Pretoria is currently the city name, while Tshwane is the municipal name for the area. But city mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, says the name change is necessary to ensure social cohesion with the majority of people in the city in favour of the change. He said those opposed to it were against transformation.
News24 quotes Ramokgopa as saying they have done public consultations and reviews in council and a resolution was taken that Tshwane should be the name.
“The person who has the last say is the national minister of arts and culture and we are still waiting for that. We are confident that it will favour the people because we are able to show everyone that it has gone through required procedures. I don’t know of anyone who would want to repudiate this transformation agenda. I think it’s a route that all of us have to embrace and in that way learn to build a better future. What must preoccupy us is whether our spaces are safe and whether government is responsive,” the mayor said.
Pretoria is named after the Afrikaner emigrant (Voortrekker) leader Andries Pretorius, and within South Africa is popularly known as the “Jacaranda City” due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted in its streets.
Minority rights groups Afriforum is against the change claiming a public a participation process showed that at least 80% of participants were opposed to the name change.
Tshwane is the authentic African name of the area, a name used by early inhabitants who lived near the Tshwane River under the leadership of Chief Tshwane.
