“We are no longer natives, we are South Africans.”
These were the words of Buffalo City Metro (BCM) deputy mayor Xola Pakati during his council open day address when presenting the outcomes of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshows on Tuesday.
Pakati was referring to the “long overdue” removal of Mdantsane’s controversial Native Units (NU) titles, used to describe various areas of the township.
This comes after residents from Mdantsane and Ducats townships demanded through their IDP meetings that BCM take seriously the issue of changing the township’s faces and roll out the street names projects.
The demand for street names was added to the requests for upgrades and maintenance of roads, the installation of storm water drainage, speed humps and construction of bridges in the inland areas.
Although the debate concerning the change of the NUs in Mdantsane has been dragging for years Pakati said: “This thing of Native Unit must be done away with.
“We are no longer subjects of the Queen of England who referred to us as natives.”
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday Pakati said during the next IDP roadshows the metro would report back to the concerned communities about the progress made in relation to the demand.
Asked why BCM had not already done something to change the offensive NUs, Pakati replied: “We want to make a submission to the provincial department of arts and culture who are currently pushing the name change programme.
“But there needs to be a council resolution first to give the go ahead and to follow due processes to deal with this matter,” Pakati said.
He added that communities would be consulted on the names that could be used to best suit the areas.
“This is not a new debate but this time it is different because people have insisted that this needs to be changed.
“The matter has risen again and we can’t go back to the communities during the next IDP without a report on progress made on the matter,” he added.
Mdantsane activist Thabang Maseko and founder behind Mdantsane’s Facebook Page Phakama Mdantsane Kasi Lam which seeks to discuss current and future development projects labelled the NU labels a “disgrace” that had been with the community for more than 20 years of democracy. “We want the negative NU status to end and to be removed.
“We have so many heroes and heroines from the area that we can have the streets named after.
“It is a disgrace that 22 years after democracy we are still stuck with our areas named after natives.
“What would the people who died for this freedom say if they saw that we still stay in areas where we are classified as natives?” asked Maseko, adding that naming the streets after local heroes would also encourage young people to want to learn more about the heroes.
Pakati calls for end to Native Units titles
These were the words of Buffalo City Metro (BCM) deputy mayor Xola Pakati during his council open day address when presenting the outcomes of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshows on Tuesday.
Pakati was referring to the “long overdue” removal of Mdantsane’s controversial Native Units (NU) titles, used to describe various areas of the township.
This comes after residents from Mdantsane and Ducats townships demanded through their IDP meetings that BCM take seriously the issue of changing the township’s faces and roll out the street names projects.
The demand for street names was added to the requests for upgrades and maintenance of roads, the installation of storm water drainage, speed humps and construction of bridges in the inland areas.
Although the debate concerning the change of the NUs in Mdantsane has been dragging for years Pakati said: “This thing of Native Unit must be done away with.
“We are no longer subjects of the Queen of England who referred to us as natives.”
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday Pakati said during the next IDP roadshows the metro would report back to the concerned communities about the progress made in relation to the demand.
Asked why BCM had not already done something to change the offensive NUs, Pakati replied: “We want to make a submission to the provincial department of arts and culture who are currently pushing the name change programme.
“But there needs to be a council resolution first to give the go ahead and to follow due processes to deal with this matter,” Pakati said.
He added that communities would be consulted on the names that could be used to best suit the areas.
“This is not a new debate but this time it is different because people have insisted that this needs to be changed.
“The matter has risen again and we can’t go back to the communities during the next IDP without a report on progress made on the matter,” he added.
Mdantsane activist Thabang Maseko and founder behind Mdantsane’s Facebook Page Phakama Mdantsane Kasi Lam which seeks to discuss current and future development projects labelled the NU labels a “disgrace” that had been with the community for more than 20 years of democracy. “We want the negative NU status to end and to be removed.
“We have so many heroes and heroines from the area that we can have the streets named after.
“It is a disgrace that 22 years after democracy we are still stuck with our areas named after natives.
“What would the people who died for this freedom say if they saw that we still stay in areas where we are classified as natives?” asked Maseko, adding that naming the streets after local heroes would also encourage young people to want to learn more about the heroes.
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