A road by any other name would be easier to find
PEAK Street in Westcliff, Chatsworth, could soon have a new name after the eThekwini Municipality held a meeting with stakeholders.
Anoop Rampersad, the councillor for ward 77, said there were two roads named Peak Street, which caused confusion.
“The one road is in a residential area in Shallcross, while the other is the name of a business precinct in Westcliff. This is a major problem in terms of deliveries that get sent to the wrong addresses or people being incorrectly directed by their GPS to the wrong Peak Street. We have been trying to change this road for 30 years because it has been an ongoing issue, with the roads being about 3km apart.”
He said social media users who criticised a proposed name change as being wasted expenditure did not realise the implications of the issue.
“We gave people ample time to raise their concerns and objections but no one came forward. This move to change the name of Peak Street was even gazetted in the city’s Metro newspaper and advertised in community newspapers.”
Siya Mthenga, the chairperson of the Chatsworth Association of Businesses, said the proposed names were Rising Sun Street, Rising Sun Avenue and Rising Sun Boulevard.
“This has been years in the making. We engaged with several councillors and publicised our intention to have the street name changed to eradicate the confusion. As a resident and businessman, I support this call.
“Due to both streets being so close by, it’s easy to get lost or for incorrect deliveries to be made.
“According to the municipality, the process to change the name will depend on the outcome of a full council engagement on this topic.”
Lindiwe Khuzwayo, the head of communications at the municipality, said: “The public consultative meeting was done as part of adhering with the Street Naming and Addressing Policy, which clearly outlines the guidelines and processes when there’s a duplication.
“The purpose of the meeting was to consult with the community and give feedback of the consultation meetings held with the council, ward structures and affected parties, and to outline the processes that have been followed in addressing this issue.
“This whole process is done for transparency purposes.
“The community were given a chance to choose or select three names that they feel would be suitable for the street. The feedback is still being collated.”
She said there would be no cost to the renaming of Peak Street because the process was done through internal departments.
“The geographic information system informs the replacement of names and is done through the Naming and Renaming Office within the governance cluster.”