The Chairpersons Association is involved in a fierce correspondence battle with the Minister of Arts and Culture regarding the name of the town. Minister Lulu Xingwana has not yet announced any name change for the town of Louis Trichardt in the government gazette.

In the meantime, the Makhado Municipality refers to Louis Trichardt as Makhado, an action which the CA describes as contempt of court orders. The municipality uses the name of the town as Makhado in its official documentation and on its official banners.

“The proposed name change from Louis Trichardt to Makhado has not yet been approved or rejected, therefore I am not in a position to provide you with any documentation on the matter,” Minister Xingwana told the CA in her letter dated 27 September.

The documentation that the CA required was, among others, minutes of previous meetings and the final recommendation of the name change made by the SAGNC (South African Geographical Names Council) to the minister. The CA demanded the relevant documentation in order to prepare for discussions with the municipality and the provincial names committee.

“We also refer you to the documentation we have requested on various occasions in order to prepare for the consultation process with the provincial committee and the municipality and request you to inform the council that we are entitled to receive the said documentation,” the CA chairperson, Mr André Naudé, replied in a letter dated October 6. Naudé said that instead of making a recommendation to the minister, the national names council should refer the matter back to the provincial committee and the municipality and instruct them to conduct a proper consultation and a fair administrative process.

The CA reminded the Minister of their objection that the Makhado Municipality never determined, by way of consulting the community and other stakeholders, whether “the need exists or existed to change the name.”

Naudé said that a decision by the minister to approve a geographical name recommended by the national names council, presupposes that the council is satisfied that a proper administrative process was followed and adhered to by the municipality and the provincial names committee.

“It is clear that the Chairpersons Association, an important stakeholder, was not consulted at all by the municipality or the provincial committee and any recommendation by the council to you at this stage is premature and not justified,” the CA stated.

Xingwana suggested that the CA come up with a date to meet with the SAGNC within 30 days of their receiving her letter (dated September 27). “If you are still unwilling to meet with the SAGNC, despite my request for you to do so and despite the SAGNC´s written invitation to yourself to do an oral presentation, I will have no alternative but to take a decision on the name change application using written submissions submitted by your organizations to relevant structures.”

The CA regards the documentation as a prerequisite to any discussions.

Xingwana said the SAGNC Act, Act 118 of 1998, does not provide for the Minister to engage with anyone on proposed geographical names before they are published in the Government Gazette.

The CA agreed with the minister that no discussion with her or the SAGNC can resolve the problem or “rectify the flawed process because it is not your responsibility or that of the council to do the consultation. This must be done by the provincial committee and the municipality.”

The CA finally requested the Minister to undertake not to consider the name change at this stage and to refer the matter back. The CA warned that should she not give such an undertaking, the CA “will have to approach the High Court to order you not to consider the matter in terms of Section 10(1) of the Act at this stage. We trust that it would not be necessary to incur unnecessary costs in this regard.”