LOUIS TRICHARDT – In a stunning display of deceitful double talk, the municipal Council of Makhado this week ignored urgent appeals to desist from causing a serious rift between people of this town.

The office of the Executive Mayor bluntly ignored a request to find a win-win compromise solution to the serious conflict generated by the decision to change the name of this historic town, and reneged on an undertaking to request the MEC for Local Government and Housing to keep the name change process on hold, until all stake holders in the matter have made their inputs.

In a dramatic about turn, the mayor, Cllr Brighton Tlakula, first assured the Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce that he will call on the MEC to keep the process on hold, to afford them the opportunity to make a formal written presentation about the potentially disastrous name change effort. He later telephonically confirmed that he already had been in contact with the MEC, who advised him to meet with the Chamber and to listen to their objections.

After the Chamber, in a written statement on Wednesday, expressed their appreciation for the willingness of the mayor to reconsider the whole process, a written statement was issued under the name of the Secretary to the Mayor, Peter Magwala, stating that the Municipality has already sent a report to the MEC “who will ensure the necessary procedures are implemented to have the new name gazetted.” The statement emphasised that the new name of the town is MAKHADO.

About the mayor’s undertaking to await a written presentation from the Chamber and to arrange a meeting thereafter to reconsider the whole issue, Mr Magwala’s statement says: “It is the policy of this Municipality to listen to the concerns of all its citizens or structures within this municipality.”

In an interview after the first announcement of the purported name change, the chairperson of the renaming committee, Cllr Mavhungu Musitha, confirmed that no effort was made to listen to the views of the predominantly White population of the town.

The Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday this week requested an urgent meeting with the Mayor, after the previous Thursday’s announcement of the purported name change and the hasty removal immediately afterwards of all relics of the history of the municipality from the civic centre.

The mayor announced during a special council meeting last Thursday that the name of Louis Trichardt is to be changed to Makhado and that several street names called after White pioneers (Kommandant Piet Moller, Joao Albasini and Trichardt Streets) will respectively change to Tshirululuni, Hlanganani and Swongozwi.

When an independent member, Cllr S Masuka of Ward 21, rose to register his total opposition to the proposed name change and the process, which led up to it, the Speaker ruled him out of order.

The mayor’s announcement prompted one councillor to shout: “Long live the Spirits of our Ancestors.” Other councillors chanted: “Long live.”

Cllr Tlakula said the change does not purport to take anything away from anybody but to “restore that which previously was.” It is also not intended to cause division, he said.

During the meeting with the mayor the Chamber, which has an impressive track record of an a-political approach based on goodwill and business unity amongst all people, as well as goodwill and mutual respect, expressed its serious concern about the division which the purported name change is already causing amongst its members and cultural groups.

“It creates a feeling amongst the Afrikaans and English speaking tax payers that they do not belong to this area and that they should seek other opportunities in other areas.”

The Chamber’s representatives said that the approach towards the name change is in stark contrast to the original spirit and approach which the Chamber experienced from mayor Tlakula and his council and this contrast is experienced in a severely negative light by Afrikaans and English speaking taxpayers.

The Chamber referred to its Entrepreneurs Week, during which some 3 500 underprivileged children from the region had the opportunity to attend seminars and expert talks and said the strength of all cultural groups and the brainpower and capacities of all cultural groups should be drawn together in order to create opportunities for all the people and all the children.

The Chamber said the rift caused by the purported name change creates the risk that the Chamber would not get another mandate from its members to host a similar week this year.

“If you reconsider, this will be regarded in an extremely positive light by the people of this Region, as they will know and understand that you have in fact an open door policy and that you are not merely paying lip service to the needs of the people, but that you are actually listening and responding to the needs of all the people and that you are trying to accommodate them positively.”

The Chamber in its written presentation to the Mayor expressed their appreciation for an announcement during the informal meeting on Tuesday, that the mayor will call the MEC, which he indeed did, to stop the procedure and that announcements in this regard will be made officially. This statement was read to the mayor and he agreed that that is what transpired during the meeting.

The Chamber said in its presentation to the mayor: “It is of critical importance that we have to build good relations amongst our people and that the necessary incentives should be built in to such an approach as is the case with any company where shares are given to employees as incentives to commit themselves to the company in order to achieve the best possible results.

“The same situation is applicable to the people of this Region, as they need to feel that they belong to this Area, that they are important to this Area, so that they will wholeheartedly support growth and the creation of opportunities in this Area, which will lead to prosperity.

“If Council wishes to pave the way for reconciliation and unity, we request their positive consideration of this whole matter.

“When you consider, please bear in mind that we have been your partners in order to promote opportunities and that we are not your adversaries in this high moral approach and the noble goals that we are trying to achieve on an a-political basis.”

In this statement on Wednesday, this week, the Chamber requested as a matter of urgency a meeting to discus the whole matter.

Several hours after the mayor received and confirmed the contents of the Chamber’s written representation, his Secretary issued a written statement in which it is bluntly stated that the name has already been changed and that any meeting is therefore merely polite standard procedure “to listen to the concerns.”

In a telephonic interview the Secretary stated that it is a “misunderstanding” that the process will be kept in abeyance and that the process has in fact already been finalised.

In the mean time the national organisation PRAAG (Pro-Afrikaanse Aksiegroep) announced that it is investigating the possibility of legal action against the provincial government. The statement reads that according to initial legal advice the whole process of name changes in the province is unconstitutional because of insufficient consultation with communities and an unfair process, which was followed. It also states that municipalities do not have the power to change names and that the specific name changes are in contravention of the non-discrimination clause of the South African Constitution, because it specifically target Afrikaans names. It is also in contravention of all international norms pertaining to the conservation of place names and local culture. The press release states: “The human dignity of Afrikaners are being violated.”

Pending the outcome of legal advice, PRAAG will institute legal action against the premier of the province and the president of the country to set aside the name changes.