Despite the furore over the new name for NW405, JB Marks will become the new name of the municipality after the council adopted it at a special council meeting on Tuesday.
The strong sentiment from the DA, FF Plus and the independents was that the ANC had trampled upon democracy and had gone against the voices of the community. Public opinion preferred Tlokwe over JB Marks, Josie Mpama or Oompie Mashi.
About R300 000 was spent on the public participation process that garnered 2 605 votes for Tlokwe and 2 499 for JB Marks.
At Tuesday’s two-hour-long tug-o-war meeting, 32 ANC councillors and two EFF councillors took the bold decision to vote for JB Marks in the absence of the DA, FF Plus and the independents, after the latter group walked out.
‘Why don’t we listen to the community? They have asked us to save money and not incur irregular or wasteful expenditure. The name Tlokwe of Barolong is inclusive of the communities of both Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp,’ says the DA councillor, Ané van Onselen.
The chief whip of the independents, Lucky Mokoena accused the ANC of ‘pushing the mandate of the NW premier’ who declared, a long time ago, that the municipality would be renamed JB Marks.
The mayoral spokesperson, Victor Boqo says the name, Tlokwe, will not unite the people of Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom. ‘JB Marks is a stalwart, a former teacher and member of the ANC National Executive Committee. He fought for the freedom of this country and the liberation of our people. He died in exile in Russia in 1972,’ he says.
After this ANC victory, Ald. Chris Landsberg said the DA would not be taking the matter to the courts. ‘There is nothing more that we can do but to accept the name that was chosen. I don’t really think we are here to approach the courts,’ he said. He did, however, stress that the process of deciding on the name was flawed and illegal. He defended walking out of the meeting, saying they would have let the people down if they had participated in an illegal process.
JB Marks not a figure with a legacy that can unite the municipality, says political analyst
Prof. André Duvenhage, a political analyst from the NWU, says the situation in Potchefstroom-Tlokwe is currently very concerning.
‘From the start, the amalgamation with Ventersdorp was problematic and probably also illegal (according to process and protocol). It has severe financial implications for the taxpayers of Potchefstroom, specifically. The merger was a political decision and not a service delivery-oriented consideration. It seems that, for every real problem/crisis in the province at a local level, the ANC reacts with symbolism as a smokescreen for the lack of capacity, track record and political direction to deal with the situation.’
Duvenhage says there were big concerns about the decision-making processes responsible for the name change.
‘I do not see JB Marks as a figure with a legacy that can unite the municipality. At the moment, we, as Potchefstroomers (black, white, Indian and coloured), need to unite in order to address the challenges in our environment. We need dedicated management and service delivery, not the politics and symbolism coming from a bankrupt estate. We need to address the real challenges and not approach them with forms of political symbolism,’ he said firmly.
* Boqo says the community has been given 14 days to express their approval or otherwise of the new name. (See advertisement in Herald on page 19).
