You say, "Potgietersrus." I say, "Mokopane."

South Africa is a country with great place names. From an American perspective, both the Afrikaners and the natives endowed the country with distinctive, fun-to-say places. Potgieterrrsrrrus. That's great. Mhlambanyatsi. Awesome.

Various municipalities are in the midst of an ambitious effort to change many of the existing place names throughout the country. It seems to go above and beyond similar efforts in other countries. China (Canton to Guangzhou) and India (Madras to Chennai) appear to have made more marginal changes around the edges. As could probably be expected in a post-Apartheid era, South Africa's name changers seem determined to eradicate all vestiges of Afrikaans, a language with heavy historical baggage. For the most part, cities with English-derived names like Cape Town and Durban do not appear to be on the chopping block, but plenty of cities with Afrikaans names are:

• Pretoria --> Tshwane
• Bloemfontein --> Mangaung
• Pietersburg --> Polokwane
• Potgietersrus --> Mokopane
• Eastern Transvaal --> Mpumalanga
• Naboomspruit --> Mookgophong
  

The name changes do not stop at the city or province level. In Durban, lots of street signs were crossed out and a new sign with a new name was juxtaposed next to it. It made it hard to find certain addresses.

The whole enterprise can't be cheap to implement. But perhaps such a cost is necessary for a group of people to break the metaphorical yoke of their oppressors. Not all people can or want to adapt so quickly. Many Afrikaners continue to use their old names; however, it is unclear if their reluctance is due to hostility, intransigence, or simply force of habit. Probably some of each, depending on the person.