalo's name proved to be the most popular.
Tshabo was also proposed in favour of ditching the German city name of Berlin.
However, while some — like BCM mayor Xola Pakati — led the campaign for the renaming of towns and streets, saying they wanted to restore the original names which were changed during the colonial rule in SA, others were vehemently opposed to the move, saying it would be a costly exercise which would not change people's lives.
Councillor Pumla Nazo-Makatala, who chairs the renaming committee, on Wednesday said the renaming process was a step closer to being finalised.
“Once people have commented we will sift through their comments and their reasons for their objections, if there will be any.
“An objections committee will then submit to our committee and see on what grounds people are objecting.
“Then we will take it from there and write to the national [government] for approval,” she said.
This is the second time the metro has embarked on the renaming process.
In 2018 the public hearings flopped as very few people attended them.
But Nazo-Makatala said this was not the case in 2019. Traditional leaders were among those who attended every public hearing at packed venues, she said.
Nazo-Makatala said the hearings failed in 2018 because people did not understand the importance of restoring the original names.
“But at IDP meetings I would tell people that we cannot continue to have a Berlin in the Eastern Cape, in BCM, as if we are in Germany.
“And we have an East London Airport as if we are in London, England.
“We need people to be patriots because this renaming process requires that. People must love their country more than saying we are wasting money through this programme,” she said.
Eastern Cape Contralesa chair Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana said they were happy King Phalo had been proposed to be honoured with the airport being named after him.
We need people to be patriots because this renaming process requires that. People must love their country more than saying we are wasting money through this programme.
He said when Nkonkobe and Nxuba municipalities were amalgamated in 2016, traditional leaders had lobbied for the newly established local authority to be named after Xhosa warrior Maqoma.
However, their bid failed as it was named after anti-apartheid activist Raymond Mhlaba.
“We have been saying to Diya [premier Oscar Mabuyane's clan name] that traditional legends in this home of legends are not being honoured, but we see that is slowly changing now and we are grateful for that.
“We really, really hope there will be no change [in renaming the airport after King Phalo],” he said.
Nonkonyana said the renaming programme was long overdue.
“Having towns called King William’s Town does not sit well with us. Even though we gained our freedom in 1994, we are still oppressed because the names of the ghosts who oppressed us are still being used in our towns.
“Everything named after colonisers must go so that we can honour the children of the soil.”
To comment or object to the renaming of towns and airport send an e-mail to: objections@ecsrac.gov.za
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