Letters of protests against proposed name changes to Durban’s streets have been delivered to the incorrect address following confusion over the street name, the Daily News reported on Tuesday.
The afternoon daily reported that a number of letters of objection that were supposed to have been delivered to 41 Margaret Mncadi Avenue were, in fact, delivered to a home in Margaret Maytom Avenue.
Margaret Mncadi Avenue was formerly known as Victoria Embankment. Residents wishing to object to the city’s latest name changes have been advised to write to eThekwini municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe at 41 Margaret Mncadi Avenue.
Carol Hayward Fell told the Daily News that the first letter arrived in her letter box last Thursday.
”My first reaction was that Sutcliffe was writing to me and I opened the letter, only to discover it was an objection to the renaming,” she was quoted as saying.
A bemused Hayward Fell has promised to safeguard and pass on the mail.
Durban North councillor and Democratic Alliance caucus leader John Steenhuisen warned of impending chaos in the postal system. ”This clearly shows there is a problem — just imagine the confusion when the more than 100 names are changed across the city. It has major implications for business alike,” he said.
Last week, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance held a joint march that drew 10 000 people to the city centre in protest against the name changes.
It’s Pretoria
Meanwhile, the name of the capital is Pretoria — that’s what civil rights group AfriForum says Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan assured it on Tuesday.
AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said his group met Jordan in Pretoria to discuss controversial attempts to change the city’s name to Tshwane.
”The name of the capital of South Africa is Pretoria and Potchefstroom’s name is Potchefstroom,” Kriel said Jordan told AfriForum.
The minister was not immediately available for comment.
Kriel said Jordan told AfriForum and Action Potchefstroom representatives he would not make a decision on a name change for Pretoria while emotions were running high on the issue.
He said Jordan undertook to ask Tshwane metro mayor Gwen Ramokgopa to meet AfriForum on the name issue, ”in response to AfriForum’s objection about the fact that the mayor thus far has ignored all requests for such a discussion”.
He also told AfriForum he would reopen nominations for the board of a new South African Geographical Names Council following complaints it made subjective decisions and recommendations on place-name changes.
”The fact that Jordan after the meeting is now on record as having confirmed that the name of the capital officially is Pretoria, and that no changes have been made in this regard, will also help AfriForum in efforts to enter into discussions with SABC [South African Broadcasting Corporation] TV News with regard to the latter’s use of the name ‘Tshwane’ in news bulletins,” said Kriel. — Sapa