Once again, what was supposed to be a debate among mature individuals suddenly escalated into chaos.

During a public meeting last night regarding the renaming of Cape Town International Airport, where members of the public were invited to the airport to voice their opinions on the Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA’s) proposed renaming of the airport, things got out of hand very quickly.

News24 reports:

Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who arrived in their trademark red regalia, strongly supported the suggestion that the airport be named after late struggle hero Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, while members of the Khoi community were in favour of the name Krotoa – after the historic Khoi figure.

Here’s a helpful video of the meeting, courtesy of eNCA:

But then Fadiel Adams, administrator of the Facebook group Gatvol Capetonian, decided to chime in:

#WinnieMadikizelaMandelaAirport

Who is this guy? pic.twitter.com/xtD2o8OZ5t

— Tumi Sole (@tumisole) June 4, 2018

Of course, it all went to hell after that.

Not everyone was pleased about Adams’ spicy statement, especially the bit about Winnie Mandela “never being part of this country”:

EFF members started chanting and took over the meeting.

“We will not allow anyone to divide us. We are all here because of Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela,” shouted one EFF member to thunderous applause.

However, not everyone wants the airport to be named after the late struggle stalwart. David Kamfer, provincial chairperson of the Independent Civic Organisation of SA said:

We are sick and tired of the Mandelas. We are here to tell people to stand up and say this land belongs to [the Khoisan]! We want to take it and change it to Krotoa International Airport.

Hell, it even got so heated that a speaker called for the “Khoisan heritage to take first preference or there will be war”, reports eNCA.

Maybe the Saartjie Baartman Airport – just throwing it out there.

Independent facilitator Sadia Chand tried her best to gain control of the meeting, but the constant disruptions led to the meeting being called off:

Meeting has now officially been called off as orginisers struggle to regain control #AirportNameChange #eNCA pic.twitter.com/8LMkskPUdy

— Pheladi Sethusa (@pheladi_s) June 4, 2018

Bravo, Cape Town *sarcastic clap*.

Once the public participation process is completed by June 6, a report of conclusions and recommendations would be compiled, which will then be submitted to the “principals and the competent authorities, namely the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Transport”.

Ja, we’ll see if that process will go smoothly after this disaster.

East London Airport, Port Elizabeth International Airport and Kimberley Airport are also subject to renaming as part of the Transformation of Heritage Landscape Government Programme, per News24, but seeing how this meeting turned out, I’m not confident that the residents in those cities are going to behave as well.

Let’s hope they prove me wrong.

[sources:enca&news24]