A meeting, aimed at creating awareness about the process of naming or renaming the geographical features of White River, quickly erupted in chaos when community members stormed out on November 15.
This was due to misunderstandings regarding the nature of the meeting and miscommunication between various sources.
It took place in the town hall and so many people turned up that more chairs had to be set out. Ward councillor Ms Trudie Grové-Morgan opened the meeting and introduced speaker, Mr Themba Mona, manager of arts and culture development. Mona explained that his department was responsible for the naming and renaming of geographical features.
It was a legal requirement that the naming of these features be standardised, which meant that incorrect naming like Mataffin instead of Matafeni should be rectified. Minimising the duplication of names like Kerk Street or Nelson Mandela Road, was also on their agenda.
Community members were very negative regarding the meeting and Mona repeatedly had to explain that his intention was not to change the town’s name. The purpose was to orientate representatives of the community on what was required in the process of renaming or naming geographical features like streets, libraries or community centres.
He was continually interrupted by residents shouting things like “No, you’re just wasting money” or “We don’t want new names”. Many people were shocked at the appalling way their fellows conducted themselves and disrespected the speaker.
Mona explained that the people were the ones who came up with the names and brought forward the application. He mentioned the 2007 application to change White River’s name, which was strongly opposed by the community and ended up being rejected.
In response to heated questions on why the community had to attend the meeting, Mona responded that representatives of Msholozi were present to find out how they could get their streets named, as none had as yet been named.
About half of the meeting then started leaving one by one, some stopping to argue with the speaker.
Mona then established that most of the attendees had misunderstood the reason for the meeting. One of the community members agreed and said the workshop/meeting had been approached the wrong way and communicated incorrectly. She urged the speaker to work with existing structures like the ratepayers association and ward committees.
Mona responded by complimenting the people in White River for always attending important meetings and taking an interest in their town.
While he elaborated on the process of naming and renaming, a few more people left, until the meeting concluded with a promise to make the information, regarding the processes, available to community members via their ward councillor.
Ward committee meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month at the White River Council Chambers.
Community members are welcome to attend, or to obtain the material from their ward councillor.
