So is Pretoria to become Tshwane or not?
Arguments are being heard in the North Gauteng High Court about the name of the country's capital. The bone of contention is whether the city council has the power to change the name of a city or whether this responsibility falls to the department of arts and culture. Yet, as we report, there is a big under-current here too. “What is clear is that the capital's mayor, Gwen Ramakgopa, is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand there's a clear desire to change the name from Pretoria once and for all. On the other, the fact that this decision is really up to the arts and culture minister.” [who is being quoted? – LK] Apparently, a complicating factor is the Louis Trichard debacle. The name of that town was changed to Makhado. But the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered it to be changed back. The main issue having been a lack of consultation. Judges in Bloemfontein ruled that running one advertisement in one newspaper simply wasn't what the Constitution defined as "proper consultation". As a result, the signs were all changed back. The manufacturers of GPS devices will be watching closely we surmise.
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