Should Cape Town International be renamed after Chris Hani?

2015-03-18 20:30

Cape Town - The South African Communist Party has announced one of the resolutions taken during its sixth Provincial Council is to have Cape Town International's name changed to Chris Hani International.

"We will lobby the structures of the alliance in supporting our call for the Cape Town International Airport to be renamed after our former general secretary, Chris Hani," the SACP's provincial spokesperson, Masonwabe Sokoyi.

But name changing is not a new thing in South Africa - Most recently Table Bay boulevard was renamed after FW de  Klerk, with the Noble Laureate saying while he felt honoured he was so sure it should be bestowed on a living person.

And in the case of airports, much opposition was raised against the renaming of Johannesburg International, formerly Jan Smuts International (before SA's democracy in1994) in honour of ANC stalwart Olive Tambo in 2006. But we all know how that turned out.

Following 1994, there were many changes to South African provinces, towns and even street names.

According to the South African Geographical Naming council, there were three main reasons for a place being renamed.

Firstly to pre-empt the offensive linguistic corruption of a name (not as clear cut as it seems). 

Secondly if a name had become offensive because of its associations (Jan Smuts being a case in point). 

Lastl, a name is changed if it can be found to have an original name that had been discarded during Apartheid (think ‘Triomf' after the Sophiatown residents were evicted).

Bloemfontein Airport was also renamed Bram Fischer airport in 2012, the anti-apartheid activist and lawyer who formed part of the legal defence of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, at the Rivonia Trial.

Other airport name changes over the years:

• Ben Schoeman Airport- East London Airport (1994)
• HF Verwoerd Airport- Port Elizabeth International Airport (1994)
• KD Matanzima Airport - Mthatha Airport (2004)

And a few other key name changes in case you don't remember…

 The Cape Province split up to create the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape.

• The Orange Free State became simply the Free State.
• Natal was lengthened to KwaZulu-Natal.
• The Transvaal was divided up into Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West.
• Verwoerdburg became Centurion as opposed to being named after the "architect of Apartheid".
• Buffelspruit became Mhlambanyatsi otherwise known as ‘where the buffaloes drink'.
• Skilpadfontein became Marapyane - and no one seems to know what it means. Any ideas?
• Almansdrift became Mbhongo, named after a king.
• Makhado township became Dzanani, meaning a place of quarrels. That doesn't bode well...
• Dzanani township became Mphephu, a Venda chief who was defeated the Transvaal government in 1898.
• Naboomspruit became Mookgophong, another name for the huge candelabra tree.
• Louis Trichardt became Makhado. King Makhado Ramabulana was the King of Vhavenda from 1864 to 1895.
• 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.
• Warmbaths became Bela Bela - the Sesotho word simply meaning ‘hot spring' or ‘bubble bubble'. How cool is that?
• 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.
• Potgietersrust became Mokopane, the name of a famous king.
• 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.

The nick-names

• 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. The Khoisan community has proposed to rename Cape Town //Hui !Gaeb (meaning "where the clouds gather") but this is said to be unlikely.
• Johannesburg - Jozi or eGoli, meaning Place of Gold  
• Durban - eThekwini, meaning in the bay. Or, as some people argue, ‘a man with one testicle' in reference to the shape of the bay.
• Pretoria - Tshwane. It is the African name for the Apies River that flows through Pretoria and was the area's original name.

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