Defend Truth

Politics

Govt very nearly resolutely moves forward on Pretoria/Tshwane/Prewane – but not quite

Govt very nearly resolutely moves forward on Pretoria/Tshwane/Prewane – but not quite

It was so very, very close. Just 30 minutes more and we'd have had closure on the whole is-it-Pretoria-or-is-it-Tshwane thing. Aside from the court cases, petitions, recriminations and general ill-feeling, of course.

So there we were, fully expecting Deputy Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile to finally – finally! – settle the whole debate on Pretoria’s name. His people had invited everybody to a media conference on new geographic names to be changed, and Pretoria had to be on top of that list. Also, we’d said so in First Thing, so it must be true, right?

And so we drove through the streets of Pretoria/Tshwane, trying to count the number of signs using each (score: Pretoria, very few; Tshwane, even the panel beaters in Arcadia), down into the parking lot of the Tshwane/Pretoria headquarters of Arts and Culture and up in the lift to levels of the building from where you’ve got a pretty good view of the downtown of Pretoria/Tshwane.

Alas, alack, the event had been cancelled, 35 minutes before the start time, and five minutes before we arrived. No explanation, no excuses, no estimate of when it would actually take place. Just functionaries who fail to see the irony.

The irony, of course, is that it is the inability of the Department of Arts and Culture to make a decision on the name change, or even the process to be followed to decide on whether there should be one, that got us into this mess in the first place. Everybody else has chosen a side. Tshwane City Council: Tshwane. Afriforum and other FF+ aligned entities: Pretoria. Even Fifa has made a choice: it is sitting on the fence, insisting that all signposts must at least refer to Tshwane/Pretoria so as to not confuse tourists.

The ANC has made the firmest choice of all. It decreed that the name shall be changed, forthwith and double quick and certainly before the advent of the World Cup. Because, you know, it’s important for foreigners to know that we have escaped from under the boot heel of the Pretorius or praetorian or whoever the hell the place is named after.

And therein lies the puzzle. Everyone at the top of Arts and Culture are ANC cadres deployed at the pleasure of the ANC. All the, ahem, “counter-revolutionary” elements that oppose the name change stand outside of decision-making structures. True, due process wasn’t followed in making the decision, but it’s hardly the first time that’s happened. The simple answer is to force through the process before a final court injunction can be granted, then complain of the fiscal burden of rolling the whole thing back while instituting a hastily-assembled consultation process, which is easily rigged.

So why are we still stuck in this morass? Honestly? You really want to know? For once we have not the faintest idea. But tell you what, we’ll be stalking Paul Mashatile  like crazy for the next couple of weeks.

By Phillip de Wet

Read more: Sapa via iAfrica.com, Sapa via IOL

If you’d like to know what we think of Paul Mashatile’s future, well, the headline says it all: The end is nigh for Paul Mashatile

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.