IFP PRESS STATEMENT BY: 
MR VELAPHI NDLOVU MP

6th June 2008

Mr Velaphi Ndlovu MP, today in the Arts and Culture budget vote debate in Parliament warned the ANC in Durban to keep their hands off the Mangosuthu Highway and Princess Magogo Stadium.

Mr Ndlovu said: "The rogue elements in the Durban ANC are forging ahead as if they have the right to rename anything without proper consultation or without taking into account the history and sensitivity around certain names.

"History is history and no amount of re-writing or revision will ever change that. But, that is exactly what the ANC in Durban wants to do by changing existing names to reflect only their history or heroes.

"Their decision to change the Mangosuthu Highway in Umlazi to Griffiths Mxenge smacks of myopia and vindictiveness.

"It is clear that the Durban metro council is targeting the IFP by playing political games. And it is clear that their street-renaming project has got nothing to do with honouring the heroes of our struggle for freedom, but that it has got everything to do with twisting history to suit their own political agenda".

Mr Nldovu also called on the Minister of Arts and Culture to "get his colleagues in the ANC, especially in Durban, to start listening to him when he speaks of nation-building and handling name changes with the utmost sensitivity. They should set their small-mindedness aside and concentrate on the bigger picture of solidarity, social cohesion and unity in diversity - principles the IFP will always uphold."