Why Stanza Bopape Street Matters to Pretoria’s History

The city council of 2007 renamed Church Street from one name into four names of political South African heroes and stalwarts. At 26 kilometres, it is one of the longest straight streets in the world. This is how it was renamed: Stanza Bopape (formerly Church Street, from Nelson Mandela Drive to the east) Johannes Maisha Stanza Bopape was elected in 1987 as the first general secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in Mamelodi. Helen Joseph (formerly Church Street, from Nelson Mandela Drive to Church Square) Helen Joseph (née Fennell) was born in England and later became the founding member of the Congress of Democrats and one of the leaders who read out clauses of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown in 1955. WF Nkomo (formerly Church Street, from Church Square to R511) Dr William Frederick Nkomo was a medical doctor, educationist and community leader who served as the Trustee of the Bantu Welfare Trust and was elected president of the South African Institute of Race Relations. Elias Motswaledi (formerly Church Street, from R511 to the west) An anti-apartheid activist and one of the eight men sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial.