The Makhado Municipality this week issued a statement in response to an article, which appeared on the front page of the Zoutpansberger last week under the heading It is still Louis Trichardt. The article also appeared on page three of the Mirror. The statement was issued by Council's PRO, Mr Peter Muleya and it is placed unedited. It reads:

Makhado Municipality will like to clarify incorrect information which appeared in the Mirror newspaper & Zoutpansberger dated 16th May '03 (page 3). The article is under the heading of "It is still Louis Trichardt".

We are highly surprised to hear that we are involved in the changing of names on the N1 Sign boards. We however, do not want to dwell much in how it is causing major public outcry. It will be correct to outline that during the so called march against the name change only few individuals presented the memorandum calling themselves the Concerned Group. We just want to put the records straight that we are not involved in the changing of road signs on the N1 road. We also advise the Editor to firstly check the facts by liaising with the relevant officials rather than reporting wrong information to the public. It is completely incorrect and misleading to say that the Municipality misled the Road Agency.

The Bosberaad on media relations had been conducted just on the 9th May '03 and the issue of seeking comments of the two parties involved was highly emphasized. To our surprise, on in the 16th May '03 the Editor of the Zoutpansberg/Mirror which had been represented during the Bosberaad, reported an issue on N1 sign-boards. The Editor disregarded the point of liaising and consulting with the Municipality for comments on the issue. It will be important perhaps to advice his colleagues to inform him about the report around the Bosberaad.

The issue of the renaming of our town is at an advanced stage. We are just waiting for the Government Gazette to be publicized and we will take it from that level. We would also like to indicate that the Chamber of Commerce and the so called concerned Group had the right to lodge a complaint or an appeal with the relevant Court of Law in he Republic of South Africa. We cannot be threatened by people lodging appeals at the level of courts of law and likewise we cannot prohibit anybody from doing so.

Lastly, as a Municipality we had a huge programme on Service Delivery which we have to implement rather than concentrating on petty issues. In conclusion, let all our residents be rest assured that the name change issue will never divert us from our agenda on service delivery.