LOUIS TRICHARDT – The Makhado Municipality this week tried to justify the name change procedure, following wide-spread criticism in the media.

Several angry taxpayers wrote letters questioning Council's motives behind the highly controversial name change issue.

"It will be quite vital for us as a Municipality to urge all residents within the municipality to bring constructive criticism which will build our municipality. It will be relevant and correct to clarify the incorrect information and criticism as follows:

"Around January 2002 the MEC for Local Government and Housing issued a notice to inform all municipalities about the new changes of names of towns. Our municipality established a Renaming Committee. The Renaming Committee issued notices to various structures/community stakeholders within the jurisdiction of our municipality. This was in line with System Act 32 of 2000, Sec. 16 to 21. In a nutshell, the above practice was in line with involving and allowing members of the community to participate in issues that concern communities at large," the statement from Council reads.

The statement goes on to say that a public hearing was then held on 6 February at the local show grounds during which time members of the public had the opportunity to put forward proposals on the name changing issue. It does not, however, mention whether or not this hearing was ever advertised.

As a result of this public hearing, three names were proposed, namely Songozwi, Hlanganani and Makhado. These proposals were then forwarded to Council and on 16 February Council resolved that the name of Louis Trichardt be changed to Makhado. On 12 March the application was submitted to the South African Geographical Names Committee, who referred it back to Council on the grounds that a town with the name of Makhado already existed. The Council then started the process of changing the name of the existing town of Makhado to another name, following meetings with the Mphephu Territorial Council on 28 May. They even, according to the statement, conducted a Talk Back Show on Phalaphala FM to test members of the public's views regarding the proposed name change of the town of Makhado. Following this, they also called a public hearing at Makhado on 9 June during which two names were proposed, namely Dzanani (six votes) and Tshituni (four votes). Again the Renaming Committee submitted its report to Council after which Council forwarded its proposal to the South African Geographical Names Committee. The result of this application might be known in August.

Following the above explanation, the statement reads: "The ratepayer went on criticizing the Mayor as a puppet of Mr Magwala. In short, the Honourable Mayor, Councillor Tlakula, has been democratically elected and has side-by-side fought tirelessly to unite the citizens of Makhado Municipality and so far he has succeeded, because services are offered within the Council without prejudice or segregation to all members of the community. He has so far managed to unite whites and blacks within the municipality and maintain a high level of discipline, which is earning great respect for our municipality. Lastly, the mayor is the mayor for all residents within our municipality. As a result we urge all residents within the municipality to engage themselves in building and bringing in constructive criticism.

"The train for transformation in South Africa departed on 27 April 1994. As such the angry ratepayer is requested to come and get on the same train before it is too late."

In reaction to the statement local DA leader, Mr Timothy Maanda, said that the consultation process followed by ANC council members is just a smokescreen for the unilateral name changes being forced upon the citizens of the country. He said an excellent example of this so called consultation process is the "consultations" that were held in the surrounding areas on the name change of the town Louis Trichardt. Mr Maanda said that when the name change for the R293 town, Makhado, was decided upon, only the inhabitants of that town were consulted and a lot of effort went into the process to make sure that all inhabitants agreed on the name change. This is again a clear indication that the ANC has no intention of listening to or considering input from the inhabitants of Louis Trichardt. He added that there are various organized groups in Louis Trichardt and not one of them had ever been consulted regarding the name change, but ANC structures in the 32 wards had indeed been "consulted".

Mr Maanda also reflected on the haste with which the name change issue had been forced through by Council. He said that it was unreal to think that the Makhado Municipality could send a document to councillors on 31 January 2002, requesting them "to convene an urgent people's forum in your ward on Saturday 2 February or Sunday 3 February. You are requested to inform this office before Friday, 1 February about the venue and time of the said meeting."