Louis Trichardt

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Aerial view of Louis Trichardt

Louis Trichardt (for a short period known as Makhado) is a town situated at the foot of the Soutpansberg mountain range in the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is in a fertile region where litchis, bananas, mangoes and nuts are produced. The municipal area comprises of 754 727 square kilometers (km2). The national road (N1) runs through the town.

1 History
2 Name Change Process
3 Controversy
4 Name Change Reversed
5 External links
6 See also

[edit] History

Like many other towns in South Africa, Louis Tichardt had its origins in Voortrekker settlement of the area. Two groups of Trekkers reached the Soutpansberg mountain range in 1836, one under the leadership of Louis Trichardt and another under Hans van Rensburg. Van Rensburg decided to take his group further east, towards Lourenco Marques (today Maputo) in what is now Mozambique, but his entire party was killed en route.

Trichardt and his group stayed near the mountain, camping near what eventually became the town of Louis Trichardt. They planted crops and started exploring the area northwards in an attempt to locate Van Rensburg and his group. After a year of staying in the area, they decided to head for Lourenco Marques, a journey that took them 7 months to complete, killing more than half the group (including Trichardt himself) en route.

Other Trekkers soon settled in the area, clashing with the Venda people living in the area. The town of Louis Trichardt was finally founded in February 1899.

[edit] Name Change Process

The name change process in Louis Trichardt was a long and rocky one. Early attempts to rename the town was denied by the South African Geographical Names Council because there was already a township called Makhado in the area. Authorities that wanted the change were not put off, and opted to simply ask the people of the township to change their name to something else. The name Dzanani was chosen, but when they tried to register the new township name the SAGNC informed them that there was another village named Dzanani in the province that had carried the name since 1965 already.

Again not dissuaded, the people of Dzanani were asked to change the name of their village, so that Makhado could change its name to Dzanani, and Louis Trichardt could become Makhado. Eventually Dzanani changed its name to Mphephu, and in 2003 the name of the town was changed from Louis Trichardt to Makhado. The renaming of the town left all but two towns in the province of Limpopo renamed, namely Groblersdal and Burgersfort.

The name Makhado belonged to the Venda King Makhado who ruled in the region from the mid 1800s until his death in 1887. He played a role in resisting settlement in the area by the Boers. Not much is known about him or the history of the area before the arrival of the Voortrekkers, since written language did not exist before their arrival.

[edit] Controversy

The name changing of the name Louis Trichardt to Makhado has attracted a lot of criticism from various groups in the region. It has been described as "tribalism" by those who feel the town should have received a geographical name rather than what they perceive to be a political one.

One such group is the Hlanganani Concerned Group, a group consisting of Shangaan, Pedi and Indian residents. They consider Makhado an oppressor, who aggressively expanded his territory in the area by violently subjugating surrounding communities until the arrival of the Voortrekkers. The Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce, various Afrikaner groups, and political parties such as the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front have also spoken out against the name change.

In October 2005 the Louis Trichardt Chairperson's Association, an alliance of 51 organisations representing more than 80,000 residents of the town, fought the name change in the Pretoria High Court. They claimed that less than 1% of the towns total inhabitants were consulted about the name change and that a public meeting advertised to discuss the change was rescheduled without any notification, resulting in a very small attendance. They also held that Makhado was never the name of a person, and that the town Louis Trichardt didn't displace any other settlement in the area.

The Pretoria High Court dismissed their application in November 2005, but gave them permission to appeal the decision. In January 2006 the group decided to do just that, and they case will soon apply for a date to be heard at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

In September 2005, a statue of the Venda King was unveiled, while a statue of Louis Trichardt was removed and stored in a tool shed. The statue of Makhado was painted the colours of the old South African flag (orange, white and blue) only six days later, apparently by those opposing the name change. A suspect was later arrested, but released without charge. As of December 2006 nobody had been arrested in connection with the vandalism. The statue of king Makhado was cleaned while the statue of Louis Trichardt was later moved to a public library.

Just five months after the newly placed statue was vandalised, in February 2006, the old South African flag was found painted on the entrance to the Civic Centre. Road signs, street names and bridge walls had also been targeted. No arrests have been made in connection with the vandalism.

[edit] Name Change Reversed

On Thursday, 29 March 2007, the Supreme Court Appeal (SCA) ruled in favour of an appeal to reverse the name change ordered in June 2003. The successful appeal was lodged by the local group, the Chairpersons' Association.