Table Bay Boulevard was renamed on Wednesday after former president FW de Klerk, despite fierce opposition.
The proposal was adopted during a chaotic city council meeting, with ANC councillors – virulently opposed to the motion – locked out of the venue, local media reported.
The proposal to rename a 5km section of the highway, after him was put forward by a group of 27 signatories, including fellow Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and DA leader Helen Zille.
But the move has been fiercely opposed by the left, including the ANC, the SACP and Cosatu.
“This move is an affront to the memory of all those who bravely fought and were brutally murdered and some even hanged by the apartheid regime,” said the SACP in a statement earlier this month.
Cosatu called De Klerk “an accident of history” who was “forced to negotiate with the ANC to ensure that the big businesses did not lose what they stole in a bloody civil war”.
On Wednesday, ANC councillors disrupted the first city council meeting of the year until the DA majority chose to change venues, locking the ANC out of the new venue – and out of the voting process.
The Cape Town mayor’s office said the proposal had received “overwhelming support” from the public.
De Klerk’s foundation had previously said he was “honoured and touched” by the proposal.
