BCC To Rename Mispelled Names Of Suburbs In Bulawayo

Published: 2016 March 04 08:49:54 (4691 Views)

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has rolled out its plan to correct misspellings of some streets and suburbs in the City.

The matter was brought to light after a resident, Khumbulani Maphosa, wrote a letter saying the wrong spellings were "linguistically and culturally wrong".

White settlers who ran the council before Independence in 1980 were responsible for the naming of suburbs and signage which typically carried misspelt words in the local language.

Maphosa in his letter identified some of the suburbs whose names were misspelt as Mpopoma, Nketa, Makokoba, Pelandaba, Pumula, Lobengula, Kumalo, Masiyepambili and Matsheumhlope.

Maphosa said they should be changed to Mpophoma, Makhokhoba, Phelandaba, Phumula, Lobhengula, Khumalo, Masiyephambili and Matsh’amhlophe.

He said the misspelt names symbolised colonial disrespect of the Ndebele language and culture, and the BCC had to make a policy decision to have the names corrected.

Maphosa said colonial errors should be revisited and corrected to restore honour to Ndebele people.

- Chronicle