They want to change the name of our town!
By Riette
@Zorrogirl (1502)
South Africa
August 6, 2007 3:10pm CST
So many name changes has been made in south africa. in my town, none of the residents knew of the name change. only a few from an informal settlement nearby. i do understand that they want to change apartheid names, but our town's name has been like this for over a century. before apartheid. i dont get it. all the millions spent changing names could have been used to provide housing.
2 people like this
5 responses
@nannacroc (4049)
•
6 Aug 07
THis is the problem in lots of countries, the people who make decisions don't seem to care about what the real people need. To them the money spent on changing a towns name means far more than providing houses for people.
2 people like this
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
6 Aug 07
isnt it heartbreaking. they could have built camps for the zim people who stream into sa in need of help and food. and to my amazement the majority doesnt seem to realise this. they are just to glad that another afrikaans town name has vanished. people who were born here are starving. they dont even have water.
1 person likes this
@nannacroc (4049)
•
7 Aug 07
This is a true case of mans inhumanity to man. Our reporters have been banned from reporting on the situation in South Africa. The people who have money to do anything have no humanity.
2 people like this
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
7 Aug 07
i dont believe they are banned. theres a lot of news on the net as well. i think its more a case of dont care. the UK and USA has so much of their own issues, that a corrupt african country doesnt grab the attention anymore.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
6 Aug 07
They should not be allowed to change the name of your town. Are they trying to drive away the Afrikaners and English people away? Because if they do, then South Africa is going to be in the same position as Zimbabwe. It should to export food out, but now since driving all the European born farmers and settlers out, it needs to import food to feed their people, some who have no idea how to farm. Could the citizens get together with a petition and protest? People should be proud of their heritage.
2 people like this
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
6 Aug 07
to no avail my friend. we are powerless against the majority. they are even changing the name of sa capital from Pretoria to Tswane. the situation in zim just stuns me. maybe if we keep on praying things will go better.
1 person likes this
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
15 Aug 07
i wouldnt want to change the name of our town too. i love it just the way it is. we had a similar situation when they changed the name of our high school. but we couldnt do anything because it got absorbed by a larger school so it had to take the school's name. its almost like loosing our school. now i dont think of it as my real alma mater. ^__^
politicians would do anything to leave a "legacy". or some kind of imprint in the place they served to. like they think, if i change this name, people will remember me. it sucks but they have the power and people are not vigilant to contradict it. ^__^
@ranitam22 (1146)
• United States
27 Aug 07
That doesn't make sense to change the name of a whole town, I've never heard of that before. Especially if it was that before aparthed. It would also have to be changed if it's on any map or atlas. That is silly when the money could've been spent on something else.
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
29 Aug 07
my thoughts exactly. they are busy with changing the name of the capital city. our constitution is very clear about geographical names that may not be changed. Pretoria is a geographical name. they dont realise that every map, handbook and anything written about Pretoria should be changed to Tswane. AROUND THE WORLD! thats so ridiculous.
@atropos (22)
• South Africa
23 Aug 07
i agree... there is no point in these name changes... in my opinion the government is just trying to impress the people through making them believe that they are doing all these things for them... but it is actually harming the economy... not just in the respect to the cost opf the name changes, but also because of the fact that is change in names of the towns cause people to have to get new maps, tourists who have visited the country before not to be able to find a town they previously visited and even the locals of the country having to change addressing within the companies themselves
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
23 Aug 07
yes. everyone is blind. i sometimes wonder why they dont use bushmen words for place names. they were the first inhabitants of most of sa centuries ago. hey, if you buy a gps in capetown, and drive up to gauteng, it would be useless by the time you get there.
@atropos (22)
• South Africa
23 Aug 07
haha, thats quite funny... but its turning out to look that way... its quite scary... the amount of money that is spent to impress the ppl in an attempt to stay in power, it is even more disturbing with an umemployment rate of around 25%, did you know that the unemployment rate in RSA is more then that of the great depression!!
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
23 Aug 07
what i have read is that unemployment stands at 80 percent. its disgusting. did you know that nurses earn about R6000. no wonder they are emmigrating. my sister is a nurse and she had a 4 year nursing degree. she earned the same as them. they should start giving real names with meaning. like unemployment ville, democraptic burg and struggle bay.
