The last two stakeholder meetings for Buffalo City Metro name changes were held in Kidd’s Beach and East London to communicate with residents on how to submit their proposed name changes.
Mawethu Marata, chair of the Buffalo City Metro district geographical name change committee, said that yesterday’s meetings were simply to detail the process members needed to go through in order to make name change suggestions.
“We are not here today to discuss, share information on the process and how it will unfold,” said Marata yesterday.
He said forms were available at the meeting which residents could fill if they wanted to make name change suggestions.
The forms have to be handed to ward councillors by March 6, after which “public hearings” will be held in April for residents to debate the suggested names.
“Once submitted, make it a point that the form is stamped and you can request a copy from the councillor.
“The names submitted will appear in the master list alongside the 35 names received from the previous committee,” said Marata.
Neil Smith, councillor of ward 46 and representative of the DA executive council at the Kidd’s Beach meeting, said that they were not satisfied with the process.
“We are not too happy that this meeting was scheduled at 10am on a weekday, when most people can’t come. This shows its not being done in a transparent manner.
“A major issue is the cost.
“A similar process in Nelspruit in 2012 cost about R350-million, which could be used to benefit impoverished communities,” said Smith.
When he raised this point in the meeting, saying that the money could build 3000 RDP houses, Mntwabantu Matshoba, the coordinator for the geographical name change committees of BCM and Amathole, countered that the money would be coming from the Department of Arts and Culture and so it would not affect RDP houses.
Marion Mackley, councillor for ward 28, said a proposal to change the name of Beacon Bay made no sense as it had “no colonial or other connotations”.
She said the new name proposed, KuNondyilo, was not fitting as it referred to an “area of land near Ronnies Motors close to the interchange to Stutterheim”.
She said this, and the fact that Beacon Bay met none of the name change criteria, made it appear as though the “change was for change’s sake” and was merely “window dressing”.
“As public participation is a prerequisite, it would stand to reason that a ward by ward consultative process should be followed and not to call one meeting with numerous wards as currently being proposed,” she said. “This process is not acceptable and is rejected out of hand.”
She added that since most people were at work when meetings were scheduled the process excluded the majority from participating.
Mackley had a petition signed by 2500 Beacon Bay residents and business owners opposing the name change of the suburb.
Matshoba said that the process would not happen overnight and would be done responsibly and systemically with the assistance of knowledgeable professionals and academics who would help restore the original name meanings of areas and correct what he called corrupted words such as “Kei” and “Gonubie”.
Final consultations on name changes
Mawethu Marata, chair of the Buffalo City Metro district geographical name change committee, said that yesterday’s meetings were simply to detail the process members needed to go through in order to make name change suggestions.
“We are not here today to discuss, share information on the process and how it will unfold,” said Marata yesterday.
He said forms were available at the meeting which residents could fill if they wanted to make name change suggestions.
The forms have to be handed to ward councillors by March 6, after which “public hearings” will be held in April for residents to debate the suggested names.
“Once submitted, make it a point that the form is stamped and you can request a copy from the councillor.
“The names submitted will appear in the master list alongside the 35 names received from the previous committee,” said Marata.
Neil Smith, councillor of ward 46 and representative of the DA executive council at the Kidd’s Beach meeting, said that they were not satisfied with the process.
“We are not too happy that this meeting was scheduled at 10am on a weekday, when most people can’t come. This shows its not being done in a transparent manner.
“A major issue is the cost.
“A similar process in Nelspruit in 2012 cost about R350-million, which could be used to benefit impoverished communities,” said Smith.
When he raised this point in the meeting, saying that the money could build 3000 RDP houses, Mntwabantu Matshoba, the coordinator for the geographical name change committees of BCM and Amathole, countered that the money would be coming from the Department of Arts and Culture and so it would not affect RDP houses.
Marion Mackley, councillor for ward 28, said a proposal to change the name of Beacon Bay made no sense as it had “no colonial or other connotations”.
She said the new name proposed, KuNondyilo, was not fitting as it referred to an “area of land near Ronnies Motors close to the interchange to Stutterheim”.
She said this, and the fact that Beacon Bay met none of the name change criteria, made it appear as though the “change was for change’s sake” and was merely “window dressing”.
“As public participation is a prerequisite, it would stand to reason that a ward by ward consultative process should be followed and not to call one meeting with numerous wards as currently being proposed,” she said. “This process is not acceptable and is rejected out of hand.”
She added that since most people were at work when meetings were scheduled the process excluded the majority from participating.
Mackley had a petition signed by 2500 Beacon Bay residents and business owners opposing the name change of the suburb.
Matshoba said that the process would not happen overnight and would be done responsibly and systemically with the assistance of knowledgeable professionals and academics who would help restore the original name meanings of areas and correct what he called corrupted words such as “Kei” and “Gonubie”.
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