ANC VIPs

Name changing continues to provoke in Durban as the ruling party disposes of road names like you would a dirty tissue and replaces them with a list of names which resemble a guest list to an ANC dinner party.

Some of the changes (according to the Masakhane committee agenda) which will affect the way I give directions to where I live/work/play include:

Old - New

Argyle Rd - Sandile Thusi

Berea Rd - King Dinizulu

Francois Rd - Mary Thipe

Chelmsford Rd - J B Marks

Davenport Rd - Helen Joseph

Essenwood Rd - Steven Dlamini

Manning Rd - Lina Arendse

Marine Parade - OR Thambo

McDonald Rd - Alan Paton

Moore Rd - Che Guavara

Nicholson Rd - Z K Mathews

Ridge Rd - Peter Mokaba

Old Fort Rd - K E Masinga

Windermere Rd - Lilian Ngoyi

Higginson Highway will purportedly be named after Yasser Arafat.

Other than that I figured it would help if I knew who all those people were. So, let’s find out!

Sandile Thusi- In 1988, when he was 26 years old and a researcher at the University of Natal, Thusi was detained under state-of-emergency regulations (which allowed the Government to hold citizens indefinitely without charges). He went on hunger strike 37 days. In democratic South Africa he was Head of Communications for the eThekwini Municipality and died in October 2004.

King Dinizulu- He was the son of Cetshwayo who led the Zulu nation against the British in the Zulu War of 1879.

Mary Thipe- An activist who had 6 children, joined the liberation struggle and was detained, arrested and banned for 5 years.

Helen Joseph- “For forty years Helen Joseph dedicated herself single-mindedly to opposing apartheid. Her commitment earned her the ANC's highest award, the Isitwalandwe/Seaparankoe Medal. It also led to a relentless government campaign to silence her, a campaign which ultimately failed - for generations of South Africans, Helen was an inspiration and a symbol of defiance, integrity and courage.” - Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken.

J B Marks- John `Beaver` Marks was chairman of South African Communist Party. Marxist- Leninist, ‘internationalist, comrade.

Steven Dlamini- was the leader of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu) and apparently took political theory classes while imprisoned on Robben Island.

Lina Arendse – no online references

OR Tambo – Former ANC president (for 30 years) and anti-apartheid activist.

Alan Paton- Writer (eg. Cry the Beloved Country) born in Pietermaritzburg.

Che Guavara- El Che! Whattya doing on this list all the way from Cuba?

Z K Mathews- Zachariah Keodirelang "ZK" Matthews. Academic. Politician. On receiving a bursary to Lovedale university he wrote:

At home, when I arrived with the tidings, the light leaped into my mother's face. The scholarship covered only the tuition and board. It would mean finding the money for the journey – Lovedale was 500 miles south of us – and money for books, clothing, and other necessities. There was, too, the prospect, so exciting for me and so sobering for my mother, of my going so far away, where none of our family had ever been before, and into Xhosa country at that. When my father came home he clasped my hand with joy and pride. He and mother and my brother John, then in his final year of teacher-training at Perseverance School, talked the whole thing over as I listened in dazed delight and wonder. 'We must see him through,' my father said, and my brother John unhesitatingly assented. It meant that some of his small hard-earned income would, for years to come, be spent on giving me the chance of a high school education. I never knew in detail how my family managed, how much of my father's meagre savings and meagre salary, how much of John's hopes and efforts, went into giving me my start. I know only that it was an offering of the spirit that is forever beyond repayment (Wilson 1983:28-29).

Peter Mokaba- Former President of the ANC Youth League. Lots about him on the internet. Do a Google search if you’re interested. The Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane will be used for the 2010 World Cup.

K E Masinga- The first black radio host for what was then Radio Bantu in the early 1960s. He used to refer to himself on the radio as uKE Masinga ogibel’ igagasi (‘KE Masinga who is riding a wave’). That actually coined a popular nickname for Durban; EGagasini (place of the wave).

Lilian Ngoyi- seamstress turned president of ANC Women's League in 1953. She was arrested in 1956, spent 71 days in solitary confinement, and was for a period of 11 years placed under severe bans and restrictions.

Even though we Durbanites are familiar with names like Moore, Musgrave and Berea, I for one have never had any clue what their significance in Durban's history is.

At least the people we’ll be paying homage to with our new road names are more significant (for the most part) than say, the ancient Macedonian city from which we get “Berea” or Sir Benjamin d'Urban, after whom the city is named.