South Africa - How To Apply for standardization of geographical names (name changes) on the Geographical Names Council Database

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for Standardization of geographical names on the Geographical Names Council Database, the applicant has to visit the office of South African Geographical Names Council or your provincial geographical names council.
2. The contact information of the Department of Arts and Culture office can be found in the following link: Link
3. Contact the DAC office and enquire for the details of the Provincial Geographical Names Committee or Council, in your province.
4. Visit the Provincial Committee or Council and get the Application for Proposed New Geographical Name and/or Change of Existing Geographical Name, form the concerned department.
5. Complete the application form as required by providing all the required information and details relevant to the Standardization of Geographical name.
6. Also provide the details about the informant who suggested the name and necessary linguistic and origin information about the name suggested.
7. After completed filling the form, submit it to the Tribal or Local Authority for getting your form recommended by attesting with Date and official stamp.
8. Then, the package will be submitted at the Provincial Geographical Names Committee or Council for consideration, where the application will be recommended by attesting with Date and official stamp.
9. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in the “Required documents” section of this page. Enclose all the documents with the application form and submit the application package to the South African Geographical Names Council, Department of Arts and Culture.
10. After receiving the application package, the concerned authority may perform all the necessary processes of verification and validation of the attached documents.
11. Once when all the furnished information is found in order, the concerned authority in the council will make further actions for standardization of the Geographical Name.

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Required Documents

• Completed Application form
• A4-size map
• Detailed description of the place to be named
• Detailed documentation on the suggested name
• Any supporting document

Office Locations & Contacts

Geographical Names Council
Department of Sports, Arts and Culture - Head Office
Physical Adsress:Sechaba House (VWL Building),
202 Madiba Street,
Pretoria
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X 897
PRETORIA
0001
South Africa
Tel:+27 (12) 441 3000
Fax: +27 (12) 441 3699
Email: [email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• Any person, who is a South African citizen, can apply.
• Any government department, provincial government, local authority, the South African Post Office (SAPO), property developer, or any other body, are also eligible to apply.

Fees

• The complete service is free of cost.
  

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

• A handbook or user guide of Geographical names can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:Link
  

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The applicant will have to wait for a period of three months for getting the application processed.
  

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• The application, after getting completely filled, can also be submitted through Email or Fax or by post to the Postal Address of the Council.
• As delays are often caused by incomplete or incorrect information on the application form, applicants should be aware that the standardization of a name may be a lengthy process and care should be taken to complete the application form as required in order to prevent an even longer delay.
• Once a name has been approved by the Minister, that name has been standardized. It is then published in the Government Gazette.

Required Information

• Particulars of the applicant
• Particulars of the Informant
• Details of the language of the proposed name
• Latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates of the location to be named

Need for the Document

• The motive of the Standardization process of geographical names is to redress, correct and transform the geographical naming system in South Africa.
  

Information which might help

• A name may be objectionable because it replaced an existing name which certain people would like to see restored and some linguistic modifications of names may be offensive.
• When an existing name is granted official status, its form may have to be standardized.
• The SAGNC would like members of local communities to be involved in naming. Where the public are unable to complete the application form, they may apply through their local authority to the Provincial Geographical Names Committee for assistance. The PGNC may in turn request assistance from the SAGNC, who may refer the matter to specialist researchers.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.