The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) welcomes the decision to rename the town of Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town, a long-overdue act of historical justice arising from a lawful and consultative public participation process concluded through the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographic Names Committee, and relevant statutory bodies.
This renaming is a necessary ideological intervention in a country whose geography still highlights colonial conquest. Colonial names were never neutral but they were instruments used to impose authority, legitimise land theft, and normalise the domination of African people. To retain them is to symbolically prolong colonial violence.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe represents the highest ideals of revolutionary integrity. As the founding President of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Sobukwe articulated an uncompromising vision of African self-determination, land restoration, and total liberation from colonial rule. He played a decisive role in organising the 1960 anti-pass campaign, which exposed the brutality of the apartheid system and altered the course of South African history. For this, Sobukwe was uniquely persecuted by the apartheid state, including years of solitary confinement on Robben Island under a special legislative clause designed solely to silence him. His life stands as a testament to courage, clarity, and sacrifice without compromise.
By contrast, Colonel Cornelis Jacobus van de Graaff, after whom Graaff-Reinet is partially named, was a colonial administrator whose record is neither heroic nor admirable. Historical accounts reflect that his tenure in the Cape colonial administration involved misconduct, including behaviour that led to his removal from office. He represents not excellence, leadership, or moral integrity, but the arrogance of colonial governance. To insist on preserving his name is to elevate an irresponsible colonial official over a revolutionary giant who sacrificed everything for freedom.
The historical impact of Graaff and Reinet does not come remotely close to that of Sobukwe. One advanced liberation at great personal cost; the others benefited from and enforced colonial domination. There is no moral or historical equivalence.
The EFF is therefore not surprised by the hostile reaction of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), a party whose understanding of “history” begins and ends with white settler experience.
FF+ does not recognise Sobukwe as part of “their history” because they reject African liberation as legitimate history. To them, history is colonisation, settlement, and democracy without Africans at the centre. Sobukwe’s existence, ideas, and legacy fundamentally threaten their worldview, which is why they oppose his recognition. As we have stated before, Afrikaners are more than welcome to preserve their history in museums and archives, but we will reiterate there is no room for the celebration of the likes of Graaff in naming our geography.
The EFF reaffirms that the decolonisation of space must continue relentlessly. Our towns, streets, and institutions must reflect African revolutionaries, freedom fighters, and builders of a liberated society.
The EFF opposes the privatization of state-owned enterprises.
First Published here: MyZA.co.za
Did You Know?
- Cradock was founded in 1813 on the banks of the Great Fish River to cater for the migratory farmers who settled in this ruggedly beautiful area with its excellent grazing, abundant water and healthy climate.
- Cradock was officially renamed Nxuba on 26 August 2022. This change was officially gazetted by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, and it was part of a broader effort to rename towns with colonial or apartheid legacies in the Eastern Cape.
- Home to an actual Harry Potter’s grave: A British soldier with the name Harry Potter, who died during the South African War (Anglo-Boer War), is buried in the Cradock cemetery. His grave was discovered in 2002, long before the fictional character became a global phenomenon.
- Location of the last surrender of arms in the South African War: Cradock was the final place in South Africa where arms were officially laid down at the end of the South African War, with the event occurring four days after the Peace of Vereeniging was signed in 1902.
- Birthplace of Afrikaans publication: The first-ever article published in the Afrikaans language appeared in the local newspaper, the Cradock News, on December 4, 1868. This was a report on the separation of the Eastern Cape from the Western Cape, and the paper achieved the largest circulation in the country at the time.
- Second oldest cricket ground and library in South Africa: Cradock’s cricket ground and library are both the second oldest in the entire country, a testament to the town’s early establishment and development of civic amenities.
- Host to a total solar eclipse viewing by a Prime Minister: In 1942, the South African statesman and Prime Minister Jan Smuts came specifically to Cradock to witness a total eclipse of the sun, as the town was the best location for viewing the celestial event.