William Nicol Drive – Name change (History is being erased in Heritage month)
24 September 2023
On 24 September, South Africa celebrates Heritage Day once more. Heritage Day is a day that reminds us more than any other of the diverse past from which we all come. The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture recently announced that the government's 2023 theme for Heritage Month would be "Celebrating our Cultural Diversity in a Democratic South Africa". This is the English-only version on the English-only government website that we could find.
The haste with which the ANC is scrambling to change the name of William Nicol Drive to Winnie Mandela Drive in Heritage Month might previously have raised eyebrows or even serious objections. The ruling party has repeatedly shown through its conduct that the diversity of South Africa is promoted only through lip service while being undermined by actions, though.
We now merely note that the name will officially change to Winnie Mandela Drive on 26 September 2023. So, too, DF Malan Drive and Hans Strijdom Drive in Johannesburg have already been changed.
Unfortunately, the ANC has fallen into a narrative that portrays the struggle as the sole and only noteworthy history of South Africa. South Africa's history is much more complex than that, though. It encompasses so much more than the struggle and includes so much more than merely the ANC and its limited participation in a moment in history.
The way in which name changes are forced through involuntarily reminds one of the old Soviet era. Changing names was a favourite pastime after the communist takeover too. Initially, it was aimed at removing all references to the Tsarist period. Over time, it also became a way in which to honour leading figures in the revolution, including leaders of the time. The symbolism behind this ideology was to malign those who had lost the political struggle and over time write them out of that chapter of Soviet history. This is the case in South Africa in 2023 as well.
Once proud streets boast new names of struggle leaders in 2023 but at the same time signal much more - broken traffic lights, sidewalks that have fallen into disrepair and potholes that have become the norm rather than the exception. It does Dr William Nicol and other leaders of the past no credit to associate their names with the current decay, vandalism and destruction.
In a time of burning buildings, streets imploding, and numerous service delivery problems, the ANC's prioritisation of name changes astounds one.
We will continue to honour Dr William Nicol's memory. A dilapidated street is not worthy of him. Dr William Nicol (23 March 1887 – 22 June 1967) was a Dutch Reformed Church minister, theologian, man of culture, educationist and Administrator of the Transvaal who played a major role in the development of Afrikaners and Afrikaans schools in the Witwatersrand. He was also the second chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond for the term June 1924 – 13 March 1925. He died on 22 June 1967 at the age of 80.
Issued by Jan Bosman, Chief Secretary of the Afrikanerbond, 24 September 2023
