Johannesburg | Wednesday
THE Northern Province will in future be known as Limpopo, Gauteng newspapers reported on Wednesday.
The name Limpopo was the overall favourite among the short-list of names considered during a provincial legislature meeting on Tuesday.
It was also announced that the province’s capital, Pietersburg, would be renamed to Polokwane — meaning place of safety.
The ad-hoc committee on the renaming of the city presented its findings to the town council at 5pm, after which the council held brief discussions before voting took place.
About ten people brandishing placards and old South African flags tried to disrupt proceedings, but they were asked to leave.
Municipal representative Manoko Matlala said the Democratic Alliance as well as the African Christian Democratic Party opposed the name change in discussions held prior to voting.
”They cited costs as their main reason. They were also concerned that we had not allowed for a long enough period of consultation.”
The Democratic Alliance wanted public submissions counted as votes, a suggestion strongly opposed by the African National Congress.
”It was unrealistic. Some of the signatures on those submissions were barely legible. Other people submitted the same piece of paper numerous times,” Manoko said.
She also said it was unlikely that people living in the city would notice any immediate changes come into effect.
”We have to register the new name… that’s going to cost money.
Boards in town will also not change overnight,” she said.
Pietersburg mayor Thabo Makunyane said he was not in favour of public festivities to commemorate the city’s new name.
”This was not a battle or a triumph for any particular group.”
The new names will be ratified by Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramathlodi on Thursday.
There has been an ongoing debate in the province since the January 28 announcement by local government MEC Joey Maswanganyi that the names of major towns would be changed by the end of February. – Sapa