The City of Johannesburg and its partners yesterday hosted an unveiling ceremony for the renaming of William Nicol Drive to Winnie Mandela Drive.

The event was attended by several important delegates, among them First Lady of South Africa Tshepo Ramaphosa and Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwananda, to mention a few.

According to the mayoral spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamse, 25 road signs have been changed to the new name.

“The cost of that has been R25 000. It works to basically R1 000 per sign,” said Ndamse.

There are an estimated 32 signs in total.

Ndamse added it didn’t take long to put the new signs up.

“It’s just putting it on the pole, so maybe 10 minutes for one,” Ndamse said. “Many of the signs have already been changed. We have added a sign that says Winnie Mandela Drive on top of the old signs that said William Nicol Drive.”

According to Ndamse, not all the William Nicol signs will be done away with immediately.

“We will still maintain both signs at all the intersections for a considerable period so that people can still adjust and [get] accustomed to the new name,” said Ndamse.

“After that period, the William Nicol Drive signs will then be removed.”

The Citizen reported that Johannesburg Roads and Transport MMC Kenny Kunene has defended the almost R250 000 spent in total on the name change. “This includes the advertising of the new name change, the public participation process, and the erection of the new street sign,” reads their article.