AFRIFORUM WILL OPPOSE PROPOSED NAME CHANGE OF PRETORIA IN COURT

The civil rights initiative AfriForum indicated that its legal team is ready to oppose any effort to change the name of Pretoria in court.  This organisation also intends to launch major protest actions before, during and after the World Cup Soccer Tournament if the name were to be changed.

AfriForum's reaction follows in response to the news report that the ANC in Pretoria has started discussions with the Government to have the name of Pretoria changed before the World Cup Soccer Tournament.

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the process followed in an effort to have Pretoria's name changed, does not comply with the legal requirements for public participation.  "The courts have already ruled on the same grounds that Louis Trichardt's name-change process is invalid and AfriForum will ensure that the same will happen to any effort to change the name of Pretoria," Kriel added.

Kriel emphasised that the fact that in November 2009, approximately 30 000 people attended a gathering organised by AfriForum to muster support for the retention of the name of Pretoria, proves that people feel strongly about keeping the name. 

Many supporters of the name Pretoria, according to Kriel feels emotionally and culturally bound to the name and regard efforts to change the name as an act of cultural aggression.

"A country characterised by sensitive intergroup relationships, as is the case in South Africa, cannot afford the polarisation caused by the Pretoria dispute - not now, neither during the World Cup Soccer Tournament, nor thereafter," Kriel said.

AfriForum has, Kriel added, already sent urgent missives to the President and the Minister of Arts and Culture, asking Government not to agree to the name change.  AfriForum is in favour of a win-win solution, in terms of which the Metropolitan Council's name will remain Tshwane and the city's name will still be Pretoria.

Statement issued by Kallie Kriel, AfriForum CEO, January 27 2010

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