Street signs showing the old street names seen at the Mukhari Signs factory in Pretoria, South Africa, on April 24, 2015. Picture: Gallo Images / Beeld / Theana Breugem
The City of Joburg is set to forge ahead with plans to rename yet another prominent road, Sandton Drive. This is barely a month after the metro changed William Nicol Drive to Winnie Mandela Drive.
“There was a council resolution on Sandton Drive that it needs to be changed to Laila Khaled.
“This resolution was passed even before I was a councillor.
“As an MMC for community development, I must ensure that such resolutions are implemented within the confines of the law and the budget that goes with that,” said MMC for community development Lubabalo Magwentshu.
City officials, including mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, council speaker Colleen Makhubele and MMC for transport Kenny Kunene have made it clear the city will rename streets or areas that have colonial names or remind South Africans of the dark past.
“This is not about us as the city but about what the people on the ground want.
“The people on the ground are sick and tired of being reminded of the names of their oppressors.
“They want these to be changed as part of our heritage and our history.
“A country of people with no history does not have a future. “We must be reminded of the heroes who have contributed to where we are now,” Magwentshu said.
He said the city was not wasting money as it was trying to preserve history. He said the change of names was also a social cohesion project as some of street names have been changed to white, Indian, coloured and black names.
“It plays a big role in ensuring the diverse nature of our society is recognised,” Magwentshu said.
There have been calls for the name, Gandhi Square, to also be changed, but Magwentshu said this would not be happening.
“We can’t rename it to another name again when it was already renamed.
“Of course, if the people want it we would have to do it but at this stage, it does not make sense to us.”
He also spoke about the budget challenges his department was faced with to build libraries, community centres and other facilities to improve the lives of the poor.
Magwentshu said as part of his legacy as an MMC, he would like to build facilities in every region of the city during his tenure.
“The reality of our communities is there is no infrastructure.
“The facilities are just not there and the ones we have are not enough to service our people. “Given the financial challenges, this is the first department to be cut,” he said.
“This is because we are not generating income.
“As such, I have been advocating for public-private partnerships because I understand the city alone will not be able to deliver what needs to be delivered in terms of these facilities.
“That is why we have been encouraging businesses to come forth and join us to do something for our communities.”
He also weighed in on the closure of the Johannesburg Metro Centre after a transformer exploded and forced councillors and city officials to abandon the building.
This has resulted in the council not being able to sit for meetings, residents not being able to make payments and city officials having to work from home.
“The safety of the people is a priority, it’s safety first. It is a safety precaution that while this thing has happened, let us in the meantime not use that building.
“There is a plan to move away from the Metro Centre as was already agreed back in 2016,” he said.
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