Minister’s decision to ditch town’s colonial-era identity and honour anti-apartheid activist divides residents
A South African town is divided over changing its name from the colonial-era Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe, after the anti-apartheid activist, in a debate that has inflamed racial tensions.
Petitions have been signed, rival marches held and a formal letter of complaint sent to the sports, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, who approved the name change on 6 February.
On one side are people who feel a deep attachment to Graaff-Reinet, many regardless of the fact it was named after Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, the Dutch governor of the Cape Colony when the town was founded in 1786, and his wife, Hester Cornelia Reynet.
On the other are those who insist that renaming the town after Sobukwe, who was born and buried there, is a necessary part of the “transformation” of South Africa away from colonialism and white-minority apartheid rule.
