Johannesburg - The name of the iconic Orlando Stadium, where in 1994 President Nelson Mandela delivered his first June 16 address as president of a democratic South Africa, may change yet again amid some rumblings in the Orlando East, Soweto, community.
Reports say the stadium, built in 1959 from a dumping site, will be renamed Winnie Mandela Stadium in honour of ANC struggle stalwart and former deputy minister of Arts and Culture in President Mandela’s first cabinet. Madikizela-Mandela was also the head of the ANC Women’s League.
She died in April last year at Milpark Hospital in Joburg.
It is not the first time that attempts have been made to change the name of Orlando Stadium. In 2015 the name was changed to Lafarge Orlando Stadium in a deal between Lafarge, a cement manufacturer, and Stadium Management South Africa, which manages the soccer field.
The James Mpanza Legacy Foundation, led by its CEO, Vuka Tshabalala, said it thwarted the Lafarge deal, hence the stadium managed to retain its original name.
Then an application by the Foundation - a public benefit organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Mpanza’s legacy - dated August 22, 2017, was made to the City of Joburg Petition Committee to rename the stadium after Mpanza. But it bore no fruit.
“Nothing happened,” said a resigned Tshabala, adding that “Winnie Mandela is still okay because the decision has already been made.”
Research shows that in the early 1930s and ‘40s Mpanza led a group of several hundred backyard shack dwellers to occupy vacant municipal land, which forced the city to declare Orlando and several other areas in Soweto residential townships.
Orlando Stadium, which until 1958 was a dumping site, was constructed in 1959 after Mpanza, according to Tshabalala, wrote a letter to the then city council of Joburg that a stadium should be built in Orlando, Soweto’s first township. Mpanza’s house in Orlando East is now a heritage site.
Asked for comment on the name change, Lillian Kolisang, spokesperson for the Speaker of Council Vasco Da Gama, confirmed that a motion to rename Orlando Stadium to Winnie Madikizela Mandela Stadium was put to Council by the EFF and the proposed amendments were “carried”.
Kolisang said: “It is important to emphasise that, once a motion has been carried, an extensive process, which includes public consultations as well as an economic impact assessment study, is then undertaken after which recommendations are made to the City.”
The department responsible for the renaming of sites within the City “is community development”, said Kolisang.
But Karabo Tledima, stakeholder manager in the office of the MMC for community development in the COJ shifted the responsibility to the Speaker’s office.
“The role of the Speaker or Legislature is to support the Community Development Department in hosting the public consultation sessions. The Speaker’s Office cannot lead this process,” said Tledima.
Luyanda Mfeka, spokesperson for the office of the Mayor of Joburg, Herman Mashaba, said he “can’t confirm that” the matter related to the renaming of Orlando Stadium was handled by the office of the Speaker.
Apart from the apparent confusion as to the department or office responsible for the renaming process, the matter is a political hot potato because there is a sense that Orlando Stadium should be named after Soweto’s founding father, James Sofasonke Mpanza.
The 24000 capacity Orlando Stadium, opened by the then apartheid government minister for Bantu Development MC De Wet and meant mainly for football, became the epicentre of sporting, recreational, musical, and political developments where some of Soweto’s memorable historical moments were made.
Soweto’s greatest football derbies between legendary teams such as Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Kaizer Chiefs, Pimville United Brothers, Pretoria Callies and AmaZulu Football Club happened at this stadium to capacity crowds.
One memorable clash that is still a talking point among soccer diehards happened in 1972, between Orlando Pirates and AmaZulu - a match which the Bucs won 3-2. The striker for Pirates was former City Press editor Khulu Sibiya, who was a revelation, legend has it.
Orlando Pirates’ probably most outstanding attacking midfielder, Ephraim “Jomo” Sono, performed wonders - including his signature “Amabanana” square passes - in the early 1980s, while being backed by legendary teammates such as Meshack Mjanqeka, “Big Boy” Kholoane, “Heel Extension” Mkhari, Patson “Sparks” Banda, Webster Lechaba, “Yster” Khomane and much later Lucas, “Masterpieces” Moripe.
For Kaizer Chiefs, there were greats like “Teenage Botsotso” Dladla, “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Sylvester Kole, Ryder Mofokeng, “The Bull” Lehoko and Jerry Sadike.
Popular South African boxer Elijah “Tap Tap” Makhathini defeated the world welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith at Orlando Stadium in 1975.
In 1976, boxing hero Peter “Terror” Mathebula, the first black South African to win a world title, lost his flyweight World Boxing Association belt in the seventh round to Argentine Santos Laciar when the referee stopped the fight, declaring Mathebula unable to fight on due to a terrible eye-cut.
And in 1976, about two weeks before the June 16 Soweto student uprisings, American soul and gospel group, The Staple Singers performed to large crowds at this very stadium.
The O’Jays had dazzled and charmed locals a few years earlier in 1973.