The only planning legislation providing for naming of streets is the Local: Government Ordinance, 17 of 1939. Section 69 (1) (a) of the Local Government Ordinance, 17 of 1939 provides for the naming of public places and requires that such names be made available to Postmaster General and Surveyor General. Furthermore, in terms of section 57 (1) of the Rationalization of Local; Government Affairs Act, 1988 section 69 (1) (a) of the Local Government Ordinance has been assigned to local authorities. South African Geographical Names Council Act 118 0f 1998 further states that the SA Geographical names Council must with consultation with the Minister and Provincial Geographical names Committees formulate policies, principles and procedures, on the change of geographical names.

All proposed names must be submitted to community for their acceptance and comments through ward Committee as well as by advertising thereof in the local press for a window period of 28 days in which time the proposal will open for inspection by public for comments.  The names should then be submitted to Land Use Management Committee / Naming Committee for approval or disapproval, the relevant municipal Directorates, Telkom Ltd, the Surveyor General and the Postmaster General. The applicant as well as any other affected parties, must be notified of an approval.

When a street name is being changed, it costs money. The least costly is the name boards that will be put up and the removal of the old boards. The consultation process is a little more expensive as there are things like venues to be rented, adverts to be published to invite the public for participation.

The broader impact is not felt by the government. Once a name is changed, the businesses and residents on that road need to change all their stationary to reflect the new address, web sites need to be updated, directories need to be updated, map’s need to be updated and Title deed registrations for new addresses. The list goes on and on.

There is also a further reaching impact than the borders of the community where the name is being changed. National maps need to be updated and as most know, there is Google Maps with street view, they need to be updated, so this impact a foreign company, the GPS maps need to be updated with the new information etc.

Given the fact that ELM is technically bankrupt there is no possible way that we as Councilors can defend the changing of geographical names at this moment in time. This will just come down to “wasteful expenditure” not only for the Municipality but also for the business community and citizens of Emfuleni.