Article: No deal on Pretoria name change: Conrad Beyers

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Pretoria looks set to keep its name, but about 27 street names in the capital will change, according to a report on Friday.

This is the ANC's "offer" in behind-the-scenes negotiations currently underway in the controversial name change battle, Beeld newspaper reported.

The Tshwane metro's mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, met opposition party members to discuss the issue on Thursday. The council announced in 2008 that the names of many streets "that were offensive because of their colonial and apartheid associations" had been identified.

New names for these streets had been identified in a draft document drawn up by the council. Only two street names, Pretorius and Paul Kruger, had been retained.

Others, such as Schoeman, Van der Walt, Andries, DF Malan, Prinsloo, Genl Louis Botha, Skinner, Kerk, Walker/Charles, Queen Wilhelmina, Voortrekkers, Mears, Beatrix, Hendrik Verwoerd, Hans Strijdom, Vermeulen, Potgieter, and Duncan, would change.

Opposition parties were still trying to retain the names of Church and Voortrekker streets.

Ramokgopa was expected to make an official announcement next week.

Brandon Topham, DA leader in the Tshwane metro council, said his party was delighted the ANC seemed to be trying not to push the name changes through in an insensitive manner.

"Everyone's history should be reflected in the city, and nobody is going to end up 100 percent happy with the process," he said.

There has been no final agreement on re-naming the country's capital or 27 streets in Pretoria, the Freedom Front Plus said on Friday.

"Talks about the street name issue are still in the early stages, and there is at present no formal offer from the ANC to keep the name Pretoria in exchange for the changing of 27 street names," the party's Tshwane metro councillor Conrad Beyers said.

Conrad Beyers is a cool guy and a MyBroadband member - will try to get him to give a bit more perspective here.

rpm said:

Conrad Beyers is a cool guy and a MyBroadband member - will try to get him to give a bit more perspective here.

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Thanks Rudolph. Yes it is a bit soon to speak of a deal - but there is indeed something interesting that may develop.

I hope that a deal of some kind is possible, where everyone from both sides can walk away with a defensible position. Our main concern at this stage is with the guarantees connected to any deal. It cannot be a purely municipal issue - any compromise must go right to the top and committed to and signed at the highest level.

So there is still a long way ahead. I hope that the confusing media reports will not derail the process - it is already hitting a serious speed-wobble - but I am confident that there are enough cool heads on both sides to see it through. Anyway, I am glad that the matter is now in the open where the matter can be even-handedly discussed. It can become quite frustrating when discussing this in closed rooms and you need to listen to endless versions of history that borders on fantasy (when discussing the merits of specific name changes).

beyers said:

Thanks Rudolph. Yes it is a bit soon to speak of a deal - but there is indeed something interesting that may develop.

I hope that a deal of some kind is possible, where everyone from both sides can walk away with a defensible position. Our main concern at this stage is with the guarantees connected to any deal. It cannot be a purely municipal issue - any compromise must go right to the top and committed to and signed at the highest level.

So there is still a long way ahead. I hope that the confusing media reports will not derail the process - it is already hitting a serious speed-wobble - but I am confident that there are enough cool heads on both sides to see it through. Anyway, I am glad that the matter is now in the open where the matter can be even-handedly discussed. It can become quite frustrating when discussing this in closed rooms and you need to listen to endless versions of history that borders on fantasy (when discussing the merits of specific name changes).

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I'd like to hear the merits of changing the name of cities, towns, roads, etc when we as a country have more urgent matters to attend to.