Mischievous sign christens Pravin Gordhan street in Durban

23 April 2017 - 15:31 By Nathi Olifant
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Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan at the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards at the Sandton Convention Centre in November.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan at the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards at the Sandton Convention Centre in November.
Image: MOELETSI MABE

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan's name might have been removed from the list of government ministers‚ but it has been elevated to a position of prominence in Westville‚ Durban.

For at least two weeks‚ the name Pravin Gordhan Road has existed in the leafy suburb.

The new name appears on the road sign at the corner of Norfolk Terrace and Rodger Sishi Road - where a paper sign has replaced that on the latter's official board.

The ad hoc sign appears to have been put up Sunday‚ April 9‚ the same day Gordhan spoke at a memorial to honour Ahmed Kathrada in Durban.

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However‚ Gordhan and eThekwini Municipality are not amused by the erection of the sign. When contacted on Sunday‚ Gordhan first chuckled and then called it and act of “mischief”.

“I don’t bother with those little things. It’s just mischief. Just don’t give these things attention‚ they do not even constitute a story‚ don’t give them attention‚” he said.

EThekwini Municipality spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said it was an offence to vandalise municipal property.

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“We are cautioning that those found or caught to be doing that will face the might of the law‚” she said.

Gordhan was axed by President Jacob Zuma on March 31 following a string of documented run-ins between them.

Nobody knows who put it up‚ or even exactly why‚ but residents clearly don't mind it because it hasn't been pulled down.

A man jogging along Norfolk Terrace said on Sunday he wished they could lobby the city to keep the name and remove Rodger Sishi.

“I don’t know who the people that put the sign are‚ but I also don’t know Rodger Surge (sic). I know it sounds racist‚ but Pravin is not white either‚” he said.

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Rodger Sishi‚ long associated with the professional soccer world‚ sat on several key Durban boards. He suffered a minor stroke and later died in September 2001.

He also lived in Westville and the former Blair Atholl Road was later renamed after him by the City of Durban.

Sishi was also the chairman of the National Professional Soccer League‚ during the 1980s and 1990s.

He successfully stood for the ANC in the 1994 local elections‚ becoming a member of the council's management committee. He was vice-chairman from 1994-1999.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

 

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