AfriForum’s outrage over “Skukuza National Park” misses the point — this was digital mischief, not a ministerial decree.
It was to be expected that AfriForum would make political capital out of the “renaming” of Kruger National Park to Skukuza National Park on Google Maps.
After all, their mainly white constituency is emotionally wedded to some symbols of the past and Kruger is not only precious to them, but also to many other whites.
Yet, in turning the Skukuza molehill into a mountain, AfriForum and all the others who jumped on the bandwagon should have realised that this was the work of a bunch of mischief-makers gaming the Google system, whether politically motivated or not.
The suggestion for the renaming of the park emerged a few weeks ago in the Mpumalanga legislature, when an EFF proposal was accepted unopposed.
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As the cries of outrage went up, reality got lost in the dust.
Firstly, renaming of a national asset like Kruger requires ministerial assent – and, given its importance economically, that is not likely to happen.
Also, the irony is that Skukuza means, roughly, “sweep away” and was the name given to James Hamilton-Stevenson, first warden of the park, for his habit of pushing some communities off the reserve land.
But, the fact that Google could be so easily taken in makes one wonder: what’s next?
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