S.Africa’s capital renames streets
The city of Pretoria has begun renaming streets to honour heroes of
the anti-apartheid struggle, leaving some whites worried about losing
their cultural identity in the South African capital.
Voortrekkers road in Pretoria has become Steve Biko street on
May 9, 2012. The city of Pretoria has begun renaming streets to
honour heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. AFP |
Eighteen years after the African National Congress was elected to
power, the city’s streets still bear the names of leading figures from
South Africa’s white-dominated past, making it impossible to cross
Pretoria without passing a mention of the fathers of apartheid.
For mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, the changes are about striking a
balance between the memory of the country’s former masters and their
successors.
Although Pretoria’s population has become more diverse in recent
years, the capital retains a strong presence of Afrikaners, descendants
of the first Dutch settlers who arrived in the 17th century.
Afrikaners were closely identified with apartheid, which ended when
Nelson Mandela became the first black President in 1994.
“Afrikaners are not hated or the object of contempt but it is a fact
that all the streets in the city are named after Afrikaners,” Ramokgopa
said.
“It will never be argued that Afrikaners did not play a role, but the
city must represent everyone’s past.” Delayed by a series of court
cases, city workers have now begun changing signs for about 30 streets,
mainly downtown. The old names are still there, but struck out by a red
line, hanging alongside the new.
Emerging unscathed from the changes is Paul Kruger, the Afrikaner
leader of the 19th-century Transvaal Republic, and the city’s namesake
Andries Pretorius, who defeated the Zulu army in a bloody 1838 battle.
But many whites who played a role in South Africa’s history are being
replaced by figures from the anti-apartheid struggle.
The Voortrekkers, Afrikaners who fled British expansion in the 19th
century to colonise the country’s North, have been replaced by Steve
Biko, the black consciousness leader killed by white police in 1977.
“It doesn’t matter what the street names are. It just makes it more
difficult for people to find where we are,” said Irene Rynders, who runs
an antique shop along the road formerly known as Voortrekkers.
“But... what’s wrong with the Voortrekkers? They came here through
the mountains. Why change?” she said, fretting about the fallout for GPS
devices and outdated maps.
“It costs a lot of money. They could use the money for people who
haven’t food, or whatever.”
It’s a lost cause to remind her that the Voortrekkers migrated North
because the British had outlawed slavery.
AFP
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