It’s official: Goodbye William Nicol, hello Winnie Mandela Drive
The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has gazetted the latest round of name changes for South Africa. Take a look at the list …
The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture late last week gazetted the latest round of name changes for South Africa.
Among the three changes which have now become official are William Nicol Drive in Johannesburg.
As reported by the SAPeople website in September 2023, new signage has been in place for the road for several months already.
The R511 route is now officially called Winnie Mandela Drive – at a reported cost of R250 000 to taxpayers.
If you ever wondered who William Nicol was, wonder no more …
Perhaps slightly better known, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was an apartheid activist and second wife to late former president Nelson Mandela.
She was one of the longest serving leaders of the ANC’s Women’s League, staying in office from 1993 until 2003 before she was succeeded by Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqankula.
She also served as the deputy minister of sports, art and culture, science and technology between 1994 and 1996.
At the time of her death in 2018, she was a member of parliament’s National Assembly.
Meanwhile, in another name change, the town of Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal is no longer.
After 180 years, Ladysmith will now be known as uMnambithi.
Finally, the third name change to have been approved is that of Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape, which has been changed to Nqweba.
Most name changes in the Eastern Cape
In a government notices dated 22 March 2024, it stated: “I, Zizi Kodwa, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture officially approved the following geographical names, in terms of Section 10 (2) of the South African Geographical Names Council Act (Act No 118 of 1998)”:
South Africa has seen several name changes over the last few years, mainly in the Eastern Cape province.
According to the BusinessTech website, as many as 103 (and counting) geographical name changes have occurred in the Eastern Cape alone since 2019.
It’s important to note is that name changes are driven by communities and cannot be initiated by the department or provincial governments themselves.