PRESS RELEASE
New Street Names in Randburg Uproar
29 October 2006
Johannesburg City Councillor Rudi du Plooy of the Christian front (CF) said that he was appreciative of the support that he has received regarding his party’s stance on the renaming of Hendrik Verwoerd Drive and Hans Strijdom Drive. The new name of Hendrik Verwoerd Drive is to be Nkululeko Drive which means ‘Freedom’ and Hans Strijdom Drive is to be renamed Malibongwe Drive which means ‘Praise the Woman.’
Pandemonium broke out in the Council chamber when the Johannesburg City Council had this matter before it on Thursday 26th October. Councillor Rudi du Plooy argued that to change these two names will have a devastating effect on reconciliation within the City of Johannesburg. He pointed out that according to the report before Council it was clear that residents in the area were already divided on the issue. Cllr Du Plooy argued that some things are best left alone, this being a good example.
He referred to the fact that reconciliation was achieved when De Klerk and Mandela reached out and laid the foundation of the new democracy. Cllr Du Plooy stressed that the proposed name changes did not meet the criteria set out in the City’s naming and renaming policy. He challenged Council that in stead of reconciliation and goodwill being achieved it is bound to bring division.
Du Plooy made the point that the ANC wants everybody to know how terrible the National Party was, but they (the ANC) have National Party members sitting in Council as ANC members. He further wanted to know that if the name Verwoerd was so offensive then how come the ANC has a Verwoerd as a member. There was spontaneous applause for Du Plooy’s remarks from the opposition.
Councillor M S Cachalia of the ANC responded and told the meeting that the opposition had better become used to these name changes, because this is just the beginning. There were heated interjections and the ANC accused the DA of resisting change. Cllr Christo Botes of the DA then said that he despised the name of Verwoerd and wished to wipe it out.
At this point Cllr Parks Tau insisted that the Speaker ask Councillor Du Plooy to withdraw his statements. Councillor Du Plooy said that he had only spoken to the item and refused to withdraw anything that he had said. The Speaker then ruled that he should leave the Council Chamber.
The DA said that the names should be changed but that they were not convinced that the process was followed properly. They made note of the fact that no adverts regarding the name change was placed in the Afrikaans media. The FF + stated that they did not support the renaming of the two streets.
Councillor du Plooy said: “The Christian Front can’t support items that will divide our nation. It has become clear to me that the ANC has only one goal in life and that is to have its own desperate policies thrust onto communities come hell or high-water. The ANC is not a friend to the Afrikaner or his history. The issue here is not whether Verwoerd or Strijdom were correct in their policies or not, but rather that they were leaders in South Africa. It is like taking a snapshot in history. The ANC should be more careful in how they see their own policies. The system they have in place is as diabolical as Apartheid and worse because they are discriminating against minorities.”
“The Christian Front is dedicated to serving all communities but is resolute in protecting the rights of minorities in South Africa. The ANC has demonstrated that they despise Afrikaans and have set out with legislation to rid this country of schools that had Afrikaans as a sole medium. They are desperately trying to rid the country of things that have come out of the Apartheid era. They even had monuments of Lukas Mangope removed in the North West province.
“It is time for the ANC to be made accountable. They need to be brought into line. They ANC is the biggest failure that has ever hit this country,” concluded Du Plooy.