The Name Tshwane and Associated Controversies
Tshwane is the Setswana name of the Apies River, which flows through the city. The origin of the name of the river is unclear. It may mean "place (-e) of the black cow (tshwana)", from ceremonies where a black cow was sprinkled with water from the river to end a drought. Another claim is that it was named after Tshwane, son of Chief Mushi, an Ndebele leader who settled near the Apies River about a century before the arrival of the Voortrekkers in the early 19th century. However, some Ndebele kings claim to have never heard of a chief named "Tshwane".
Two other common explanations are demonstrably untrue. One is that it is the Tswana for the motto of Tshwane Municipality, "We are the same". However, this appears to be promoted for its emotional value; if anything, it would mean "we are not the same" in Tswana (ga re tshwane). Another common misunderstanding is that it is the Tswana word for "little monkeys"; although it resembles the Tswana word for baboon, tshwene, "little monkeys" is actually the translation of the Afrikaans name "Apies".
The name Tshwane is sometimes also used as an alternate name for the city of Pretoria itself, and following the city council's vote of March 8, 2005, it could become the city's new name if approved by the central government. Should the change take place, "Pretoria" would continue to refer to the city's central business district, as proposed by the current municipality. By November 2007 the change of the name from Pretoria to Tshwane had not been finalized, and controversy over the name change continues. The change of name is seen by many as a way to recognize that peoples of non-colonial origins represent a majority in the city. The controversy however says that the city was originally established under the name Pretoria, little evidence has been provided for the origin of the name “Tshwane”, and no form of jurisdiction for the area existed prior to Pretoria’s creation.
The Sunday Times used the word Tshwane to refer to the Pretoria area for a short period in 2005. The state-controlled SABC also started using the term in its evening news broadcasts, for a period, but by 2010, had reverted to "Pretoria", and private media outlets continued to refer to the metropolitan area as Pretoria. The Pretoria News newspaper, the main paper in the metropolitan area did not appear to have plans to change its name as of early 2006, although it has adopted the slogan The paper for the people of Tshwane. The newspaper appears to experience confusion when it refers to the capital city; sometimes calling it Tshwane and sometimes Pretoria. This, together with the public backing of the name change by the editor of the Pretoria News, Philani Mgwaba, has led to the independence of the newspaper's editorial team being called into question. Currently, the only news media that refers to the capital city as Tshwane is the Pretoria News, SocietyNews.co.za.
The proposed name has evoked a strong negative reaction from some South Africans. Many businesspeople do not want to change their stationery and many feel that the cost of the name change would be better spent dealing with the country's high poverty rates and current Aids crisis. There is also an argument that whereas the name "Pretoria" is recognized worldwide, "Tshwane" is not.
Road signs erected at the boundaries of the Tshwane Metropolitan area have been consistently defaced, with the word Tshwane replaced with the word Pretoria, presumably by South Africans opposed to the name change. The letters PTA, which are an abbreviation of "Pretoria", have also been stencilled on a number of speed limit signs .
On 21 May 2005, the Pretoria Civil Action Committee, a group consisting of business, labour, cultural, civil and political leaders opposed to the name change organised a protest against the name change in the Pretoria city centre. They marched to the office of Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan and handed him a petition signed by 3000 University of Pretoria students as well as various other petition documents. Former president FW De Klerk, a Nobel prize winner and the last president under apartheid, also raised concerns about the name change.
In November 2005, the Advertising Standards Authority found that advertising proclaiming that Tshwane, rather than Pretoria, was the capital of South Africa was misleading. The reason being that no city named Tshwane has yet been registered as a geographic place name, and Pretoria has not yet been renamed.
Read more about this topic: City Of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality