It will be interesting to see what the DA is going to do about possible name changes after receiving a demand for one of Pretoria’s street names to be renamed after an alleged king who had ruled over Pretoria during the time of Jan van Riebeeck.
A Jan Mabena, who claims to be a descendant of the Ndebele king, Makerana Mabena, is now requesting the Tshwane Metro Council to rename Johnny Claassen Street.
Mabena claims that the king of the Manala tribe ruled in the 1600s over the area where Garsfontein is now situated. He argues that “the white regime” had moved the Manala tribe, as well as other groups “by violence” to various other places.
Johnny Claassen Street is named after Johnny Claassens, a former Springbok soccer player, and the Garsfontein police station is located on the street. All the streets in the neighborhood are named after former Springboks.
The ANC began to change Afrikaner names and street names – a practice already started by DA, Helen Zille when she became the mayor of Cape Town.
There is now an interest in what the DA-led council in Pretoria will do.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
