Whether it’s KuGompo or East London, the damn place still owes me a new tyre
East London is among the 21 towns in South Africa that will officially be renamed. While we’re renaming things, I submit that we change the N6 to NPR for National Pie Route because there are so many padstals on that road with fantastic pies.
East London to be renamed KuGompo
While that name change may appeal to my gluttony, it’s hardly going to determine the continued existence of Kraay’s Pies in Smithfield or the Wagon Wheel in Cathcart. Did the renaming of Queenstown to Komani make the place any better? Drive through and determine. It’s not even artful any longer. Jamestown was just renamed from one James to another (James Calata). It’s like they’re not even trying.
Granted, name changing is an important part of transformation. It is so because names represent something to us. They mean something important. It’s why your child isn’t named after the manufacturer of your toilet flush, but rather the name of your favourite pizza at the restaurant where you had your first date. It’s why people get so upset about a name change whether they are for or against it.
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The premise of why naming something is important is clear from the way we name things – there’s typically quite a bit of pomp and circumstance and more so when naming something bigger. That’s why small streets get obscure signs and ships get inexplicable champagne wasting ceremonies.
Renaming East London to KuGompo was so vital because people wanted a KuGompo. Never mind that a small place in the Eastern Cape already had that name. KuGompo is so important that we were given a second KuGompo. To avoid confusion between the two places, the new KuGompo will not just be known as KuGompo but rather KuGompo City while the original KuGompo remains KuGompo. Is that enough KuGompo for you?
I can’t think why having two is so confusing though. South Africans should be used to it given how many Winnie Mandela towns we have and how many Nelson Mandela Streets we have and how many power outages, water shortages and stolen street signs there are in all of them.
Name changes don’t fix roads
Whether it’s KuGompo or East London, the damn place still owes me a new tyre for my Miata and changing the name isn’t going to make it any kinder to my remaining three wheels.
At some point, you have to fix the road too. There’s quite a lot to fix down there and as happy as changing the name may make some people, it’s a number of steps ahead of the missed steps that involve actually maintaining the place.
Maintenance? Gosh! How counter-revolutionary and anti-transformation. It would be ideal to be able to convince some higher ups that you can have both a nice place to live in and have it named appropriately. They may even notice that people care less about the name of the place they live in when it gives them a good life.
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I won’t call it a concession that the ANC has now launched a service delivery hotline, but you’d think that with service delivery such a political priority at the moment, focusing attention on name changes is questionable. Perhaps it’s easy point scoring in the wake of having done very little, or perhaps they’re focusing on the Eastern Cape to warn the Free State now that its matric results are no longer top in the country. Pick up your socks Free State or you’ll soon be calling Welkom, Melktertstan.
It’s just so awful that in the wake of such lapses in service, the best a government can offer is to change the name of the place. I know that a rose by any other name still smells as sweet but the rose is dying, and changing the name is not inspiring anything until that rose starts looking good again.
