Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon has criticised the proposal to rename Cape Town International Airport after ”little-known” trade unionist Jimmy la Guma, saying such a move will diminish the international branding of the city.
During the Western Cape provincial government’s budget presentation last week, Premier Ebrahim Rasool suggested that the airport should be renamed Jimmy la Guma Airport.
Writing in his weekly letter on Friday, Leon said a majority of Capetonians could hardly identify with La Guma.
”If the airport is to be renamed, it would surely be far more fitting that it be named after an individual who is well known to the majority of the residents of the city
”Rasool’s suggestion … would propel a relatively marginal figure on to the same level as a giant of our history,” he said.
Beside the fact that he was never a popular figure, Leon said La Guma was a potentially divisive character.
”La Guma’s career — besides his leadership in important workers’ causes — was marked by fractiousness and an Africanist rather than non-racial agenda. He was expelled three times from two radical pre-war organisations for objecting to the role of whites in these formations.
”Is this potentially divisive character from the political fringe a viable role model for today’s vital multicultural community at the Cape?”
He criticised the African National Congress (ANC) for ignoring ordinary people’s views when renaming places.
”The ANC believes that it is the only political formation that has the legitimate right to propose and carry out name changes.
”This is precisely the perverse logic that was illustrated by Premier Rasool’s announcement about Cape Town International last week,” he said.
Early this month, eThekwini Mayor Obed Mlaba announced the municipality’s intention to rename the Durban International Convention Centre the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.
Leon said he fully supported the move as Luthuli was one of those people who made a meaningful contribution to the country.
”With regard to Messrs Luthuli and Sisulu, there is no doubt that both made a huge contribution to this country.
”Knowing the calibre of these leaders, I am convinced they would have preferred to see their names lent to new institutions, which seek to give new opportunity to the people they fought so hard to liberate,” he said. — Sapa