And for our next trick…
Posted by Don Packett under Uncategorized on January 31 2007 at 4:31 PMJust when you thought you’d heard the last of name changes in our beautiful country, they’ve decided they’re not quite done yet, with Hans Strijdom and Hendrik Verwoerd Drives up next for a revamp.
My only gripe, and there really is just one, (well, apart from the fact that they’re trying to delete history and it’s costing a fortune.
“The new names would be more representative of the current times.”
Um, old roads, old times, new roads, new times? I thought we were a growing nation.)
Anyway, my one and only gripe: The article says that residents and business owners have been surveyed about the changes, but I haven’t even heard of the name changes, never mind being surveyed about it. Working and living in the area, I might have overheard a little something, don’t you think?
Has anyone in the area even seen a survey? I’d love to know.
Ladies and gents, get ready to see Malibongwe Drive and Nkululeko Drive signs soon.
Thanks to Andre for the link.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:14 pm
yer kidding…aaarg *bashes head into keyboard*
yep that’ll learn us…blerry afrikaaners, I’m still enjoying pilots saying, ‘we hope you had a pleasant flight we will shortly be touching down in ..Jan..er Johannes……Oli..Oliver Tambo International..’
Seeing as its inevitable the ‘past sins of all mankind re-equalization committee’ will continue such nonsense can we PLEASE get a Tap Tap Makatini Street, in return I promise to whip myself three times a night while singing Nkosi Sekele Africa and burning my textbooks…oh and roadmaps…
January 31st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Sheesh dude, I’ve honestly known about this for ages. I’ve heard a few interviews on 702. Members of the public were invited to submit name options for approval on the website. It was quite a deal. I remember thinking that they handled it really well, I was even thinking about submitting some names too.
I’m all for changing the names though, the legacy is bad. I just hate when they change from one persons name to another (with a few obvious exceptions). We over think em, keep it generic, lest we have to change them again in 10 years…!
January 31st, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Ja, this goes back ages, and there was a huge amount of publicity surrounding the proposed name-changes.
In particular, the public were invited to make comments, and M-Net even went so far as to propose that Hendrik Verwoerd Drive be renamed “Magic Drive”.
Thankfully, their silly and self-serving proposal was rejected. Malibongwe (“in praise of women”) and Nkululeko (“freedom”)are lekker African names.
Say them with pride, and be grateful that at last the names of those Apartheid tyrants will be erased from the streets.
January 31st, 2007 at 10:56 pm
eh.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I think I need to listen to 702 more. Had no idea.
February 1st, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Honestly…i didn’t know either. But then again the only news-ish stuff I get is in news groups (most of which don’t really give a fig about street names to be honest).
I remeber when they changes DF Malan to Beyers Naude’- I was also blissfully ignorant of that being in the pipeline. I came back from Monte Casino late one night and decided to take the highway. When I saw Hans Stridom…Beyers Naude’ I thought: wtf! on what highway am I?! It was like the twilight zone…everything looked the same but with different names – I was glad to find my home I tell you! My dad swears it’s impossible but I am convinced that it was all still DF Malan when I left home, luckily I wasn’t drunk or who knows where I may have ended up…
Thanks for the heads-up…I’ll start practising saying these new names and try to mentally prepare myself for the switch!
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:03 am
Christ. I’ll avoid them purposefully because they take concentration just to say and because all of this is just pants.
February 5th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Working with the peas on this one. I am going to have to go to Zulu/Sepedi/Other African langiage lessons just to explain to people how to get to my place….
February 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I did agree with Don. These name changes are silly. There are far more important things we could spend money on, then the aesthetics of our roads (potholes on our roads, for instance).
Then I realised I actually didn’t know anything about these two ex-presidents. So I looked them up on Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Verwoed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_G._Strijdom
Now my agreement is definitely in the past tense. Change the names asap.
My suggestions: Tonorthgateandorrandburg Street and Cloggedwithtrafficatalltimes Road. Suitably descriptive and just as hard to pronounce.
February 7th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
GOOD Antoine, its about damn time you learnt. See something good IS coming out of these name changes.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I am studying in Stellenbosch and hate it. i miss Joburg!
What agitates me is the name change of the airport. They have managed to take a neutral name such as Johannesburg International and turn it one sided again! I am all for changing old Apartheid era names, but at least change them to neutral ones.
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