THE Uitenhage Leadership expressed their dismay in an open letter written to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nkosinathi Mthethwa as well as to Vusithemba Ndima, the Deputy Director-General of Heritage Promotion and Preservation, rejecting Uitenhage’s name change to Kariega in the strongest terms.
In the letter the Uitenhage Leadership, which consist of various leaders from different organisations, stated, “It is imperative that we declare our unwavering support for the necessary process of eradicating the legacy of apartheid through the renaming of our town. However, without being oblivious the residents of Uitenhage, whom we represent, have compelled us to lead this process of rejecting this Kariega name in the strongest terms. We believe the process was manifestly flawed on procedural bases.”
The Uitenhage Leadership wishes for the consultation to start afresh for all of the town’s residents, and not people from Port Elizabeth, to proudly engage.
The representatives on the Uitenhage Leadership are Sandile Adam (coordinator), Lakeni Kondile (veterans), Zanoxolo Kama (education), Vuyo Madasi (youth), Monde Vaaltein (business), Dan Songwiqi (SANCO), Rev Keketso Bloem (religious sector), Ms B Snam (women leader), Dumisani Twalingca (veterans), Sweetness Stokwe (Cosatu) and Johnson Kula (sport).
Public participation: residents were not properly informed
The Uitenhage Leadership pointed out in the letter, that they strongly believe that there was procedural contravention committed by provincial South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) officials in Uitenhage.
In the letter they stated that the government handbook on geographical names explicitly outlines the functions of SAGNC, and one of them is to ensure that local communities and stakeholders are adequately consulted.
“At the Uitenhage public consultation meeting there were lots of people bussed from Port Elizabeth Northern areas representing Khoisan clans. In addition, the person who proposed Kariega was from Port Elizabeth and not residing in Uitenhage.
“We strongly believe that the name proposal, engagement and persuasions were supposed to be amongst local communities, but they were not there in numbers as they were not properly informed about the meeting.
“A few of our local people left the meeting frustrated about how the proceedings were conducted.
“Therefore, we dispute in strongest terms that the name Kariega was the product of the local community engagement in an inclusive and democratic manner. There was no adequate consultation whatsoever.”
The Uitenhage Leadership also stated that the mobilisation strategy for the public participation meeting fell short and did not reach the communities.
“Therefore, we maintain unequivocally that proper consultations like loud hailing, church visits and radio slots were not utilized. We strongly doubt the use of councillors’ offices for mobilisation.”
In conclusion, given the various policy values and principles that the Uitenhage Leadership feels were not observed, they humbly requested the Honourable Minister and his committee to afford the local community their constitutional right of taking active participation in renaming the town in an inclusive democratic manner.
The Uitenhage Leadership wish for the consultation to start afresh for all of the town’s residents to proudly engage without people from Port Elizabeth.
“We hope the voice of the people of Uitenhage will be heard and respected by our government.”
ISSUED: SANDILE ADAM, UITENHAGE LEADERSHIP COORDINATOR
