WeeklySA_AdminMAJOR INITIATIVE: A bold plan to rename inner-city streets around St Mary’s Cathedral after anti-apartheid icons has ignited mixed reactions, as the City bets on legacy to drive urban renewal…
By Ali Mphaki
The Roman Catholic Church has its Vatican City. The Anglican Church – not to be outdone – seem set to follow suit if proposals to rename four streets around the St Mary’s Cathedral in the Joburg inner city after three of the denomination’s local and internal heavyweights get the final nod.
As per a notice by the City of Joburg released last week, a major initiative has been launched to develop what is called the Archbishop Desmond Tutu precinct, a project aimed at regenerating a decayed and ailing area of the inner city ‘’weaving the legacy of the ‘Arch’ into the very city streets”.
The notice further adds the precinct aims to honour Tutu’s lifelong commitment to social justice by creating ‘’high-quality public spaces that are welcoming, walkable, safe and accessible to all”. In support of the precinct initiative, the City is calling for public comment on the proposed renaming of four streets around St Mary’s Cathedral as follows:
Out goes Plein Street for Desmond Tutu Street. De Villiers Street bites the dust to be replaced by Trevor Huddleston Street. Wanderers Street is saved in their lost tracks to be renamed Simeon Nkoane Street. Hoek Street takes on a new direction and gets renamed Cathedral Street.
Of great interest is that the three individuals whose names are proposed for street renaming belong to the Anglican church and have lived most of their lives in Johannesburg.
As a Klerksdorp-born teenager Tutu lived in an Anglican hostel in Sophiatown and later studied as a teacher and did his theology at St Peter’s Theology College in the city. Though he was appointed Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg in 1975 (the first black Anglican Dean), his family moved to a house on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West, which remained a family home for decades.
While his later work took him to Cape Town (where he was consecrated Archbishop in 1986) his roots and anti-apartheid work were deeply connected to Johannesburg.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. He died on December 26,2021, aged 90 years. More poignantly is that another Anglican luminary set for a street name who was also a great
Influence on the young Tutu is Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston, an English Bishop who in 1940 sailed to Cape Town and in 1943 went to the Community of Resurrection mission station in Rosettenville, Johannesburg.
Over the course of the next 13 years in Sophiatown, Huddleston developed into a much-loved priest and respected anti-apartheid activist, earning himself the nickname Makhaliphe (the undaunted one). He fought against the apartheid laws and was bestowed the Isitwalande award of honour at the Freedom Congress in Kliptown in 1955.
History will also record Huddleston was particularly concerned about the Nationalist Government decision to bulldoze Sophiatown and forcibly remove all its inhabitants sixteen miles further away from Johannesburg.
Among other work, Huddleston established the African Children’s Feeding Scheme (which still exists today) and raised money for the Orlando swimming pools – the only place black children could swim in Johannesburg until post 1994.
There are many South Africans whose lives were changed by Huddleston, one of the most famous is Hugh Masekela, for whom Huddleston provided his first trumpet as a 14-year-old pupil in Rosettenville.
He died on February 28,1998, in Mirfield, England, aged 84. Continuing to weave the Tutu legacy in the streets of Jozi is one of his allies in the late former
Suffragan Bishop of Johannesburg East and anti-apartheid activist Joseph Simeon Nkoane. He was known for his pastoral care in black townships and for defending victims of police brutality, which led to his home being petrol bombed.
He served as Tutu’s assistant bishop from 1992 until his death in 1989. One incident that remains etched about Nkoane was in 1995 when he together with Tutu rescued a man from possible necklacing after he was accused of being a police informer.
A graduate of St Peter’s Theological College – he lived in Britain from 1957 to 1964, was later Dean of the same St Mary’s Cathedral and he died of cancer at his Kwa-Thema home in 1989 at the age of 60.
There’s been mixed reaction to the proposed street name changes with some suggesting better the City deploy names of animals rather than those of individuals. While some were most welcoming,
others were outrightly dismissive, labelling the project as an exercise to use the preeminent names
of Tutu et al to try and save a city in turmoil.
Residents, stakeholders, and community members have until May 8, 2025, to have their say.
Feedback can be sent to Dominica Masalesa – Dominicam@joburg.org.za
