YAMKELA F. SPENGANE

I think the process of changing names is very important from a decolonisation perspective. Places in the colonised world had names before the colonialists renamed them in accordance with their languages to enforce the cultural hegemony that was part of the colonisation strategy. To signify reclaiming of ownership and identity, reverting back to names of origin becomes very important symbolism.

For the case of East London, the name Monti comes from the bastardisation of the Afrikaans word “Mond“, which referred to the river mouth of Buffalo River, that is used as a river port in East London in addition to the ocean port at the bay. So it followed then that Xhosa people called it eMond, then iMond yaba iMonti. (It is similar to Molo, which comes from Môre in Afrikaans. In Xhosa kuthiwa Bhotani).

There was an original name for the area before the colonisation that took place in the area after the sixth frontier war (1834-1836), and that should take precedence over a name that comes from bastardisation. The sixth frontier war was part of the 100 year Frontier war between tribes now erroneously grouped under the collective banner of Xhosa people and European Settlers who were expanding their frontiers from the stronghold of Cape Town.

KuGompo is the name the area was referred to in isiXhosa. It refers to the Cove Rock where the waves battered and made the rumbling sound. The Khoe people referred to it as Ingaad! ab. This means river of buffaloes, referring to the river that had opened its mouth into the ocean at that place. Xhosa people refer to the same river as Bhisho, which is also “buffalo river”.