ANC Name Changes = Political Subjugation

Names are Cultural Symbols That Can Destoy or Build Nations

IT MUST be a real bugger finally to have taken control of this healthy vibrant, ongoing concern - to whit, the Republic of South Africa - and to find the map littered with place, street and building names that remind one of the previous baas.

And since the historical contribution of our black forebears has been ignored, how could one take umbrage that the African National Congress wants to redress the balance with judicious name changes?

But recent name changes proposed by ANC local authorities around the country have caused a furore not only because of their scale, but also because of the style in which they are being made.

The goal appears to be to wipe out all non-black historical allusions. Indeed, the target is not only any colonial vestiges but also the contribution of any indigenous whites. In Durban the city has changed not only the Victoria Embankment (named after the Great White Queen) but wants to change Edwin Swales VC Drive (one of only three SA Victoria Crosses awarded in the 1939-45 war against fascism).

The inperative to consult communities has been mostly glossed over; as the Constitutional Court noted when it set aside the renaming of the town of Louis Trichardt to Makhado. Similarly, President Thabo Mbeki's promise to Afrikaners that the government would seek a win-win solution when making such changes, like keeping Pretoria but renaming the overarching metro Tshwane, is being ignored by triumphalist ANC administrations.

Often the attitude is provocatively "up yours"; we are baas now so tremble and submit. This mindset is reminiscent of the ruler in Shelley's eponymous poem, Ozymandias, who with a "sneer of cold command" exulted in his military victories: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:/Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!"

The tradition to pillage, rape and murder following a military victory is as ancient as the mythical king. It goes hand-in-hand with another tactic: that of culturally obliterating the vanquished so that they lack the very identity that might enable them eventually to regroup against their new masters.

The ANC, however, did not take control through a military victor, nor was such a victory imminent or even in prospect, when whites voluntarily surrendered power: So such triumphalism is misplaced as well as ill advised.

After all, cultural and political subjugation is not a particularly successful policy anywhere. Old wounds rankle and are always ready to be reopened with a vengeance, if and when circumstances change - and they always do.

Look at the collapse of the Soviet Union, the again warring tribes in the Balkans, the Basques in Spain. Not to forget our own tribal hatreds of black and white, of Rooinek and Rock, and of Zulu and Xhosa.

Clearly the ANC has learnt no lesson from the internecine struggle between it and the Inkatha Freedom Party in Kwazulu-Natal prior to 1994, which claimed some 20 000 lives.

Among the Durban names gazetted for change is that of the Mangosuthu Highway named after the ANC's political nemesis in the province, IFP leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

While the sometimes prickly Buthelezi professes to be phlegmatic about the proposed change, he cautions a "gloating" and "disdainful" ANC to be careful about "airbrushing" certain groups, particularly the Afrikaners and the Zulu, out of history to give prominence only to ANC affiliated figures.

Name changes should be done "with regard for the fact that a part of SA's linguistic and cultural heritage traces its roots to white Africans", the Dutch and British immigrants who arrived at the Cape 350 years ago.

Names are important symbols and compromise between groups will pay dividends long into the future. In its renaming frenzy the ANC should remember that of the gloating Ozymandias. The concluding lines read: "Nothing beside remains: round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,! The lone and level sands stretch far away. "

Hubris is inimical to ultimate political survival.

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bekdik said:

I guess if you are insecure, then this would be a symptom.

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Skeptik said:

Who's insecure - the name changers or the populous of Durban?

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The goal appears to be to wipe out all non-black historical allusions. Indeed, the target is not only any colonial vestiges but also the contribution of any indigenous whites. In Durban the city has changed not only the Victoria Embankment (named after the Great White Queen) but wants to change Edwin Swales VC Drive (one of only three SA Victoria Crosses awarded in the 1939-45 war against fascism).

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edc said:

Afrikaners were almost wiped out by the English, still we did not change the names of places named after British. The city George comes to mind, Victoria Bay and so forth.

The ANC leaders are childish. They should start doing their actual jobs, provide true leadership which will really benefit the people.

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protzkrog said:

i wonder what the average IQ of the ANC leadership is...
and the average IQ of an ANC member..

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edc said:

Seriously, 72 points. Wikipedia has an article showing the IQ distribution by country. I am capped so can't link you.

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ToxicBunny said:

heh

I'd be guessing the name changers... Have you heard of some of the ideas they're proposing?.. They're insanely stupid...

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