A name change from Pretoria to Tshwane will increase alienation among Afrikaners, the Freedom Front Plus said on Friday.
”We have determined through research that a name change of the capital will continue to increase alienation among the Afrikaner minority,” FF+ MP Willie Spies said in a statement.
The FF+ said it would therefore like to work on proposals that would make it possible for all communities to feel secure.
Spies said if Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa was serious in describing Tshwane as merely the name of the greater metropolitan municipality within which Pretoria was situated, he should prove his sincerity and convince Tshwane mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa to withdraw the application for registration of Tshwane as a geographical place name with the South African Geographic Names Council (SAGNC).
Spies was reacting to a statement made by Shilowa at Freedom Day celebrations on Wednesday.
”What the premier portrayed, is exactly what the FF+ has been working for the whole time,” Spies said.
He said, however, should the city council continue to register the name of the municipality as a geographical place name, the FF+ cannot but view Shilowa’s statement ”as trickery”.
The FF+ said Tshwane cannot be described as a city as about half the municipal area is made up of rural areas.
”Tshwane is merely the name of a juristic area of a municipality. The SAGNC therefore does not even have the authority to decide on names such as these,” Spies said.
The Tshwane metro council voted in March to retain the name Pretoria for the city centre and use the name Tshwane for the greater metropolitan area, referring to it as the ”City of Tshwane”.
The move has met with opposition from various political parties and civic groups.
The council applied to register the name Tshwane with the SAGNC, which will recommend its registration to the arts and culture minister only if the name is not found to be offensive or a duplication of another place name.
Registration of the name will mean it will appear on maps, in weather reports and on all official documents. — Sapa