|
Tshwane: FF+ issues warning
29/04/2005 20:28 - (SA)
Pretoria - A name change from Pretoria to Tshwane would increase alienation among Afrikaners, said the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Friday.
"We have determined through research that a name change of the capital will continue to increase alienation among the Afrikaner minority," said FF+ MP Willie Spies.
The FF+ said it would like to work on proposals that would make it possible for all communities to feel secure.
Spies said if Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa had been serious in describing Tshwane as merely the name of the greater metropolitan municipality within which Pretoria was situated, he should prove his sincerity.
Spies said Shilowa should convince Tshwane mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa to withdraw the application for registration of Tshwane as a geographical place name with the SA Geographic Names Council (SAGNC).
Spies was reacting to a statement made by Shilowa at Freedom Day celebrations on Wednesday.
Will view statement as 'trickery'
"What the premier portrayed is exactly what the FF Plus has been working for, the whole time," Spies said.
He said that if the city council continued to register the name of the municipality as a geographical place name, the FF+ could not but view Shilowa's statement "as trickery".
The FF+ said Tshwane could not be described as a city as about half the municipal area was made up of rural areas.
"Tshwane is merely the name of a juristic area of a municipality. The SAGNC, therefore, does not even have the authority to decide on names such as these," said Spies.
The Tshwane metro council voted in March to retain the name Pretoria for the city centre and use the name Tshwane for the greater metropolitan area, referring to it as the "City of Tshwane".
Has applied to register name
The move has met with opposition from various political parties and civic groups.
The council applied to register the name Tshwane with the SAGNC, which would recommend its registration to the arts and culture minister only if the name was found not to be offensive or a duplication of another place name.
Registration of the name would mean it would appear on maps, in weather reports and on all official documents.
- SAPA
|
News
