Savoy Park to be renamed
SAVOY - The City of Johannesburg has announced that the Savoy Park will be renamed the Weinberg Family Park.
A public meeting was held in December 2011, and minutes of the meeting indicated that community members in attendance supported the proposed name change.
Councillor Sol Cowan thanked the Weinberg family for the role they played in anti-apartheid activism. “The renaming of the Savoy Park is just a small gesture on the part of the City of Johannesburg to say thank you to the Weinbergs,” he said.
Eli Weinburg was an award-winning photographer and an immigrant from Latvia who was refused South African citizenship due to his political activities. He was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act and sentenced to five years imprisonment for being a member of the South African Communist Party.
His wife Violet was imprisoned for two years; while incarcerated officials refused to grant her permission to attend the funeral of her eldest son Mark. In 1977 the couple went into exile before returning after the unbanning of the South African Communist Party and other political organisations.
Cowan said a formal event to declare the renaming of the park would be announced soon. He thanked Ward 74 Councillor Jack Cooper for his support.
