Top political party asks South Africans to ignore prominent town’s name change

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has called on South Africans to ignore the name change from Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town.

The name Graaff-Reinet dates to 1786 and honours Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, a Dutch governor of the Cape Colony under the VOC, and his wife, Cornelia Reynet.

In 1795, citizens rid themselves of VOC taxes and established the short-lived Republic of Graaff-Reinet.

Much later, in the 1830s, Graaff-Reinet was also the point of departure for the Great Trek, which stands tall in Afrikaans history.

The VF Plus released a statement on Sunday, 8 February 2026, saying that “Graaff-Reinet will always be Graaff-Reinet – and not Robert Sobukwe Town”.

It urged the people of Graaff-Reinet, the broader Eastern Cape, and the rest of South Africa to ignore the name change.

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, recently published the name change, along with 20 others, in the Government Gazette.

The Freedom Front Plus argued that the name changes prove that limited public funds are being spent on misguided priorities.

“It is also a blatant example of cultural imperialism in which Afrikaner cultural history is annihilated under the pretext of so-called social cohesion,” it said.

“It has become customary to expect Afrikaners, and only Afrikaners, to sacrifice their heritage on the altar to appease the rest. We refuse to keep doing it.”

The party argued that the name Graaff-Reinet is inextricably part of everyone in the country’s shared heritage and national identity.

“More than thirty years have passed since the beginning of the new political dispensation, and yet there is still this needless meddling,” it said.

“These steps create division and waste taxpayers’ money, while urgent problems such as job creation, infrastructure, and safety are ignored.”

The Freedom Front Plus said it rejected Graaff-Reinet’s name change and will rectify it at the first opportunity that arises.

“Afrikaners, and previous dispensations, did not change the name, seeing as it forms part of South Africa’s colourful and multifaceted history,” it said.

The Freedom Front Plus said no one benefits from erasing parts of history that some people may not like.

“It merely results in a narrow, distorted view of everyone’s heritage while unnecessarily sowing division,” it said.