A Major South African Road Will Be Named After Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

According to TimesLIVE, William Nicol Drive, the notoriously busy road in Johannesburg, will be renamed after the late Anti-apartheid struggle veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The decision is a part of continued efforts on the part of local municipalities to transform spaces and make them more inclusive.

Ask any South African living in Johannesburg about the most traffic jammed road and they'll probably tell you Malibongwe or William Nicol Drive. However, the latter will no longer be named that following the City of Johannesburg's decision to honor the late South African heroine.

Commenting on Madikizela-Mandela's selection, the City Council's Vasco da Gama said:

"She made sacrifices for the sake of freedom‚ endured imprisonment and beatings‚ was separated from her family‚ yet she endured. When the dust of the democratic struggle settled‚ she emerged with grace and dignity‚ working to build communities‚ assist those in need and create a better South Africa."

But you may be asking just who William Nicol was. Nicol was a Dutch Reformed Reverend who obtained his bachelor's degree in 1906 at Stellenbosch University. He was a strong champion of Africans learning in their mother tongue and went on to help South African religious leaders translate the Bible into the IsiZulu. Since he was overseeing the development of the road at the time, he actually named it after himself.

On the other hand, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was an unapologetic revolutionary who was political way before her marriage with Nelson Mandela. In her own right, Madikizela-Mandela helped liberate Black South Africans from the clutches of Apartheid.

READ: A Tribute to the Late Apartheid Struggle Veteran, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

Perhaps the recent news is the first step towards the renaming of Cape Town International Airport after the heroine, a desire that has been expressed by a number of South Africans.