When the world’s soccer fans descend on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, most of them will disembark at OR Tambo International airport, as Johannesburg International airport will soon be known.
Minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan announced on June 30 in the Government Gazette that more than 50 place names, including those of the airport and Lydenburg in Mpumalanga, will be changed, Beeld newspaper reported on Monday.
Twenty days remain for final comment on the name changes, many of which are simply corrections of spelling mistakes. The airport will be named after African National Congress anti-apartheid stalwart Oliver Tambo, who died in 1993.
Department of Transport spokesperson Collen Msibi told the Mail & Guardian Online on Monday that ”an overwhelming number of people” have expressed support for the name change, though he could not give exact figures or say whether any objections had been received.
The department is involved in the name change because the airport is one of its assets, though it is managed by the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa).
Department of Arts and Culture spokesperson Premy Appalraju said the Ekurhuleni metro, Johannesburg metro, South African Airways, Acsa and the Tambo family were consulted on the name change. Though the department had received ”some objections from individuals”, there was overwhelming approval of the change, she said.
Appalraju could not say what the name change would cost, but said the expenditure would form part of ”transformation issues, as requested in the Budget”.
”The feeling is that you cannot quantify … reconciliation in monetary terms,” she said, referring to the airport’s renaming as ”symbolic reparation”.
Regarding possible effects of the name change on the South African tourism industry, the Department of Transport’s Msibi said that after consultations with the aviation industry, his department was satisfied that there would not be any negative effects.
”If anyone in the tourism industry wants to comment, they are welcome to do so [in the remaining period for comments on the matter],” he said.
No other South African airports have been earmarked for name changes, Msibi said, adding that Johannesburg International airport’s name is being changed at the request of the Ekurhuleni metro to honour Tambo.
On Monday, South African Tourism PR and communications manager Tholoane Qhobela told the M&G Online: ”SA Tourism has noted the gazetting of the renaming of Johannesburg International airport to OR Tambo International airport. We do not expect or anticipate an impact on tourism, as the name change does not have a direct impact on travellers’ ability to identify the country and city to which they will be coming.
”We are confident that Acsa and the Department of Transport have and will continue to communicate on this issue going forward.”
Objections
The official opposition Democratic Alliance, however, pointed out on Monday that it had already strongly objected to the name change in the past, and that its gazetting came as a ”major surprise”.
DA transport spokesperson Stuart Farrow said the renaming of the airport is a massively expensive exercise for the sake of change and a waste of public funds, also pointing to the cost implications for airlines and businesses at the airport, among others.
Farrow conceded that South Africans would likely easily adapt to the name change, but said foreign visitors would find it hard to relate the name of the airport to their destination.
He said the DA will object once again to the name change during the current comment period.
In January this year, Ekurhuleni mayor Duma ka Nkosi said a formal request had been submitted to the departments of transport and arts and culture to effect the name change, and that naming the airport after Tambo had political and historical significance.
On Monday, Ekurhuleni mayor spokesperson Prince Hamnca said the mayor’s office is waiting for formal correspondence from the Department of Arts and Culture on the implementation of the name change.
Freedom Front Plus arts and culture spokesperson Corne Mulder said in a statement that the proposed name change is ”nothing less than political opportunism and attempts by the ANC government to dodge the true socio-economic issues of the country”.
”It was previously agreed upon that the name of politicians would not be used when the names of airports are changed … By deviating from this agreement, the government is sending a negative message to South Africans which would lead to further polarisation and alienation,” Mulder said. ”The change of the airport’s name has incalculable financial implications for Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Gauteng and the whole of South Africa.”
The FF+ encouraged relevant parties and institutions as well as private individuals to submit their comments on the name change to the Department of Arts and Culture.
The airport, located in Kempton Park, was previously known as Jan Smuts International airport, after the World War II prime minister, but was renamed in the mid-1990s when it was said airports should be named after their localities and not after politicians. It caters for more than 13-million passengers each year, making it the busiest in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Lydenburg seems set in future be known as Mashishing. However, Beeld quoted a councillor of the Thaba Chweu municipality, which includes Lydenburg, as saying the council had not taken a decision on the name change, though the new name of Mashishing had been considered.