NAME CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

NAME CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Sometimes when some of us had a favorite childhood holiday town, and after a few years break, we decide to revisit that ‘special’ destination, we find that it has just ’’disappeared”. It hasn’t fallen of the planet if that’s what you thinking, but its name has changed.

Well to keep up to date with the 21^st century, South Africa went through a couple of dramatic changes.

According to the South African Geographical Naming council, these are the main reasons for a place being renamed:

· if a name had become offensive because of its associations

· a name is changed if it can be found to have an original name that had been discarded during Apartheid

· to pre-empt the offensive linguistic corruption of a name

I always get confused when I visit towns which had this dramatic change, and I’m sure it can be a problem for mapmakers to struggle to keep up. It makes it even worse because road signs don’t get changed immediately. I decided to write this which I think will benefit everyone, especially the tourists which we will be expecting in a few months time for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

The towns which changed are:

v Almansdrift became Mbhongo, named after a king.

v Buffelspruit became Mhlambanyatsi otherwise known as ‘where the buffaloes drink'.

v Buffelspruit became Mhlambanyatsi otherwise known as ‘where the buffaloes drink'.

v Dzanani township became Mphephu, a Venda chief who was defeated the Transvaal government in 1898.

v Louis Trichardt became Makhado. King Makhado Ramabulana was the King of Vhavenda from 1864 to 1895.

v Makhado township became Dzanani, meaning a place of quarrels. That doesn't bode well...

v Messina became Musina which is the Tshivenda word for copper which is mined in the area.

v Nylstroom became Modimolle. This name comes from the Basotho legend that attributed the disappearances of mountain climbers to an ancestral spirit who killed and ate the unfortunate.

v Potgietersrus became Mokopane, the name of a famous king.

v Pietersburg became Polokwane. Polokwane has many alleged meanings, from a place of safety to a place of little storage space. Or it could just simply reflect the name of a nearby river.

v Skilpadfontein became Marapyane - and no one seems to know what it means. Any ideas?

v Triomf became Sophiatown, which was the town's original name before the Group Areas Act saw most of the building demolished by the end of 1963.

v Warmbaths became Bela Bela - the Sesotho word simply meaning ‘hot spring' or ‘bubble bubble'. How cool is that?

To really fit in with the 21^st century, we also have a few nicknames that our cities have:

v Durban - eThekwini, meaning in the bay. Or, as some people argue, ‘a man with one testicle' in reference to the shape of the bay.

v Cape Town - eKapa, the Xhosa name for the city. And of course don't forget that internationally Cape Town is known as the Mother City.

v Johannesburg - Jozi or eGoli, meaning Place of Gold (yes, that's where the soapie gets its name!)

v Pretoria - Tshwane. This is supposed to be the new and official name for the city, but the change has been delayed. Tshwane is the African name for the Apies River that flows through Pretoria and was the area's original name.

Several new municipal and megacity boundaries have been created:

v The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality covers cities such as Pretoria, Centurion, Temba, and Hammanskraal.

v The Nelson Mandela Metropole covers the East London/Port Elizabeth area.

The names of all South African airports were also changed:

v Cape Town International Airport needs no explanation, whereas who but a local would know where DF Malan Airport was?

v Johannesburg international airport changed to OR Tambo International Airport.

v The new airport at La Mercy, near Durban, would be known as King Shaka International Airport.

There now you have it. All that’s left to do now is to explore our wonderful South Africa. Go and rediscover all the old places with new names. You might just find something that you like!