South Africa’s richest city going ahead with risky road name change

The Johannesburg City Council has voted against a motion to rescind the renaming of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.

The motion, tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA), was voted against by the majority of Joburg councillors on 13 March 2025.

The DA argued that the city struggles to afford basic services, hence the adjustment of budgets passed in council.

“Water pipe, streetlights, and pothole repairs are at a backlog of millions, and yet, the City plans to waste millions if the renaming goes ahead,” said DA councillor Lynda Shackleford, as quoted by IOL.

ActionSA echoed the DA’s sentiments for similar reasons, stating that the City needs to instead focus its attention on sharpening up service delivery.

However, opposing parties won the majority of votes against the motion, allowing the renaming to continue as planned.

Leila Khaled is a Palestinian activist that first rose to prominence in 1969 as well as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Consequences untold

Many questions have surrounded the naming proposal, as it could lead to severe consequences for the country should it go through.

The frontrunner to become the United States’ new ambassador to South Africa, Joel Pollak, warned that if Sandton Drive is retitled to Leila Khaled Drive, it will be met with a “very stern response” from the world’s biggest economy and one of South Africa’s biggest trading partners.

The US Consulate is located on Sandton Drive and the United States doesn’t consider Khaled an ally.

“The purpose of renaming the street is an attempt to force the US consulate to put the name of a Palestinian terrorist hijacker… on the letterhead of the United States of America,” Pollak told BizNewsTV.

“That will never happen, and it’s going to be met with a very stern response.”

He cautioned that the future of the consulate is uncertain if the major thoroughfare is renamed.

“The consulate, I think, is in peril if you do that, but also Sandton is in Peril, I mean the central hub of the South African economy, South African finance, African finance, is going to be undermined by this ridiculous move,” he said.

In an opinion piece in The Citizen, City of Joburg ward councillor Martin Williams expressed similar sentiments.

“Renaming Sandton Drive serves no purpose other than to antagonise significant sections of the community. And the US, whose consulate is on Sandton Drive,” he said.

He also questioned the chosen new title, Leila Khaled Drive, given that the city’s policy only allows people’s names to be used on official landmarks in “rare cases.”

The policy states that naming after exceptional people is recognised as “being a way of honouring outstanding individuals for their contribution to the development of the city and the country, and should be done sparingly and with careful consideration.”

Furthermore, it reads that “naming after living people should be avoided, because community attitudes and opinions can change over time.”

Williams maintains that supporters of the name change have yet to be able to demonstrate how Khaled has made a positive impact on the City of Joburg or the country as a whole.

Also, Khaled is still alive, hence, renaming Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive will go against the city’s own rules.

Finally, the city’s legislation states that renaming is permissible “where the name change is desirable to promote the goodwill of people now living in the new South Africa.”

Williams argues that the renaming does exactly the opposite of promoting goodwill as it is highly divisive.

The councillor pointed to a poll on the name change that showed 98% of participants were against it.

He therefore warned the City of Johannesburg that should public participation processes not be followed, the city will face legal challenges if it decides to pursue the change.

“If the city had money to spend, it should go to service delivery, not street renaming,” he concluded.