Graaff-Reinet renaming sparks debate on colonial legacy

Our town has a long and layered history, and that history should neither be denied nor erased. Yet the mere age of a name does not, in itself, render it sacrosanct. Many towns across SA were established during colonial expansion; their names reflect the political authority and worldview of that era.

The question before us is not whether Graaff-Reinet has history — it undoubtedly does, but whose history is publicly honoured and normalised through our civic symbols. It does not dismantle archives, heritage sites, or historical scholarship. Rather, it signals that in a constitutional democracy founded on dignity, equality and freedom, our symbolic landscape must evolve.

To rename the town after Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe is not to deny its colonial past, but to situate it within a broader, more inclusive national narrative, one that acknowledges those who resisted dispossession and injustice. It is important to acknowledge the historical origins of the name Graaff-Reinet. It was an assertion of power, a way of inscribing imperial authority onto land that was already inhabited, already storied, already known by other names.