Makhado Municipality is a local municipality within the Vhembe District Municipality, in the Limpopo province of South Africa.
The issue of name changes should be located within its political and historical context. It is a political issue. That is why racists organisations like Solidarity Trade Union and its baby, Afriforum, always threaten legal action before the process of changing a place name commences.
To fully understand the complexities surrounding Makhado, it is essential to delve into its rich history, which includes the story of King Makhado, the controversies over name changes, and the ongoing efforts to promote social cohesion.
King Makhado: A 19th-Century Leader
Makhado (also: Makhato or Makgato, c.1839 - 3 September 1895) was a 19th-century King (Thovhele) in the Singo (or Vhasenzi) dynasty of the Vendas. They ruled over the Dzanani "district" of the Zoutpansberg region of South Africa.
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He was the youngest son of Thovhele Ramabulana who died in 1864 when Makhado was about 25. Makhado's mother was Limani, noted for her political intrigue. Makhado's first wife was Nwaphunga. According to Venda historian M. H. Limani was the daughter of the khosi of Tshitavhadulu. He intended her to become the new great wife of Ramabulana's younger brother Ramavhoya, then khosi, after her sister's death.
When Makhado ascended the throne at the beginning of 1864, the Boers had already firmly established themselves in his territory at Thivhalalwe (Schoemansdal), Luonde and other areas where they started conducting farming operations. The Boers began to flex their muscle in an effort to exercise control over everything they found, including the indigenous inhabitants. This control was exercised through unilateral land demarcations, forced taxation and compulsory labour.
But Makhado vehemently resisted any attempts to subjugate Vhavenda to the laws of the Boers. What triggered the war between Vhavenda and the whites was the fallout between Albasini and his Tsonga induna, Munene.
After the three major confrontations with the Boers, and the heavy defeats inflicted on the Boers, Makhado’s armies were still intact. The heavy losses suffered at Luatame, Vhulorwa and Ha-Madzhie were hailed by Vhavenda as military successes.
King Makhado had therefore managed to drive the Boers out of Venda and reduced Schoemansdal to ashes. This brought to an end era of White residence in the northernmost part of South Africa. By failing to subjugate Vhavenda, the Boers were unable to extend their control to the Venda kingdom. Vhavenda remained undefeated and free of Boer authority.
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With this great victory, Makhado became known as Tshilwavhusiku tsha ha Ramabulana, meaning the night fighter of Ramabulana. This name, which is legendary amongst Vhavenda, came from the fact that some of Makhado’s strategies included attacking the Boers at night. The driving out of the Boers from Venda signified Makhado’s victory through his bravery as a warrior and leader of his people. The Boers called him the “Lion of the North”.
The Contested Name Change: Makhado vs. Louis Trichardt
In 2001, the Greater Louis Trichardt Municipality passed a resolution to change its name to Makhado Municipality. After this resolution had been implemented, the Makhado Municipal council in 2002 resolved also to change the name of the town in which the Makhado Municipality was situated, to Makhado.
Some of the white citizens of the town, Louis Trichardt, opposed the renaming by arguing that there was no need to rename it and that there had been no proper consultations for the change of name. They claimed that this was an attempt to replace an Afrikaner’s name (i.e. Louis Trichardt) with the name of a former Vhavenda king.
They approached the Supreme Court, which ruled against them when the judge said that there was enough evidence of opportunities for consultations and that in fact there was not even any need for such consultations. But they were not to be discouraged and took the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal which found in their favour, thus setting aside the name, Makhado.
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These dethroned white males and females approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (“the SCA”) in March 2007 and requested the SCA to reverse the name Makhado. The SCA ruled in their favour on Thursday 29th March 2007. The SCA ordered the Minister of Arts and Culture to reverse the name to the old apartheid and non-indigenous insulting name of louis trichardt. The SCA, unfortunately, based its findings on the issue of ‘lack of consultation’.
A special Makhado council meeting on Thursday 12th April 2007 resolved to re-start a process to get Makhado renamed yet again to Makhado. At the meeting, 55 African National Congress, Azanian People’s Organisation, Pan Africanist Congress and United Democratic Movement councillors voted to start the process to get the town named Makhado again. We should not, in the words of Mudini Maivha, the PAC’s Secretary for Political Affairs, “allow local racists to derail the Africanising of society.
The ANC in Limpopo issued a statement on 16 April 2007. The statement welcomed and supported the decision of the Makhado Municipality to restart the process of consultation to rename the town. “We acknowledge the court did not rule against the principle of the changing of names, which is part of our transformation agenda. The decision was about the process. As the new consultation starts, the ANC will encourage our members to fully participate in the process to support our transformation agenda. The ANC will not apologise and negate our history by holding on to names which do not add value to our transformation and nation-building agenda.
In this paper I investigate the processes involving citizen participation in the course of the attempts to replace the name Louis Trichardt with the name Makhado. Furthermore I provide recommended strategies for the conducting of future renaming processes in South Africa.
Citizen Participation and Consultation
Consultation processes with the citizens have become key part in the contemporary society as a way of involving them in the affairs that affect their lives. A consultation process can be effective where there is an attempt to promote collaboration that allows active, bi-directional acts of participation, involvement, together with a unification of forces amongst all the role players.
Public participation is widely viewed as a crucial component of decision-making by both government and private sector. Globally, it has been recognized as a fundamental component for the achievement of sustainable development and democratic governance. The Rio de Janeiro 1992 and Johannesburg 2002 Earth Summits on Sustainable Development created a foundation for public participation and good governance practices.
An important goal of the new South Africa is to promote nation-building and social cohesion through the renaming and naming of the country’s geographical features: subsequently the parliament passed the South African Geographical Names Council Act of 1998. This Act provides guidelines for the processes of citizen participation that must be followed in the renaming and naming of features.
The study recommends 1) use of the names of people must be prohibited; 2) double-barrel renaming must be encouraged so as to incorporate old names with new names and 3) procedures for name-changing need to be widely publicized so as to ensure that the public is properly informed.
Comparative Renaming Practices
Renaming of features is not limited to Africa only. In 330 A.D. Constantine the Great (r. 306?337), moved the ancient imperial capital from Rome to the city of Byzantium which was located on the easternmost part of the European continent, at a major intersection of east-west trade. The emperor Constantinople renamed this ancient port city Constantinople (“the city of Constantine”) after himself.
Zimbabwe which was a British colony began the process of renaming its features to reflect itself. Snodia, Tasara and Nicholas in their studies argued that Zimbabwe embarked on renaming of features in order to deconstruct the colonial legacy. However, they revealed that the legacy of colonialism is still there and a lot still needs to be done for Zimbabwe to reflect its true black heritage.
The pattern of renaming is similar to that of Zimbabwe and probably that of South Africa in which naming is about the honouring of indigenous heroes and heroines . The renaming in Botswana is also aimed at reclaiming its African identity.
Table: Examples of Renamed Places
| Country | Original Name | New Name | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zimbabwe | Salisbury | Harare | Reclaiming African heritage |
| Zimbabwe | Fort Victoria | Masvingo | Reclaiming African heritage |
| Canada | Newfoundland | Newfoundland and Labrador | Reflecting geographical expansion |
The Makhado Municipality Today
The municipal council consists of seventy-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-eight councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-eight wards, while the remaining thirty-seven are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.
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