AfriForum and Aksie Potchefstroom would challenge the name change of Potchefstroom to Tlokwe in court, the civil movements said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Theo Venter said AfriForum and Aksie Potchefstroom had opened a case against a member of the executive council, Howard Yawa, and the city council regarding the name change that happened on August 7 2007.
The case would be based on the fact that the city council had had no consultation process prior to the name change.
Yawa then requested comment on the name change, and hundreds of letters and requests not to change the name were received.
During October 2007, Yawa was asked to give reasons for the name change in light of his request for comment but, he did not respond, said Venter.
Venter said there were several reasons for challenging the name change.
Among these was that the process was not transparent and no local consultation was done before the name change.
Also, the name Tlokwe was increasingly being used to ”drive out” the name of Potchefstroom.
Municipal council spokesperson Willie Maphosa said the council was aware of the challenge and was waiting to be served with the legal documents.
The council would respond later but was ready to meet the challenge in court. — Sapa