The Johannesburg city council will open a public participation process over the proposed renaming of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.
The name change was previously set to go ahead, however, last week President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a statement warning the city to exercise restraint on the decision, and that he would consult with the metro council to discuss the matter further.
The hesitation to rename the street stems from an ongoing controversy involving the United States and South Africa, which has the potential to further inflame the deteriorating relationship between the two nations.
Dampening the fire, for now
The decision to rename Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive has been heavily criticized by the United States, whose consulate building is located on the street.
Khaled is a Palestinian activist who first became a notable figure in the 1960s as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
She is known as the first woman to hijack an aeroplane and is viewed as a terrorist by the United States, though other parties sympathetic to her cause typically describe her as a freedom fighter.
Joburg’s motion to rename the US consulate’s street after a figure the world’s biggest economy considers hostile has raised tensions in an escalating dispute between America and South Africa.
Nomvula Mokonyane, the ANC’s first deputy secretary-general, previously expressed that the choice was a deliberate action meant to show the US that they could not dictate to South Africa.
In a rally held last year, she said, “we want America’s embassy [sic] to change its letterhead to Leila Khaled Drive 1,” according to a City Press report.
However, stakeholders appear to be walking back this confrontational stance, as Dada Morero, the ANC mayor of Joburg, stated last week that this was a “sensitive issue.”
Consequently, the city will now rely on feedback it receives from the public participation process to make a final decision on whether the name change will go ahead.
“The city acknowledges public discourse regarding the proposed renaming of Sandton Drive and emphasizes its dedication to a thorough approach,” he said.
Morero also pointed out that the resolution to rename Sandton Drive started all the way back in 2018, when the DA governed Johannesburg in coalition with the EFF.
The original motion was put forward by Al Jama-Ah, currently a coalition member of the ANC in Joburg, who said the street should be renamed to Ramallah Drive – Ramallah being a city in Palestine.
The DA opposed this motion, but Al Jama-Ah received sufficient support from the ANC and EFF to proceed.
The DA is also one of the political parties opposed to the revised name change, along with Action SA.
The announcement to begin a new public participation process was, therefore, met with gratitude by the DA, though the EFF criticized the move saying that halting the process would “betray the country’s revolutionary principles.”
Problems with the name change
The single biggest issue with the renaming of Sandton Drive is that it could lead to a severe response from the United States, which is one of South Africa’s biggest trading partners.
However, beyond this immediate controversy, the name change has been criticized for other reasons involving its questionable merits.
City of Joburg ward councillor Martin Williams previously wrote about the issue, stating that the city’s policy only allows people’s names to be used on official landmarks in “rare cases.”
According to the policy, renaming infrastructure 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.”
It also cautions against renaming sites after living persons, as it’s possible that the public’s attitude towards an individual’s actions can change over time.
William argued that Khaled is not a South African citizen and that she has had no demonstrable impact on the City of Joburg nor the country as a whole.
She is also still alive, which goes against the city’s own guidelines.
While the policy does permit renaming in cases “where it promotes the goodwill of people living in the new South Africa,” Khaled has proven to be a divisive figure with 98% of local residents voting against the name change in a recent poll.
The DA and ActionSA have also criticised the name change as another project that wastes taxpayer money when the city is facing far more pressing issues, from water shortages to broken streetlights, pothole repairs, and poor service delivery.
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