'We've never heard of Tshwane'

2005-05-07 18:05

Johannesburg - The controversy surrounding the renaming of Pretoria to Tshwane took another turn on Saturday, with two Ndebele kings saying they had never heard of a person named Tshwane.

King Makhosoke II and King Mayisha III said they had never heard of the name Tshwane despite King Tshwane's name being linked to Ndebele's tribal dynasty, SABC radio news reported.

In March, the metro council adopted proposals to change the City of Pretoria's name to the City of Tshwane.

'No knowledge of Tshwane'

"We don't have any knowledge about the name Tshwane, but I have learnt that they claim that Tshwane is one of Mokgwaduba's sons.

"We are still saying that we want to be involved in the changing of names surrounding Pretoria because of our historical background," the station quoted King Makhosoke as saying.

The two kings suggest that the South African capital should rather be named Musi or KwaMyamana.

Musi is the last known Ndebele king to have lived in Wonderboom, north of Pretoria. He is buried there, the station said.

The name is still to be approved by the authorities dealing with name changes.

The Pretoria Action Committee, which has incurred the government's wrath for opposing Pretoria's name being changed to Tshwane, has been campaigning to "save" the name Pretoria.

- SAPA