News / National
Bulawayo suspends street name correction changes
25 Nov 2017 at 01:06hrs | Views
THE Bulawayo City Council has indefinitely suspended changing names of roads, suburbs and billboards that have wrong IsiNdebele spellings from the colonial era, due to financial challenges.
The local authority passed a resolution to change the names in March last year after a resident, Mr Khumbulani Maphosa, wrote a letter of complaint in November 2015.
Bulawayo City Council Senior Public Relations Officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the local authority would honour the resolution when it gets funds.
"The changes in street names is an ongoing process which Council will engage in once adequate funds are available," she said.
Mrs Mpofu explained that council had issued a tender for directional signs in July 2016 and this was contracted out by 13 October 2015.
Bulawayo Residents Association chairman Mr Winos Dube said Council should respect the standing resolution and expeditiously correct the anomaly.
"This resolution must be given priority. As residents that's our position. How they are going to do it is another issue. They should have taken into consideration the implications of the resolution before passing it," said Mr Dube.
He said the process of correcting the misspelt names was long overdue.
Mr Maphosa wrote: "I write to you requesting that the Bulawayo City Council expeditiously consider correcting the misspelt Ndebele names of some suburbs/locations and or streets of the city that were mostly misspelt by the pre-independence local authority."
The suburbs which have misspelt names include Mpopoma, Nketa, Pumula, Masiyepambili, Kumalo, Makokoba, Pelandaba and Matsheumhlope.
Mr Maphosa said they should be changed to Mpophoma, Makhokhoba, Phelandaba, Phumula, Lobhengula, Khumalo, Masiyephambili and Matsh'amhlophe.
He said the misspelt names symbolised colonial disrespect of the Ndebele language and culture, and the BCC had to make a policy decision to have the names corrected.
Mr Maphosa said colonial errors should be revisited and corrected to restore honour to Ndebele people.
"These wrong spellings are linguistically, culturally, morally, legally, socially and ethically wrong," he wrote. "These misspelt names are a violation of the Ndebele human, linguistic and cultural rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act 2013, in international law as well as in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities."
Councillors concurred with Mr Maphosa and okayed the name changes which could cost thousands of dollars as city maps, road signs and other signage outside schools and clinics should also be changed.
The local authority passed a resolution to change the names in March last year after a resident, Mr Khumbulani Maphosa, wrote a letter of complaint in November 2015.
Bulawayo City Council Senior Public Relations Officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the local authority would honour the resolution when it gets funds.
"The changes in street names is an ongoing process which Council will engage in once adequate funds are available," she said.
Mrs Mpofu explained that council had issued a tender for directional signs in July 2016 and this was contracted out by 13 October 2015.
Bulawayo Residents Association chairman Mr Winos Dube said Council should respect the standing resolution and expeditiously correct the anomaly.
"This resolution must be given priority. As residents that's our position. How they are going to do it is another issue. They should have taken into consideration the implications of the resolution before passing it," said Mr Dube.
He said the process of correcting the misspelt names was long overdue.
Mr Maphosa wrote: "I write to you requesting that the Bulawayo City Council expeditiously consider correcting the misspelt Ndebele names of some suburbs/locations and or streets of the city that were mostly misspelt by the pre-independence local authority."
The suburbs which have misspelt names include Mpopoma, Nketa, Pumula, Masiyepambili, Kumalo, Makokoba, Pelandaba and Matsheumhlope.
Mr Maphosa said they should be changed to Mpophoma, Makhokhoba, Phelandaba, Phumula, Lobhengula, Khumalo, Masiyephambili and Matsh'amhlophe.
He said the misspelt names symbolised colonial disrespect of the Ndebele language and culture, and the BCC had to make a policy decision to have the names corrected.
Mr Maphosa said colonial errors should be revisited and corrected to restore honour to Ndebele people.
"These wrong spellings are linguistically, culturally, morally, legally, socially and ethically wrong," he wrote. "These misspelt names are a violation of the Ndebele human, linguistic and cultural rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act 2013, in international law as well as in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities."
Councillors concurred with Mr Maphosa and okayed the name changes which could cost thousands of dollars as city maps, road signs and other signage outside schools and clinics should also be changed.
Source - chronicle
