Way back in the day, William Shakespeare first used the phrase 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'
He used it in the context of the star crossed lovers and their families, the Capulets and the Montagues, but thanks to the relentless drive to change names in South Africa, I thought it would apply here too.
The thing is, if you read the news, people like Paul Mashatile think we're afraid of name changes.
The ANC genuinely does seem to think that having our streets renamed deals us a mortal blow. As though it were a fate worse than death or something.
Apologies for the netspeak, but ROFL!
When it comes to whether you choose to change any street names, airport names or even town names, I, personally, could not give a rat's ass. Either I will roll with the change, or, if I am already used to calling said destination something else, I'll just keep referring to it that way. Much the same as people who were born in Zim before a certain time still call the country Rhodesia - and we all know what they mean.
Nope. It's not fear.
It's not anger about losing a part of our cultural identity either, is it? Because most of us carry our culture with us no matter where we go, and what it's called.
It's anger at the sheer wastefulness of the excercise.
Renaming streets, cities and towns costs money. A LOT of money. Tax payers money. Money that people worked hard for. Money that could be better spent uplifting the poor, improving education or prosecuting corrupt officials.
The reason we're angry is not because you want to change names, it's because it's probably one of the most retarded ways to spend money in a country that is floundering in a sea of poverty.
But you will do what you want to do.
Just remember, however, the next time you drive past a shack - the money you have gleefully wasted changing street names could have built that person, and most of their neighbors, an RDP house.
It could have covered the 16 million welfare grants SA pays every month, at least for a while.
The people who oppose you, ANC, don't fear things like name changes. A rose by any other name and all that. We fear the fact that you are spending money on shit, and then still blaming everything that's wrong in South Africa on a regime that died 20 years ago.
Isn't it time you stopped spending money on non essentials, and started rebuilding the country? Or don't you know how to do that?
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