Things are changing in South Africa.

Notably, there’ll be some name changes in the Nelson Mandela Bay Local Municipality.

What this means is that if you want to go to Port Elizabeth anytime soon, you’ll want to look out for the name change.

You should also have a good think about why you’d want to go to Port Elizabeth.

The Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee (ECPGNC) has begun public hearings into proposed name changes for the city of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth International Airport, and the town of Uitenhage, amongst others.

Here’s BusinessTech:

“The ECPGNC has received applications for proposed renaming, conducted research on the name and facilitated a consultative process with local community concerned, business, faith organisations, and other stakeholders in the jurisdiction of the place to be renamed,” said spokesperson Andile Nduna in a statement.

The ECPGNC will be holding public hearings and advertising the proposed new names. The public will also be invited to comment on the proposed name changes.

“If a consensus on the new name has been reached amongst all relevant stakeholders, the Committee makes recommendations to the national South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) which examines the processes followed in coming to the conclusion that such a name should be standardised or accepted before the name is gazetted for public comments, acceptance or rejection.”

Here are the most popular name options under consideration:

Port Elizabeth 

• Gqebera;
• I-Bhayi;
• Nelson Mandela City

Port Elizabeth International Airport

• Sipho Hashe International Airport;
• Nelson Mandela Bay Airport;
• Raymond Mhlaba Airport;
• David Stuurman International Airport;
• The Khoi-San International Airport;
• Nelson Mandela Airport.

Uitenhage

• Tolofiyeni;
• Garden Town;
• Kariega;
• Kamesh.

If I lived in Uitenhage, I’d move. If I had to stay in Uitenhage, I would take any of those names in a heartbeat.

Also, can you imagine some of the whiter residents of PE trying to pronounce ‘Gqebera’?

[source:businesstech]