Among the proposed changes, the alteration to Lady Grey will significantly affect the settlement, which has a history dating back to 1857.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town was established on a farm purchased by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1857 to found a new congregation. The town was founded a year later in 1858.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was named in honour of Eliza Lucy Grey, the wife of Sir George Grey, the governor of the Cape Colony at the time (1854 to 1859). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became an official municipality in 1893, making it 133 years old as a municipality, but 168 years old as a settlement\u2014one of the oldest in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the town is one of South Africa’s greatest “hidden gems”, with tourism focused on fishing, nearby nature reserves, and scenic getaways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also home to the Lady Grey Arts Academy, a specialised school where young people are developed in the visual and performing arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another town up for a change is Herschel, which is also a historic settlement in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The town was founded in 1879 and was named after the astronomer Sir John Herschel, who worked in the Cape Colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The changes are part of a wider initiative by the Eastern Cape government to rename towns to reflect the names of historical local chiefs and freedom fighters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed name changes to Inkosi Makhobeni, Inkosi Mpangazi and Inkosi Lihlongo would be in honour of historic traditional leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The province has made significant name changes in recent years, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- East London to KuGompo City<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe Town<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Morgan\u2019s Bay to Gxarha;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Cradock to Nxuba;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Uitenhage to Kariega;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- King William’s Town to Qonce;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Queenstown to Komani; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Grahamstown to Makhanda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
More name changes are in process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The changes have not been without opposition, however. Residents in towns like Graaff-Reinet have taken to the streets in protest to keep the historic names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Freedom Front Plus has also taken a firm stance against the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Freedom Front Plus’s policy on name changes is clear: We condemn all unnecessary, costly and politically driven name changes that divide communities, waste taxpayers\u2019 money, and attempt to erase existing history and identity,” the party said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party flagged the timing and handling of the name-changing process, raising concerns that it is taking place before the local government elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This, it said, “creates the impression that political interests and vote-catching are more important than service delivery”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the provinces move ahead with name changes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is proceeding to amend the country’s name-change laws to clarify the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coming changes will also establish a firmer procedure for challenging name changes before taking matters to the country’s courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images of Lady Grey, South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa-01-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Grobler du Preez \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa-03-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Grobler du Preez \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa-02-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Grobler du Preez \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa-04-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Grobler du Preez \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee has confirmed that it will proceed with renaming historic towns in the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":869931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2087488278769373284","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2173942413426158","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17988831320846994","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[5853,23095],"class_list":["post-869893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-freedom-front-plus","tag-name-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869893"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869952,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869893\/revisions\/869952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lady-Grey-South-Africa.jpg\")
<\/a>