South Africa: Minister Nathi Mthethwa Announces Renaming of Grahamstown to Makhanda

press release

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Hon Nathi Mthethwa wishes to announce that on Friday 29 June 2018 the Government Gazette has published the changing of the name of the town of "Grahamstown" to "Makhanda".

Name changes is an internationally accepted practice fully supported and endorsed by the United Nations that (i) countries have the sovereign right to standardize names and (ii) can decide what name to give for each feature in that country should be or how it should be spelt. In this instance, there has a been a call for almost 20 years to change the name of the town, and those who have pushed for this name to be changed have been informed chiefly by what Colonel Graham epitomises, and the painfully bitter memories his name evokes.

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