The following letter is in response to the Makhado/Louis Trichardt name change case:

Unacceptable! The long-held wish to maintain the status quo should not go unchallenged.

Where are the progressive voices when you need them? Just yesterday I commented on reading this sad news and encouraged all and sundry to read the 300 or so pages Prof Nemudzivhadi wrote towards his Masters degree to get an insight that, notwithstanding the court settlement, the MAKHADO name can’t be eclipsed by that of Louis Trichardt.

I said: “This is a serious setback to the memory of King Makhado and I am sure this won’t lie unchallenged. We cannot be held hostage by the remnants of apartheid in the land of our birth. King Toni Ramabulana, show us the way and lead us from this apartheid monster and deliberate distortion of our history”.

One of my friends, Hadebe Hadebe correctly said: “I am more than upset by this story because I think we are hell-bent on undoing some of the great work that was increasingly shaping our country for the better. Memories of King Makhado cannot be erased by a black government - This is embarrassing”.

I then went further to say “what good did Louis Trichardt bring to deserve this honour over King Makhado and over a million Vhavenda people and others who recognized the leadership of Tshilwavhusiku tsha ha Ramabulana.”

I am baffled; disappointed, yet convinced that this is not the end and we won’t turn the other cheek to honour this pillager and his cohort, Joao Albasini.

- Thivhilaeli Makatu
Thohoyandou. (writing from Croissy-sur-Seine, Paris - France)