AfriForum sends lawyer's letter to Minister of Arts and Culture

The civil rights organisation AfriForum will today send a lawyer's letter to the Minister of Arts and Culture warning him not to accede to attempts by the mayor of the local metro council, Mr Sputla Ramakgopa, to change the name of Pretoria to Tshwane.

This follows after Ramakgopa yesterday declared in Mamelodi outside Pretoria that the metro council will do all in its power to change Pretoria's name to that of Tshwane.

AfriForum's legal representative, Willie Spies, said in a statement that the organisation had already, four years ago in August 2007, obtained an interdict against the council's attempts to use the name of Tshwane on name boards around the city.

Earlier, the metro council had submitted an application to the National Place Names Committee to register the name, Tshwane, as the geographical name for the entire area under its jurisdiction. Since the application had been lodged, the boundaries of the Tshwane Metro Council were changed to include Cullinan, Bronkhorstspruit and Rayton. The entire northern half of Gauteng is now known as the Tshwane Metro Council.

"It simply makes no sense to want to give a new name to Pretoria, one of a great many places within a mega municipal area," Spies said.

Last year already, AfriForum had sent a letter to the Minister of Arts and Culture informing him that any attempt to proclaim the name Tshwane will be met with a court application.

Statement issued by Willie Spies, AfriForum legal representative, November 22 2011

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