Grahamstown to be renamed Makhanda after Xhosa warrior
Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape will soon have a new name.
The changing of the name Grahamstown to Makhanda was published in the Government Gazette on Friday, the Department of Arts and Culture said.
The department said there had been calls for almost 20 years to change the town's name.
"It is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that recommended that the renaming of geographic features be a form of 'symbolic reparation' to address an unjust past," said Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
"Surely, we cannot prove ourselves committed (as government) to fully achieve these reparations if we retain names such as 'Grahamstown' – named after Colonel John Graham – whose name is captured in history as being the most brutal and most vicious of the British commanders on that frontier."