Judgment looms on Grahamstown-Makhanda appeal
April 30, 2021NEWS
As the Grahamstown-Makhanda name-change case ratcheted up in the town’s high court this week, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa was described as arrogant in his ignorance of historical and material facts; the name-change objectors as obsessive in the face of the country’s laws and Constitution.
Judgment was reserved in the appeal this week against Mthethwa’s decision to approve the renaming of Grahamstown to Makhanda. The appeal was heard by a full bench on Monday 26 April.
In June 2018, Mthethwa’s decision to change the name of Grahamstown to Makhanda was gazetted.
Judgement reserved in Makhanda versus Grahamstown rename ruling By Adrienne Carlisle - 26 April 2021 The decision to change the name of Grahamstown to Makhanda is being challenged in the Grahamstown High Court. Image: WIKIMEDIA
A full bench of three high court judges on Monday reserved judgment on the issue.
One of the co-chairs of a local organization called Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown (KGG), Sigidla Ndumo, appealed against a 2019 judgment which upheld sport, art and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa’s decision to change the name of the small city.
Advocate Izak Smuts, SC, for Ndumo on Monday argued that the entire process leading up to the decision to change the name from Grahamstown to Makhanda had been fatally flawed, and that the decision itself was therefore unlawful, unreasonable and irrational.