Creative ideas for Gugs street names...
2013-01-23 06:44
Cape Town - Residents of Gugulethu in Cape Town have been creative in their suggestions for replacing apartheid-era street names.
The city had received over 700 suggestions in the "name your street" campaign since November, which naturally included calls for roads to be named after prominent figures.
Suggestions listed on the campaign's website include former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, President Jacob Zuma, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, and even expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.
But residents also chose lesser-known figures.
Many asked for "Native Yard 12" road, better known as NY12, to be named "Lizo Sokufudumala" after their cluster chairman, because he inspired residents to work together and bring peace.
An undertaker and a midwife
"Zuba" the undertaker was suggested as a suitable name for NY18 because he "helped, no matter who died", while "Pelema" was a choice for a helpful midwife who had lived in NY21 Street at some time or another.
A resident asked that NY65 be named after a neighbourhood watch member called "Sabelo", who apparently died on the street after being hit on the head with a brick.
Two people were hoping to bring a bit of the Cape Town CBD flair to the area. One asked for NY11 to become "Long Street" after the infamous party street, and another for NY75 to be renamed "Promenade", after the Sea Point promenade.
A number of residents waxed lyrical about their neighbours.
A person living in NY10 said the street should be called "Buntu" because "it has good people, they help each other in many ways like fighting crime, and they stick together in bad and good".
Someone living in NY48 was not so sure, suggesting "Hot 'n Cold" street.
"I'd like to name this after the people from this area who are quite temperamental - people here blow hot 'n cold."
Where to vote
Submissions would be accepted electronically or by hand until the end of March.
Residents could vote for their choice on the website, at booths in schools and at the Gugulethu Square shopping mall.
The final decision would rest with the council and Mayor Patricia de Lille.
Naming committee chairperson Brett Herron said in a statement the process was an opportunity for community-building.
"We are pleased with the range of submissions that reflects a range of interest groups in Gugulethu," he said.
"With this renaming project we have the chance to eliminate symbols of the painful apartheid approach to planning, and empower residents to build a suburb with dignified place-markers.
- SAPA
