[It had to come. I have to admit, they let this one go by for quite a long time. But now… they are making their mark… everywhere. What is amazing is that they might even force farm and business names to be changed!! That is really taking things far. That is definitely a first – even for Africa. Jan]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa will soon table a law forcing owners to change names given to private properties that could be offensive, a government official says.

More than 10 years after the end of white rule, South Africa has embarked on a sweeping programme to change official place names deemed derogatory, racist or too reminiscent of the country’s apartheid past.

Vusithemba Ndimo, chief director of language in the Department of Arts and Culture, told parliament on Friday that laws were being drafted to extend the name-change programme to private properties, such as farms and shops.

“We are looking at forcing private property owners to change offensive names,” the SAPA news agency quoted Ndimo as saying.

Ndimo said more than 57,000 place names still needed to be changed with priority given to major centres.

“This backlog is a bit dicey because the names of monuments, streams and fields are not significant to many and are therefore not a priority,” he said.

Officials have promised that South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg, named after one of the region’s first white settlers, and tourist hotspot Cape Town will keep their names.

But the names of other well-known cities and towns are under review, particularly those named after English royalty or apartheid-era political figures.

South Africa’s capital Pretoria, named after an early war hero of the white Afrikaners who later invented apartheid, has been allowed to stay but only as part of a larger metropolitan area called Tshwane.

Source: Yahoo News
URL: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050304/325/fdpwp.htm…/p>