With the ANC’s decreasing support in the November 1 local government elections, two young academics are pondering what will become of names honouring heroes affiliated with the ruling political party.
With the very opposition parties that were against some of the name changes now having a greater say in decision-making, what does this mean for town planning and what are the budget implications?
Is it not time to look at names with longevity that transcends party politics?
These are some of the questions that were at the back of the minds of professional town planner and Master’s graduate Thandeka Mthiyane and PhD candidate Nompumelelo Gumede when they conducted their research – “The [un]sustainability of rebranding cities and key infrastructure using political icons: Exploring alternatives in light of the changing political dynamics”.
Using one-on-one structured interviews from a sample drawn from city officials, the top five political parties in South Africa, museum representatives, a family of a struggle icon, and the public, Mthiyane and Gumede looked at the name changes effected by the ANC in the eThekwini Metro since 2006.
“At least 182 names were changed across the city of Durban, and mostly, the intention was to rectify the spelling errors and rerecord history,” notes Mthiyane in her presentation of the research at the Africa Young Graduates and Scholars Conference held at the Tshwane University of Technology’s arts and design faculty this week.
“The changes were wide-ranging: hospitals, street names, sports infrastructure, municipal buildings … Durban CBD was the most affected part of the city. Notably, the city used names of political figures affiliated with the ANC.”
The changing of Mangosuthu Highway to Griffiths Mxenge Highway has been a highly politically charged issue and ended up in court. It was also a bargaining tool for the IFP when the ANC was forming coalitions to retain control of the eThekwini Metro.
The recommendations of the research include the promulgation of a policy governing the renaming of geographical landmarks and the protection of certain names that should not be changed.
The research also recommends the consideration of natural features, traditional history, events over people, the promotion of native languages, and common emotions and historical events in the renaming of cities and key infrastructure rather than political icons.
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