The obsession that some people have with the renaming of places, streets and institutions is one of the most unreasonable sets of actions to have come out of post-1994 South Africa.

Who are the people doing this? If one has a look, it is only some politicians.

They are not doing this for the good of the people or the progress of the country. They are merely doing it to make themselves look powerful.

When they propose to rename streets after foreign terrorist figures and past foreign communist figures, the mentality of such politicians really shows through.

In my informal surveys of people across the social brackets, I find virtually nobody who is in favour of changing names. A while ago, I saw a number of letters in the Pretoria News from minibus taxi commuters who all complained that they did not like the street name changes. They complained that they did not know the stopping points of the taxis with the new names. In fact, they said that everyone still uses the old names.

Let us stop and think for a moment. Why do streets have names at all? The answer is: so that people can find their way about. It is so that someone travelling can find the address they want, the postman can find your house, the police or fire brigade can get to you in a hurry.

Streets are not built as a mechanism to honour people. They are built to be able to move about. Therefore, ease of moving about should be the primary consideration in naming.

As a result, names should be as simple and as descriptive as possible.

So, a road that runs near a river should be named Riverside road or Willow Way, and so on. It is also a good idea to cluster similar names for the roads in an area. For example, roads in one area could all be called the names of trees. So, if someone says: “The doctor is in Oak avenue”, the recipient of the message can instantly picture where that is. That helps in navigation.

But, no, the politicians want to use roads to honour their personal heroes. So we get complex road names, with both first name and surname, plus, at times, even a title. What a mouthful! Unnecessary renaming is particularly bad because the original names are imprinted in the minds of people. It is, therefore, a major job to unlearn the old names. In fact, it takes decades, so the politicians succeed in confusing people for decades. That is hardly a service to the community.

I was brought up in Durban and, many years on, I am still totally confused by the city’s renamed roads. I think that Durban was the worst in starting this trend. The city removed ‘offensive names of the past’, such as Point road (which goes to the Point in the harbour), Broadway and Ridge road (on top of the Ridge).

When people phone me they still say: “Halfway along Ridge road.” This is because I have no idea what the new name is.

The cost of changing names is staggering, but this is usually hidden by the politicians ‘working in the interests of the people.’ Maps have to be changed, GPS systems no longer work properly, companies have to change letterheads and business cards and the names of streets on the poles have to be taken down and replaced.

Then, when the municipalities raise the rates, they will tell you that it is due to unavoidable cost increases. Some businesses have their street names embedded in concrete outside their buildings. The municipality should pay those costs.

Then there are the history books and thousands of publications from the past with the old names, which will just confuse future generations when they have to deal with them.

If some existing name really is offensive to some, then a case should be made for renaming it. Only after agreement is reached for the removal of a particular name should a process start to find a new name.

Names should not just be changed because some politicians want to flex their muscles in public.