Zululand: New policy for City treet names

[Harold Schiffman]

New policy for City street names

Ronelle Ramsamy

FUTURE naming of suburb street names within the City of uMhlathuze
will have to follow the full public participation process in line with
national and provincial government. The issue came under the spotlight
at the sitting of the uMhlathuze City Executive Committee on Tuesday,
which saw the majority of councillors asking for the current policy on
street naming to be revisited. The streets for proposed new names
included the road off Via Mammalia, giving access to new erven in
Wildenweide and the road off Via Verbena, giving access to a new erven
adjacent to the sport complex in Veldenvlei. Several proposed new
street names for the suburbs of Wildenweide, Veldenvlei and Meerensee
and the industrial area of Alton in Richards Bay were rejected.

The names were chosen according to the existing municipal street
naming policy guideline, which entails different themes for
residential, commercial and industrial areas. For example, all new
roads in new residential developments are to be named following a
nature theme such as animals, trees, birds, plants, ocean life and
semi-precious stones or minerals in alphabetical order and in the
language preferred by the community affected.

Proposed names
Others put forward were the strip of road which was a continuation of
Davidson Lane, the portion of Alumina Allee off Kraft Link and the
street to Alkantstrand Beach. The proposed names submitted to Council
were Bush Buck, Aloe Loop, Davidson Lane, Kraft Allee and Oceans Edge
respectively.
'We don't know where these names came from. A proper process with
public participation needs to be followed so that we are guided as a
Council.
This process is undemocratic and unconstitutional. The entire policy
must be revisited before the naming of these streets. The policy, in
consultation with national and provincial guidelines, must come back
as a waterproof policy with no loopholes,' said City Mayor Zakhele
Mnqayi.
Despite objections, the names were referred back and it was decided
that the policy be revisited with regards to naming of new streets as
well as renaming of streets.
Councillor NB Mzimela also expressed concern that not all suburbs of
the City were being treated equally, citing some areas in uMhlathuze
Village which still did not have street names.
It was decided that a report on the naming of streets in uMhlathuze
Village be submitted as a matter of urgency.
Following approval by Council, the proposed names will be advertised
for public comment before final adoption.

http://zuluobs.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-policy-for-city-street-names.html

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************