The ANC has proposed changing the name of the Buffalo City Metro in the Eastern Cape to Dr W B Rubusana Metropolitan Municipality, or Dr WBRMM for short.
The Daily Dispatch reported on Friday that the decision was taken by the ANC's regional conference last weekend.
Dr Walter Benson Rubusana was a leading intellectual.
ANC regional secretary Pumlani Mkolo has called for calm, telling the newspaper that the party is still consulting stakeholders to get their input on the proposed name change.
The ANC Youth League and ANC Women's League have endorsed the decision.
The Department of Arts and Culture said its names committee was not responsible for municipal names, which are decided on by municipal councils.
A committee would have to be established and would need to conduct public participation consultations before the council could make a final decision on the name.
Local ratepayers' forum the SA National Civic Organisation and opposition Democratic Alliance reportedly opposed the proposal, citing concerns about the costs associated with rebranding.
Meanwhile, City Press reported last weekend that Mkolo was re-elected unopposed as the ANC's regional secretary, despite being the alleged mastermind behind the city's Nelson Mandela funeral scandal.
Mkolo is on special leave as he faces charges of fraud and money laundering relating to the alleged siphoning off of millions of rands from Buffalo City Metro coffers for the former president's funeral in 2013.
Source: News24
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