Inclusive memorialisation?
Like the name says, one of the longest streets in Cape Town
There’s been quite a bit of discussion recently on the issue of street renaming. My colleague, Ryland Fisher, writing in the Cape Argus on 22 February, asked what has happened to the working group leading a renaming process set up by the City of Cape Town a few years ago: “This group, under the leadership of Rhoda Kadalie, produced what I thought was a fair report, given the city’s divisive history. However, nothing happened after they delivered their report.”
Ryland correctly points out that the renaming of streets in honour of people who gave their lives in the struggle against apartheid has to date been confined to former black townships: “It irritates me no end, and makes me ashamed to be a citizen of Cape Town and the Western Cape when I drive through Khayelitsha and I see that it’s only there that streets are named in honour of these leaders. I’m glad that they are honoured – but not in this ghetto fashion. It is almost as if Mandela and the others fought for the liberation of black people only, and so they must be honoured in black townships only… It galls me to drive around in the city centre where almost every street name harks back to apartheid, while township streets celebrate the leaders who fought for the liberation of all.”
I (mildly) disagree with Ryland’s view that “almost every street name (in the Cape Town city centre) harks back to apartheid” – many are good descriptive names like Long, Loop and Bree, or, for example, like Strand, Waterkant, Jetty and Sea Streets, tell a story about the historical shoreline of the city – but overall, Ryland is correct to ask the question: what has happened to the process?
Shortmarket St - telling a story of the origins of the Cape Town retail economy
Last week, the issue was raised again, this time at a public meeting in Cape Town called by the South African Geographical Names Council. The debates were reported heated, with traditional Khoi leaders in particular calling for a comprehensive name-changing process. “Many atrocities were committed during the changing of names (during the colonial period) in this country” said Frank Smith, national organiser of the SA Progressive Civic Organisation. Dan Fletcher, of the Indigenous Royal Council, pointed out that: “Not a single street in this province is named after a Khoisan”.
Perhaps in response to the criticism, Sakkie Jenner, Western Cape Provincial MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sport, announced last week that the Provincial Government would be establishing a provincial committee to deal with the process of name changing in the province.
So, where does this leave us? There is no doubt that many names of streets (and buildings and public places and amenities) in Cape Town continue to offend or hurt. I sometimes can’t believe that we still have a street (Oswald Pirow on the Foreshore) named after a prominent Nazi sympathiser. Or a major highway (Settlers Way) named in such an obviously provocative way.
On the other hand, the process of renaming, if not handled correctly, can lead to further divisions and conflict rather than nation-building. The way the street naming process was mishandled in central eThekwini/ Durban (see pictures) is a case in point. A few years ago, Mayor Pieter Marais’s attempts to try and to rig the voting process to force through the renaming of Adderley and Wales Streets (to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk respectively) in the city centre, was highly devisive and helped lead to his demise as Mayor.
The renaming of streets in central eThekwini/ Durban has been a messy process
Any process of renaming needs to be open, transparent and inclusive. Personally, I dislike naming (or renaming) streets after politicians, no matter how great and good. I am particularly saddened when I see names such as Beyers Naude, Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo and Lillian Ngoye given to roads (or hospitals or schools or places) that are then allowed to decay through poor maintenance and management. What an insult to honourable leaders!
I prefer names that tell a story, that are historically interesting, or geographically descriptive, names that above all, will endure long after our current generation has come and gone.
As a student of history, I am aware that a renaming process can be superficial and shallow if it is not part of broader efforts to genuinely build social cohesion and address the physical and materials needs of citizens. Like patriotism, the practice of renaming can become a refuge of scoundrels, enabling leaders to deflect from delivering on substantive issues. However, I don’t buy the arguement that the process of renaming certain streets and places is irrelevent or that there are ‘more important issues’.
Cities and towns are about people. As human beings, we express ourselves through culture and we value our personal, neighbourhood and community identities. If our roads and buildings and parks and beaches and statues and images and advertisements and designs do not reflect people’s cultures inclusively, then we will never succeed in becoming a city truly owned and respected and cared for by all citizens. And that’s not the sort of city I want to live in.
Its time for a process of more inclusive memorialisation in Cape Town (and in our country), but done in a such way so as to educate ourselves about different cultures, languages, communities and contributions, to bring ourselves closer together.
Contradictions in central eThekwini/ Durban: the historically evocative Brickhill Road, and the benign West Street, have been renamed, but Kitchener St, named after a British colonial warlord type, remains.
Know your history: What would Anton Lembede, political activist and founding president of the ANC Youth League, have to say about being placed alongside Theophilus Shepstone, who, as secretary for native affairs in Kwa Zulul-Natal for 30 years, was arguably the architect of separate development?
Copyright & Copy 2009 Andrew Boraine