{"id":108888,"date":"2026-02-17T07:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/?p=108888"},"modified":"2026-02-17T07:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:28:22","slug":"afriforum-sends-lawyers-letter-to-minister-to-object-to-graaff-reinet-name-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/afriforum-sends-lawyers-letter-to-minister-to-object-to-graaff-reinet-name-change\/","title":{"rendered":"AfriForum sends lawyer\u2019s letter to Minister to object to Graaff-Reinet name change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Alana-Bailey_17-Feb-2026_ENG.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Soundbite: Alana Bailey (English)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Alana-Bailey_17-Feb-2026_AFR.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Soundbite: Alana Bailey (Afrikaans)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AfriForum has sent a lawyer\u2019s letter to Gayton McKenzie, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, to object to the name change of Graaff-Reinet. This follows in response to the Minister\u2019s notice in the <em>Government Gazette<\/em> of 6 February 2026 that the town will henceforth be called Robert Sobukwe Town. The South African Geographical Names Council Act 118 of 1998 provides for such objections to be lodged within 30 days of the publication of a name change.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum\u2019s Head of Cultural Affairs, the civil rights organisation\u2019s objection is based, among other things, on the fact that the <em>Eastern Cape Provincial Policy on Naming and Renaming of Geographical Features<\/em> emphasises that the name changing of places of particular historical significance should only be considered in exceptional cases. According to AfriForum, in the case of Graaff-Reinet, which has had this name since its establishment 240 years ago, no such circumstances could be found. Contrary to the requirements of the policy, the change does not indicate that the necessary consideration has been given to the preservation of the town\u2019s historical and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the letter, AfriForum refers to the study by Prof. Ronnie Donaldson, which established that 83,6% of the town\u2019s residents are opposed to the name change. \u201cAlthough it is claimed that the name change will improve social cohesion, it is achieving the very opposite, with growing local and national polarisation because of the name change. Residents even feel that the Minister and other relevant authorities are ignoring them,\u201d Bailey says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe name change could cause incalculable damage to the cultural and historical content of the name, the tourism industry, the local economy and relations among communities. The responsible choice would be for the Minister to simply withdraw the change,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AfriForum calls on everyone who wants to preserve Graaff-Reinet\u2019s name to oppose this ill-considered change and to sign the petition against it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/graaff-reinet-se-nuwe-naam-is-robert-sobukwe\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Brief-aan-Gayton-McKenzie-oor-beswaar-mbt-Graaff-Reinet-FEB-2026-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Brief aan Gayton McKenzie oor beswaar mbt Graaff Reinet - FEB 2026.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-5d061595-9dfa-491f-8628-1899a1b5d90a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Brief-aan-Gayton-McKenzie-oor-beswaar-mbt-Graaff-Reinet-FEB-2026-1.pdf\">Brief aan Gayton McKenzie oor beswaar mbt Graaff Reinet &#8211; FEB 2026<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Brief-aan-Gayton-McKenzie-oor-beswaar-mbt-Graaff-Reinet-FEB-2026-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-5d061595-9dfa-491f-8628-1899a1b5d90a\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AfriForum has sent a lawyer\u2019s letter to Gayton McKenzie, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, to object to the name&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":108893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11178,11162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage-and-culture-media-statements","category-media-statements"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":11178,"label":"Heritage and culture Media statements"},{"value":11162,"label":"Media statements"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Graaff-Reinet-naam-cover_ENG-1024x570.jpg",1024,570,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"AfriForum","author_link":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/author\/ilze-nieuwoudtafriforum-co-za\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":11178,"name":"Heritage and culture Media statements","slug":"heritage-and-culture-media-statements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":11178,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":11162,"count":37,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":11178,"category_count":37,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Heritage and culture Media statements","category_nicename":"heritage-and-culture-media-statements","category_parent":11162},{"term_id":11162,"name":"Media statements","slug":"media-statements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":11162,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2588,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":11162,"category_count":2588,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Media statements","category_nicename":"media-statements","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108895,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108888\/revisions\/108895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artikels.afriforum.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}