(1) A cost estimate was not done for name changes of Fort Beaufort, Somerset East and Brooksnek in the Easter Cape, (a) all the work of both the Provincial Geographical Names and the South African Geographical Names is funded by departmental programmes as part of the allocation as per government mandate.(b) there will be no impact on the fiscus through the work of both provincial and national geographical names support as this forms part of budgeted mandates
(2) Yes, there was public participation in each of the three locations and the details are as follows:
(a)&(b) Brooksnek on 12 October 2022,
Fort Beaufort on 31 October 2022 and
Somerset East on 14 November 2022.
(b) These public consultation meetings were advertised in both the Daily Despatch and Isolezwe lesiXhosa and Hartland newspapers.
(c) All public hearing meetings supported the three name changes.
(3) (a) The total number of geographical name changes that took place in the Eastern Cape since 2019 is one hundred and three (103)
(b) The cost related to these name changes relates to public consultation notices, honoraria for Committee and Council sittings. These are budgeted for within government departments.