Changing the names of streets and areas in South Africa can improve service delivery according to the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State.
The ANC says municipalities need to speed up the process of naming and renaming in order to speed up service delivery, according to Businesstech News.
The Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the Free State said this week that this process also has security implications as it affects the ability of first responders to do their jobs.
Says the branch: “The failure to name our areas – in particular, streets – have (sic) impacted at times the provision of certain services, such as timeous response by emergency services. This process will continue to buttress the people’s dignity and (security),”
Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, gazetted a few name changes in the Eastern Cape in February.
Among the name changes, the most controversial was the renaming of Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha.
The Port Elizabeth International Airport was also renamed and is now known as the Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
Minister Mthethwa said that renaming the geographical landscape of the country is ‘a critical component of the heritage landscape as a whole’.
The South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) allows for the renaming of the geographical landscape, provided that the names originate from the affected province.
“All the gazetted names come from the Eastern Cape, and were submitted to the South African Geographical Names Committee from the Eastern Cape.
According to the Minister the Provincial Geographical Names Committee consulted with the public before the changes were made.
“The South African Geographical Names Act provides for objections within 30 days from members of the public in instances that they are not happy with the gazette name changes”.
[GlobalNewsbeat by Kyle G. Brown]