MATTHEW HIRSCH
The Sea Point Library will officially be renamed the Colin Eglin Library this week after the former leader of the Progressive Party and DA member of parliament.
Mayor Patricia De Lille is expected to attend the official ceremony at the library today, Thursday April 21.
The move comes after the City’s naming committee decision in favour of a proposal that was submitted to the Office of the Speaker by a Sea Point resident (“City to honour Eglin,” Atlantic Sun, October 23 2014).
The renaming proposal was accompanied by motivations and support from 230 other residents who have also signed the petition, as well as support from the family of Mr Eglin, who had represented the Sea Point constituency in Parliament for many years.
David Polovin, chairman of the Sea Point, Fresnaye and Bantry Bay (SFB) Residents’ Association, said naming the library after a man who had done so much community work was apt.
“Aside from his political affiliations, he did a lot of community work and was a long-time resident in the area. He was a solid person and was very active.”
Atlantic Seaboard ward councillor Jacques Weber said Mr Eglin did a lot for the area and played a big role in local government.
“It will be an honour to rename the library after him.”
Mr Eglin was born in Sea Point in 1925; he was a former member of parliament and a founder member of the Progressive Party and later elected chairman of the Democratic Party’s parliamentary caucus. He was leader of the official opposition twice during the apartheid years – once in the 1970s and again in the 1980s..
The Western Cape government bestowed on Mr Eglin the Officer of the Order of the Disa in 2004 and in April 2013, shortly before his death later that year at the age of 88, he received the National Order of the Baobab (silver) from the national government for serving South Africa with excellence and for his dedication and courage in fighting for the principle of equality for all South Africans.
He died in November 2013.
