This one time, at band camp...

So essentially the entire country is slowly being renamed street by street, suburb by suburb, and city by city, without as much as warning to the very citizens. From “Belfast to eMakhazeni” and “Nelspruit to Mbombela”, the very places we live, and have lived for many years, are changing by our government.
With 42 geographical name changes being listed and approved in just over a month, between late July and early September, one doesn’t need a degree to understand that if this pattern continues, one which has been going on for a number of years, our country, and the names we use to distinguish the places around it, will no doubt lose whatever significance they once had.
I for one can imagine the shock on someone’s face when I mention that Nelspruit is no more, but rather Mbombela. I can compare this, loosely, to the renaming of The Waterfront in Johannesburg to The Bright Water Commons. I am yet to meet a single person who naturally calls it by its new name. I actually hope I don’t meet anyone like that actually. The same applies to street names throughout Jo’burg. By no means am I against “cultural change” and “national progression”, but renaming entire cities? Really?
What probably most annoys me is the fact that those in charge of this mass renaming scheme try to reiterate it’s not a big deal at all. Well I think it is, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

- Scotty