Residents from wards 8, 9 and 10 had met and 'unanimously' decided that the name Raglan Road must be changed, as it had 'no meaning to them'.
Residents from wards 8, 9 and 10 had met and 'unanimously' decided that the name Raglan Road must be changed, as it had 'no meaning to them'.
I was in a Special Council Meeting, listening to a report on a public participation meeting chaired by ANC Chief Whip Vuyani Kolisi at BB Zondani Hall attended by 69 people – 49 from Ward 10; nine from Ward 9, six from Ward 8 and two from Ward 11.
A resolution was taken that the name must be changed to Dr Jacob Zuma Drive and the President is going to visit Makana.
I thought I was dreaming. This was Monday 22 October, 2012.
Wasn't President Zuma in Grahamstown last year? And hasn't that Dr Jacob Zuma Drive sign been up for months?
I thought I'd been suddenly transported back in time. I rushed back to the office, where my trusty computer told me that today's date was in fact 22 October 2012, that President Jacob Zuma had come to Grahamstown on 13 July 2011 to receive the Freedom of the City, and that following a Council resolution on 27 June 2011, Raglan Road had been renamed Dr Jacob Zuma Drive.
I looked at the report again.
So the public participation meeting to determine whether Raglan Road should be renamed Dr Jacob Zuma Drive was held on 19 March 2012 – eight months after the decision had already been made.
I wonder, if the public participation process hadn't gone the way the city bosses hoped – say, for example, they'd voted to name it Julius Malema Drive – would the Council have kept it Raglan Road?
How long will the people of Makana be in the dark about what is going on in their own municipality? The council is the highest decision-making platform in Makana and its citizens need to take notice and start monitoring how their area is being governed.
After all, see what you're missing out on?
Then again, maybe President Zuma is about to grace us with another visit…?
