Representatives of the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) did not receive a hearty welcome when they arrived in Cradock last Thursday for another attempt to persuade the residents to accept the proposed name change for Cradock.
The town, internationally acclaimed for its political history, has been known as Cradock for 208 years.
At the first visit, in March, held at Vusubuntu Cultural Village, as well as the two meetings held on May 19, at the Nomsa Frans Hall in Michausdal and town hall in Cradock respectively, residents were 99% against a name change for Cradock.
Everybody complained about the short notice given for the meetings – they were only notified on the Wednesday, one day before the meeting on Thursday.
At the meeting in Hillside, Michausdal, everybody refused to sign the attendance register and some of those present chanted: “We told you not to come here again.”
Some said that the money being wasted on the name change could rather be used to build more houses, repair the streets or even to pay Eskom the R300 million that the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality owes it.
The meeting in the town hall the same evening, turned out to be somewhat disorderly, as people insisted that the cost would be too great for everybody in town.
They also questioned the municipality’s expenditure of R182 000 on new name boards in town.
The Cradock Business Forum asked that people in Cradock be given a chance to vote for or against the new name which will be either Kaladokhwe or eNxuba (this will be to honour chief David Stuurman of the Nxuba clan).
Petitions against the name change are circulating in town and will be sent to the authorities in due course.
