LOUIS TRICHARDT – The Hlanganani Concerned Group, a group which is opposed to the changing of Louis Trichardt's name to that of Makhado, has asked President Mbeki to intervene in this highly controversial issue.

The group last year applied for permission from the Makhado Municipal Council to hold a protest march against the proposed name change during the December holidays. Their application was, however, denied by Council who stated that their officers would not be able to control the march since they will be busy over the school holiday and that the town will be congested since people will be busy with their Christmas shopping. The group then re-applied for permission to march on January 31, but at the time of going to press Council had yet to respond.

In the meantime, following several unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter by means of various letters sent to Council, the provincial MEC for Local Government and Housing, the District Municipality and even the Premier, the group has asked President Thabo Mbeki to intervene in the issue.

In a letter sent to Mbeki's office last week, the group stated that it is experiencing problems with individuals and groups in positions of trust who deliberately stifle democracy by treating citizens in a stratified and feudal manner. They say that the "Louis Trichardt Municipality" and its relevant District Municipality has unilaterally taken the decision of changing the name of the town of Louis Trichardt to Makhado without consulting the more than 120 communities for which the town serves as their economic hub.

The group further stated that Council deliberately distorted the history of the region, by mis-informing the community with offensive and tribalistic presentations to the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC). They say that Council's ultimate vicious goal is to promote the history of the Venda tribe by portraying Makhado as a "hero" while in the process annihilating the history of others such as that of the Shangaan/Tsonga.

"How can this 'warlord tribal chief' be regarded as a hero, when he is historically reported to have ambushed or attacked and killed black tribesmen and women in their sleep in the middle of the night, simply because they were not his tribe and he wanted to rule them against their will," the letter reads.

In addition to several other complaints regarding amongst others the questionable procedure followed by Council in trying to push through the name change, violating several of the guidelines set out by the SAGNC in the process, the group also questioned the chairman of the provincial Geographical Names Committee, Adv Tommy Ntsewa's bias attitude regarding the matter.

"As a person holding public office, we believe that he was the man in the middle of our problem who, like a referee, should have listened to our objections and rendered constructive assistance and mediate between us and the Municipality. But instead, he chose or decided to be an attorney for the Louis Trichardt/Makhado Municipality, defending its indefensible violation of rules and guidelines.

"The chairperson of our Provincial Geographical Names Committee, Adv Ntsewa was disappointing and was partisan in his handling of our objection in this case. Our case is similar to the Tzaneen/Mark Shophe debacle or case, where the Mayor and his Council re-named the town without proper and sufficient consultations with all communities it served.

"In the Tzaneen/Mark Shophe case, the same chairperson mentioned above (Adv Ntsewa), acted appropriately and constructively which led to the nullification and the reversing of the decision of the Mayor and his Council. The merits of these two cases are similar, but he did not do the same in Louis Trichardt. We feel that he is applying double standards for different communities, one for the case in Tzaneen and another for the case in Louis Trichardt, this is unfair and unacceptable in a democratic country like ours," the letter reads.

In conclusion, the Hlanganani Concerned Group stated that to them, the Louis Trichardt Municipal Council and those whom they conspire with, did not bother to heed to what the State President is reported to have said to the country through the Council of Provinces in November 2001, namely that: "It is the responsibility of all of us – the Councillor, the Mayor, the Traditional Leader, the MP and MPL, the Premier, MEC, and deputy Minister to attend to each and every problem that faces our people."