Random names run off the road
Drum, cello, trumpet and whistle. These are just some of the random names proposed for new streets in Missionvale.
Nelson Mandela Bay municipal officials have come up with a list of random names for the streets of a new housing development in Missionvale after the former ward councillor, Sandra Fillis, failed to prove that a public meeting to discuss names had been held.
Residents had been expected to propose names relevant to them at the meeting.
As a result of the lack of input from the community, the street names that are now being considered also include xylophone, flute and bagpipe.
In a report tabled before the metro’s human settlements committee on Tuesday, human settlements executive director Nolwandle Gqiba wrote that she had requested attendance registers and a list of proposed names from Fillis on a number of occasions, to no avail.
The committee has now resolved to halt the naming process to allow for alternative names to be submitted.
Committee chair Nqaba Bhanga urged the committee to consider the names of antiapartheid activists aligned to the Pan Africanist Congress and Azanian People’s Congress.
“I received a letter from the PAC recently and they were asking that their heroes and heroines be considered,” Bhanga said.
“This thing of naming streets after people who did not throw a single stone at a hippo [SA armoured vehicle] must come to an end.”
Gqiba said the delays in naming streets meant title deeds could not be issued.
“We really cannot be naming streets ‘Valentine’.
“This has a major impact on us because we can’t issue title deeds to people if these are the street names,” she said.
Attempts to reach Fillis for comment were unsuccessful.
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