All in a froth over Captain Morgan

Captain Morgan, the 1822 ship captain and cartographer after whom Morgan Bay is named, will come under historical scrutiny.

Great Kei official Ziphilele Mpondo objected at Thursday evening’s acrimonious name-change public hearing to Morgan Bay ratepayers’ claims the map-making captain was a neutral man of research.

A collection of 18 ratepayers from Haga-Haga, Morgan Bay and Kei Mouth used the floor of the Nyarha community hall to take on Great Kei ANC councillor Mluleki Mali, who is controversially proposing changing the names of Kei Mouth to Cwili, and Morgan Bay to Gxarha.

The chairman of the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee, Samkelo Janda, was taking no prisoners.

He said objections which fell outside the reasons for the proposed changes, would not be allowed.

Leading Morgan Bay resident Dawn Field described Morgan Bay as a retirement village and a vital tourism destination.

At this point, Janda stepped in saying tourism fell outside the historical reasons for the proposed change.

Ratepayers, in turn, accused him of being selective saying Mali’s earlier reasoning that Gxarha was a “restoration of an original name”, had mysteriously been altered to become the more political call for a name change based on “historical considerations”.

In response to Field telling the floor Captain Morgan was a carto-grapher in charge of a “research” ship, Mpondo said, “We do not know this Morgan”.

In an interview outside, Mpondo, speaking in his “after-hours personal capacity” said he suspected Morgan sailed to the area in 1822 to map out land for future European settlement.

Janda said Morgan’s history would be researched by the committee.

Committee hearings still to come:

lTuesday 11am, Ncumisa Khondlo community hall, Ngqushwa municipality;

lFebruary 2, 10am, Fort Beaufort town hall, Nkonkobe;

lFebruary 9, 2pm, Mount Fletcher, Elundini;

lFebruary 11, 6pm, Grahamstown, Makana;

lFebruary 18, 6pm, Port Alfred, Ndlambe;

lFebruary 23, 5pm, Ward 7, Umzimvubu, and again on February 24 in wards 1 and 26 both at 10am; and

lMarch 3, 6pm, Somerset East, Blue Crane.