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Oil Renaming flouts laws, warns expert
May 27, 2007 Edition 3
Fred Kockott
DURBAN'S current street renaming process falls foul of laws and national guidelines governing geographical place names, and if tested in a court of law, the names adopted through this process could be declared null and void.
So says expert Prof Elwyn Jenkins of Pretoria, who helped draft relevant legislation: the South African Geographical Names Council Act of 1998.
Jenkins's warning follows the intervention of the national Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi, who this week requested that various stakeholders, including caucus leaders of the political parties in the eThekwini council, give him written submissions on what, in their view, had gone wrong with Durban's street renaming process.
"This will enable us to determine ways in which we can be of help," said Mufamadi in letters distributed this week.
Mufamadi and Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan have been tasked by the cabinet to help the eThekwini Metro find "a non-adversarial way" of dealing with street renaming.
Guidelines
Jenkins said he anticipated the ministers would insist the laws and national guidelines be followed in renaming Durban streets, and that a new project framework be agreed upon to chart the way forward.
But City Manager Mike Sutcliffe said renaming of streets fell outside the ambit of the Geographical Names Council, and that the process would continue as planned.
"I have never heard of municipalities being required to consult the Geographical Names Council over the changing of street names," said Sutcliffe. "He (Jenkins) doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. The Act governs names for places and rivers and such. Roads are local issues."
Jenkins, who previously served on the Geographical Names Council, disagreed.
"The SA Geographical Names Council sets standards and guidelines for local and provincial authorities to follow in renaming streets," said Jenkins.
"It is quite clear, in terms of the Act, that these guidelines apply to local authorities - and street renaming," said Jenkins.
The problem, said Jenkins, was that the Act did not define who was responsible for ensuring that guidelines be adhered to and that effective consultations take place.
"There is a need for new legislation to ensure this," said Jenkins.
Besides the drafting of existing legislation, Jenkins also helped formulate the policies for renaming geographical place names.
Jenkins said the current process in Durban was fundamentally flawed from start to finish. "There first needs to be wide consultation on what names are appropriate to change," said Jenkins.
Consultations
The public should then be invited to make suggestions.
"You then need a committee comprising historians, linguists and other experts to evaluate these suggestions," said Jenkins.
"This is what the Geographical Names Council recommends." Jenkins said consultations should also take place with the Geographical Names Council even before publishing any proposed names for comment.
He said a "disastrous precedent" would be set if any new names for streets in Durban were imposed simply through a majority vote in the council without due consideration given to relevant guidelines and objections received.
Jenkins said the bungling of Durban's street renaming process was nationally significant in that it also highlighted serious shortcomings in the oversight role supposed to be played by the SA Geographical Names Council.
"It has been moribund. It has not met for more than a year," said Jenkins.
A representative of the SA Geographical Names Council confirmed that council had not met in the past year, but said new council members and provincial committees were expected to be appointed soon by Arts and Culture Minister Jordan.
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