Koert Meyer
CAPE TOWN - Now that Cape Town has elected a young, energetic mayor, it may be the right and opportune time to take stock of all the derogatory street and other names all over the city and maybe the province, still causing so much pain to so many citizens.
Having embarked on sniffing out where these names are still there for all to see, my first encounter with such a name happened way back in 2015 when taking part in a 10km race not far from where I stay.
This will be my fifth attempt in trying vainly to bring this matter to the attention of the public and local authorities.
The name of the street is "Drie Koppen" in Edgemead. Koppen is the Dutch word for heads, Afrikaans "koppe". These were the heads of three unfortunate people who were beheaded, their heads impaled on poles as a deterrent, almost three centuries ago, in 1723.
They were slaves accused of something very common at the time. Because slaves were treated so badly and inhumanely by their masters, they could be accused of anything, and who will believe them in any case.
All colonialists used these and other brutal punishments such as quartering, ripping bodies apart, etc to subjugate indigenous people.
We must know about these things.
Their names were: Jonas van Bougies, Baatjoe van Bougies and Baatjoe van Cheribon (originally from Cirebon in Java, Indonesia), accused of murdering Jan Zacharias Beck, a "European", (the term used at the time for colonialists born in Europe, later taken over by the apartheid regime).
Our older folks will remember the warning: "Europeans Only" on park benches and entrances. Others were simply "Non-Whites". Drie Koppen was first the name of the suburb and railway station Mowbray under Dutch rule.
The name was changed after the British occupied the Cape for the first time in 1795, then permanently in 1806. There were two battles, at Muizenberg and at Blaauwberg. We all learnt these things in primary school.
One will also find a "Drie Koppen" name board next to the N2 between Grahamstown (Makhanda) and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).
Ironically, the Netherlands was the first of the world's modern, and today one of the most prosperous democracies, that abolished the death penalty as far back as 1870. Britain and France only followed in 1965 and 1989 respectively, South Africa in 1995.
Our countryside is littered with equally derogatory names, and very little is done, firstly to take stock where they are, and then, to do something about it.
A recent name change under ANC rule in the Hessequa municipality in Riversdale was the name of the river "Kafferkuils River" to "GouKou", an indigenous name.
The Hendrik Verwoerd Dam was changed. Both the dam and our largest river, the Orange (also harping back to the Dutch Royalty), are now known as Gariep.
The colonialists and apartheid oppressors had a liking for adding insult to injury by giving despicable names to things. Older folks will remember how District Six became "Zonnebloem" and Sophiatown in Joburg became "Triomf" (English Triumph), given to it by Verwoerd himself.
Since UCT is busy "cleaning up" their share of offensive names, how is it that such an institution of world-renowned is unaware of the name of their suburb now paraded as a street name in a suburb a few decades-old, several kilometres away from it?
One should also bear in mind that the City of Cape Town has always been, firstly under United Party rule, then the Democratic Party, briefly under National Party and ANC, and ever since, under Democratic Party rule, so-called liberal reformers.
Our new mayor was a learner at Edgemead Primary and Edgemead High, both a stone's throw from this street. Learners and residents walk past and maybe even in this street, but does it never bother them to find out its origin?
No wonder some folks would like the subject of history to be barred from curriculums for its tendency to uncover and reveal past truths. Whereas others, see the importance of retaining it and then start rebuilding afresh.
Let's hope our enthusiastic mayor will set the ball rolling by either changing this name as soon as possible, or better still, retaining it halfway and naming the rest of it after one of these people, and placing plaques somewhere in the street for all to know.
Three hundred years in 2023 is a long time to keep a hurtful name emblazoned in our new dispensation. It is, to say the least, a disgrace, an insult.
* Meyer is an anti-death penalty and anti-apartheid activist, former history educator and scholar
Cape Times