The Potchefstroom branch of AfriForum Youth has launched an awareness campaign against the planned name change of the North-West province by the ANC. The branch is planning to do a poll on the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University to determine how many students do in fact support the name change from North-West to Moses Ketane. The branch replaced the signs and references to the NWU Potchefstroom campus with the name Moses Ketane University Potchefstroom campus, to bring the effect of the name change to the attention of students.
According to Marcus Pawson, a member of AfriForum Youth NWU, the campaign aims at fostering debate amongst the students and in the city regarding the name change.
Pawson said the name change is, just like the attempts to change the name of the capital, Pretoria, symbolic of a deeper, countrywide problem. "The endeavour to find mutual recognition and respect has made way for disregard and disrespect. We cannot be disregarded in this decision, because if we merely sit back and stay silent, we will have to accept that the province may very soon be known as Moses Ketane," Pawson concluded.
