An official objection against the changing of the name of Louis Trichardt to Makhado was submitted to the office of the Minister of Arts and Culture.

A 16-page objection, accompanied by more than 400 pages of supporting documentation, was sent to Pretoria this week to be presented to Minister Paul Mashatile. The objection was made by the Chairpersons Association. The date of the objection is 8 November, in time for the objection period which expires on 14 November.

“The name Makhado is offensive to the Shangaans, some of the Venda people and the Afrikaans and English people,” is stated in the objection. The reasons given were that Makhado was seen as a murderer, who not only killed many Shangaans, but was fuming to kill his brother. Makhado was cited to have said about his brother Davhana (also known as Tabana) that if he could find him, he would capture him and “put him in a wet skin of a cow, hang him up in a tree and let him rot there, catch up his juices” and pour it over his father’s grave (Twintig Jaren in Zoutpansberg, 1865-1885 by Stephanus Hofmeyr).

In contrast, Louis Trichardt reflected “a symbol of peace amongst cultural groups”,  the CA argues in its objection. Louis Trichardt and Rasithuu Ramabulana (the father of Makhado) “were the first example of cooperation between leaders of different cultural groups, finding peace in South Africa,” the CA states.

The CA summarises its objection under two points. Firstly, there “was no consultation process as to whether a need existed to change the name of the town. Like with the previous process, which was set aside by the Court, the Makhado Municipality blindly followed instructions from above to change the name of the town for political reasons and expediency.” Secondly,  no proper and adequate consultation process was conducted at all as to what the "new" name of the town should be.

The CA asked the Minister to endorse their objection and motivated it with 25 reasons, including their perspective on Makhado and Louis Trichardt. “Makhado attacked Afrikaans people not because he was anti-white but because he was anti-Christian,” the CA states and says that, in contrast to the peace-seeking and anti-imperialist Louis Trichardt, Makhado was “a warrior who caused a lot of suffering and pain, which is offensive to many cultural groups".

The fact that the Makhado Municipality did not honour their undertaking to draw up and implement a policy in respect of cultural heritage is mentioned. Since there was no policy document, the name change “was emotionally and politically driven and not rationally from a cultural-heritage point of view,” argues the CA.

The CA states that Louis Trichardt is not a correction of any town name and that it is “not offensive”. The town was founded by General Piet Joubert around 1898 as the original town of Louis Trichardt, where it is today. The CA states that the town where Makhado lived and where he was expelled to by his father “because he was a troublemaker” was called Tshiruluni, near Hanglip.

“He never lived in Louis Trichardt or in the area of Louis Trichardt ... The changing of the name destroys respect and is contrary to reconciliation and polarises the people in the area,” reads the CA's objection.

Procedurally, no administratively just procedures were followed, says the CA. The Makhado Municipality embarked on a so-called election process and not a consultation process. “The same people had been transported per truck from one ward to another to bring out the same votes repeatedly, “states the CA .The processes followed by the Makhado Municipality, the Provincial Names Committee as well as the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) were “flawed and corrupt in law”, reads the document.

The CA feels strongly about the fact that all the organs had not been transparent at all  “by hiding documentation and information from the CA and other stakeholders.” They also once again object to the inclusion of Adv Tommy Ntsewa on the SAGNC, since it was cited in the Appeal Court that he had the mindset that “a consultation process will not make any difference”.

“If our objection is not endorsed, we shall go to court to have the name change reviewed,” said Mr Andre Naudé, chairperson of the CA.