Pretoria - Afrikaaners want the heritage of all South Africans to be respected by displaying both the old and new street names.
This, according to Freedom Front Plus MPL Philip van Staden, would recognise the shared history.
The Constitutional Court ruled this week that the new Pretoria street names should stay for now.
However, it would be up to a high court review to determine if the City of Tshwane was thorough in its public consultations and correct in implementing the changes.
The high court in Pretoria has yet to set the date for the review application by AfriForum.
The Constitutional Court berated the civil rights organisation for the legal strategies used to prevent the name changes.
In a scathing judgment, it found that AfriForum’s earlier legal bid, citing supposed Afrikaner hurt, was insensitive, divisive and in conflict with the ideal of national unity.
The Constitutional Court ruled this week that the new Pretoria street names should stay for now.
“It is divisive, somewhat selfish and does not seem to have much regard for the centuries-old deprivation of a sense of place and sense of belonging black people have had to endure,” Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in the judgment.
Describing the proposition as mind-boggling, Justice Mogoeng insisted that the opposition to replacing the names of streets linked to other racial groups left little room for the acceptance of black people as fellow human beings deserving of human dignity and equality.
However, Van Staden was critical of the ruling, saying it would open a door to get rid of Afrikaner history.
He said Afrikaners wanted the heritage of all South Africans to be respected.
He said the party was the only one against the changing of 25 street names during a Tshwane council meeting in March 2012, during which the decision was approved.
“The Pretoria taxpayer has already paid R27 million for ANC actions concerning the changing of street names in the city. We can’t afford to spend money on trivialities. Money should rather be used to upgrade the infrastructure,” he said. We are saddened by this ruling,” Van Staden said.
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) welcomed it as a “landmark” ruling that should be used to advance nation-building and social cohesion project.
“It will entrench transformation, broaden celebration of different cultures and the heritage that make up the sum total of the South African history,” national spokesman Jabu Mahlangu said.
“We concur that AfriForum is selfish because it does not recognise that Tshwane is not an Afrikaner city, but a city for all its residents. Reconciliation is a two-way process that includes compromise,” he said.
Chief Justice Mogoeng had noted AfriForum’s arguments that the loss of the old street names - even temporarily, pending the review process - would supposedly cause great emotional hurt to Afrikaners.
He said, however, that the organisation did not have the right to have the old street names displayed in perpetuity.
Pretoria News