Siyabonga Sesant
Forget Somerset East – the town in the Eastern Cape has been renamed and shall henceforth be called KwaNojoli.
Residents woke up to the news on Monday after the Department of Sports and Culture gazetted the new name changes, not only for Somerset East, but for Fort Beaufort and Brooksnek village in the Eastern Cape.
The town of Fort Beaufort will now be called KwaMaqoma, while Brooksnek village becomes Ben Mbizweni village.
A resident in now-KwaNojoli [Somerset East] Ambrose van Gend said the name change caught them by surprise.
“We didn’t know about it, but it is what we are hearing and we came together [on Monday] night to discuss it,” Van Gend said.
“If Somerset East can spend so much money on name changes why can’t they fix the electricity?”
But Speaker of the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality Neliswa Nkonjeni made it clear that the name change process was that of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture – and not the municipality.
She did however confirm that a public participation process was followed.
“A public participation was held and the department proceeded with their own process that we were not aware off. We saw the gazette, just like yourselves, in the media,” said Nkonjeni.
