A delegation from the Khoisan community in Nelson Mandela Bay presented their proposal for the new name for the Port Elizabeth International Airport, to the Airports Company South Africa, today,
They want the airport to be named after Khoi chief and political activist, Dawid Stuurman, who fought against Dutch and British colonial rule in the Eastern Cape.
Stuurman travelled to Australia where efforts are still continuing to have his mortal remains repatriated to South Africa.
Prophet Crawford Fraser spoke to the media before the delegation departed from the South End Museum to the Port Elizabeth Airport on Wednesday.
He said Stuurman was lured under false pretenses to Australia by the colonial government, who saw him as a threat.
"They lied to him and told him that his wife and children were waiting for him there, but the reason why they transported him from PE to Australia is because, that time, the colonialists did not want Chief Dawid Stuurman here on the soil of Africa, according to them he was a huge problem maker, but according to us he was a man who fought for the freedom and the liberation of the people who were found here" he said.
ACSA has called for proposals on renaming four airports, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, East London and Kimberley.
