Cape Town - Slain musician Taliep Petersen may soon be honoured by having one of the seven footbridges crossing Nelson Mandela Boulevard and Rhodes Drive named after him.
The other bridges could be named after:
* /A!kunto: /A!kunto (Klaas Stoffel) was the first contributor to the Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd Archive of /xam and !kun texts.
* Tuan Guru: Imam Abdullah Ibn Qadhu Abdus Salaam, known as Tuan Guru, is regarded as one of the Fathers of Islam in South Africa. Guru was banished by the Dutch invaders to the Cape in 1780 and was incarcerated on Robben Island for 12 years until 1792. He wrote several copies of the Holy Qur’an from memory during his time there, possibly the first Qur’an in South Africa.
* Ingrid Jonker: Her poem Die Kind was read by Nelson Mandela during the opening of the first democratic Parliament in May, 1994.
* Dawid Kruiper: A traditional healer and leader of the Khomani San in the Kalahari, Kruiper spoke for the rights of indigenous people at the UN in 1994, and led the way for successful land claims for the San people in South Africa.
* Father John Oliver: The Anglican priest from District Six, who died in 2013, founded the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative.
* Father Basil van Rensburg: The Catholic priest who gained international recognition for his fight against the forced mass removals from District Six. He mobilised public opinion against the removals, writing to newspapers and holding public meetings. He was born in Woodstock in 1930 and died in 2002 at 71.
“The naming of these footbridges is an ideal opportunity to commemorate the people and events that influenced the fibre and culture of the city,” said naming committee chairman Brett Herron. The names were drawn from more than 2 000 suggested during a public participation process between November 2013 and February last year.
The committee also agreed on Wednesday that the park on Quinan Road in Somerset West should be renamed after doctor and trade unionist Neil Aggett, who died in police custody in 1981. The Old Civic Centre in Macassar is to be renamed the Macassar Riverside Civic Centre. Herron said the proposals would be referred to the mayoral committee and then to the council at the end of the month for a final decision.
Cape Argus