Name change celebration premature?

The Makhado Municipality has decided to stage a name-change celebration through the streets of Makhado (Louis Trichardt) this coming Saturday, despite a request from the Chairpersons Association (CA) to put such celebrations on hold until a court decision is taken on the validity of the name change.

“Your name change launch event is premature,” said the CA chairperson, Mr André Naudé, in a letter delivered by the deputy sheriff to both Mayor David Mutavhatsindi and Municipal Manager Isaac Mutshinyali.

The name-change launch invitation indicates a ceremony full of pomp and ceremony. The event is set to start with a “parade through the main street of the town led by a brass band, where the mayor, the premier, MECs, his Majesty King Vho-Toni Mphephu Ramabulana and other dignitaries will march from the Makhado Civic Centre to the Information Centre”. 

After the high-profile march, the main event will be held at the centre near the N1/Songozwi Street crossing “where the statue of the warrior king Makhado is situated,” reads the invite.

Why does the CA regard the name launch as premature? Naudé said that after their formal objection against the name change from Louis Trichardt to Makhado had been rejected, the CA had six months to take the matter to the High Court on review.

“As you are aware, the Minister of Arts and Culture issued his decision against our appeal on 10 May …The last day for the filing of the Application for Review is 10 November,” Naudé states in his letter dated 21 September.

The members of the CA unanimously gave the body a mandate on 6 June that the matter should be taken on review to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. At the meeting, they resolved to take the matter even further on appeal and, if necessary, to the Constitutional Court to have the decision of the Minister of Arts and Culture set aside.

Naudé said this week that he expected the review application, which is currently being prepared, to be ready in three weeks' time. The CA described the launch as a waste of taxpayers' money.

“Therefore we request you, in order to avoid an embarrassment to yourselves, as well as a waste of taxpayers' money, to stop this launch in respect of the name change and to wait for the eventual court decision in this matter, as your launch is totally premature,” reads the letter.

“The event will go through as scheduled,” the spokesperson of the municipality, Mr Louis Bobodi, said telephonically on Tuesday.

“Just remember to host a follow–up party. The municipality should then host a similar event of the same magnitude when the name eventually changes to Louis Trichardt again, whether by decision of the Appeal Court or the Constitutional Court,” said the secretary of the CA, Ms Inga Gilfillan.

This is the second round in a fierce battle for the name of the town. The first round commenced in 2003 when the name change of the town from Makhado to Louis Trichardt was published in the government gazette. After an extended legal struggle, the CA eventually had the name change set aside by a panel of appeal court judges who judged the case on merit and the name of the town was Louis Trichardt again. That was in 2007.The second name change to Makhado was published on 14 October 2011. The CA got the legal processes rolling immediately, maintaining that this was in essence a fight for administrative justice.

“We cannot permit politicians to polarise culture groups for own political gain, using unfair processes,” Naudé said.

Date:28 September 2012

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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