Mukoni T Ratshitanga
While political parties are busy grappling with programmes on racial equity, authorities in the NorthWest appear blissfully ignorant of the damage that could be caused by their failure to change the names of places.
On the N14 highway outside the town of Coligny, a sign points the way to Kafferskraal, 12km away. It’s a patch of farmland named in the late 1940s. The sign has been defaced by a spray-painted red hammer and sickle, but this has not erased the word “kaffer”.
Transitional local council member Clarence Algar says Kafferskraal is “a common name for farms in the Ventersdorp-Lichtenburg districts. It has been like that since I was born, and I’m over 50. It is like having Church Street in different towns – you will find it in Durban, Cape Town, etcetera.”
Algar refused to say whether the council plans to remove the sign: “There is a commission on name changes. I don’t want to poke my nose into their business.”
In addition to Kafferskraal, there is a hamlet called Kafferpan near Klerksdorp.
Coligny’s deputy mayor, Alamitta Mohoera, is unaware that the signs exist: “I am not too much of a traveller. I always use the Klerksdorp-Mafikeng road. If I had seen them, I would have asked that they be removed.”
North West public works and roads MEC Raymond Motsepe said this week he is “surprised” these signs are still on the road. “In 1996 we established a committee of the legislature to take charge of offensive signs and statues.
“I was under the impression that by the end of last year all these signs would have gone and be replaced by new names prepared by the local councils.”
Motsepe said he will make sure the road signs are removed.