Pietersburg | Wednesday
AN extensive Afrikaner backlash is gaining momentum in the Northern Province, in the wake of Monday’s announcement that place names such as Pietersburg, Potgietersrus, Louis Trichardt, Tzaneen, Nylstroom and Soekmekaar are to be changed.
The process is to be fast-tracked, with municipalities required to hold public hearings and to finalise the entire process by the end of February.
The plan, detailed by local government MEC Joe Maswanganyi, has incurred the wrath of Freedom Front leaders, who have decided to launch a civil disobedience campaign, involving the withholding of municipal property tax.
”We are approaching attorneys all over the province with the request that they open trust accounts, in which ratepayers can deposit their property tax, to prevent the misuse of these funds on such senseless projects by local authorities”, said FF provincial leader Johan Willemse.
He said the provincial government’s plans amounted to a kick in the teeth for Afrikaners, and they would not take it lying down.
”In the African idiom, I feel it is necessary to warn premier (Ngoako) Ramatlhodi and his government — do not dance on the graves of our ancestors.”
The African Christian Democratic Party also objected to the plan, saying a phased process may have been better in the interest of a spirit of reconciliation.
The Democratic Alliance said the manner in which the announcement was made, namely ”by decree”, was unacceptable.
New National Party MPL Schalk van Schalkwyk called on the province’s government to rethink its decision.
He said his party was not against the changing of names in general, but issues like costs and the diversity of the people in the province needed to be looked at.
Van Schalkwyk, who is the NNP leader of the province, said the name change process should find a consensus and include all important role players. – Sapa