The Tshwane metro council is taking the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) to court in the ongoing battle over changing the name of Pretoria to Tshwane, the party said on Wednesday.
Conrad Beyers, the party’s councillor in the Tshwane metro council, said the council was applying to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to overturn an interdict previously made against it.
That interdict, obtained at the end of 2007 by the FF+, AfriForum and Beyers, prohibited the metro council from erecting signs referring to Pretoria as Tshwane.
The council wanted permission to erect signposts reflecting the name ”City of Tshwane” at various gateways in and around Pretoria.
The matter would be heard in the North Gauteng High Court on October 6.
”The local ANC’s hostile attitude toward Afrikaner’s heritage is in direct contrast with President Jacob Zuma’s reconciliatory gestures towards Afrikaners,” said Beyers.
”The FF+ said at various occasions that the party is open to a compromise in the name issue, but is clear that the local African National Congress chooses the route of confrontation.”
Beyers charged that the ANC has no intention to act in a spirit of reconciliation.
”This is the ANC’s oldest trick, in order to divert attention away from the financial disaster they created for the capital, they start changing names.”
He said they realised the importance of erecting signs in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
”The FF+ also wants that name boards should be placed at the city’s entrances, but the name on those boards should be Pretoria,” he said. — Sapa