Number’s up for apartheid-era Native Yards (NY)

The offensive NY street names, which stand for “Native Yard”, are the City of Cape Town’s next target as it plans to put 52 NY name change recommendations out for public comment.

The NY street name changes follow the process whereby names of 31 streets in the city, including Hendrik Verwoerd Drive and JB Hertzog Boulevard, were put on a list of recommendations for change by the city’s new naming committee.

The committee, at its inaugural meeting, submitted the changes for public debate. In the new year, the city is to turn its focus on the NY street names which can be found in Gugulethu.

Apartheid planners did not give names to any of the roads in the township, and all were simply numbered as “Native Yards”.

Naming committee chairman Brett Herron said the committee decided at the last meeting that the naming proposals of the previous panel of experts, headed by Rhoda Kadalie, be submitted for extensive public participation. “The city’s public participation unit was tasked with preparing a public participation programme. That programme will roll out during February and March,” Herron said.

He said it was the committee’s intention to deal with the NY names in the next few months and the process would be taken to the public, and the city would conduct extensive public meetings.

“Yes, it is the committee’s intention to deal with the NY names in the coming months. NY1, Gugulethu is already on the list going out for public participation,” Herron said.

He said the naming and renaming process was an important process of city-building.

“It is an important part of our commitment to building an inclusive city. For the process to be successful, it is essential that we encourage and facilitate extensive and comprehensive public participation. This is so important to the successful implementation of renaming that a special meeting of the committee, to consider the proposed public participation programme, is warranted and this will be scheduled as soon as possible,” Herron said.

He said the committee’s next meeting, which was scheduled for this week, was cancelled because no new agenda items needed discussion, given that the council had been in recess.

All 52 NY name change proposals were submitted by the PAC when the process opened in 2007.

PAC councillor Anwar Adams said: “We are going to take a look at all the names again. We submitted all those names, but we’re going to need a refresher. But the names were all activists that were relevant round about the 1960s. The NYs must be changed.” - Cape Times