Thousands of City of Joburg residents are objecting to the council's plans to rename Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive as the public participation processes draw to a close.
Plans to honour Khaled, a former Palestinian militant, have been described by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies as a “bizarre move”, while the South African BDS Coalition describes them as an “inspired and appropriate” initiative by the city.
The DA through its Sandton constituency, which includes six wards around the suburb , has collected about 5,000 comments on the proposed renaming from residents, with 93% of participants objecting.
The public has until Tuesday to submit their views on the plans before council makes a final decision.
Khaled, 80, is former Palestinian militant and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Roshan Dadoo, coordinator of the South African BDS Coalition and a member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), told TimesLIVE Premium that Khaled was “a multiple living icon — for women’s emancipation, the Palestinian struggle, human dignity and self-determination”.
She said Khaled was held in high esteem in the majority of the world “and was embraced by Nelson Mandela when she first visited South Africa in 2006”.
Dadoo said the process to rename Sandton Drive comes at a time when the judges at the International Court of Justice (, in a case brought by South Africa, “in a near unanimous decision, considered Israel to be plausibly committing a genocide — considered to be the 'crime of all crimes' — as defined in Article 1 of the Genocide Convention”.
“The renaming of Sandton Drive will have a similar global impact [such as the ICJ case by SA] for the City of Joburg ... [and] will be an inspired and appropriate decision by the citizens of Johannesburg,” Dadoo said.
National director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, Wendy Kahn, said: “This bizarre move to change the name of Sandton Drive is nothing more than political theatrics for the ANC and their cohorts in the city.”
Kahn said the move was designed to “hurt fellow South African citizens at a time when social cohesion and goodwill should be part of the agenda of this city”.
She said the name Sandton Drive was not offensive to anyone, but the city planned to replace it with a militant who, together with her organisation, the PFLP, are “synonymous with hijacking of planes and killing Jews in cold blood”.
“Clearly this is offensive to more than one constituency in Johannesburg. Their intention can only be interpreted as wanting to cause hurt and division ... the choice of Leila Khaled is contemptible and goes against the purpose of renaming any street.”
Kahn said they were objecting to the move as it was against the city's policy on the naming of streets and was seemingly designed to divide the city.
If it is deemed necessary, the chosen name should be that of a South African who has contributed to our city or country and is not divisive and brings pride to all who live, work or drive down the street.
— Wendy Kahn, national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies
“It is a provocative act that does nothing to improve the city and only causes polarisation between its citizens. If it is deemed necessary, the chosen name should be that of a South African who has contributed to our city or country and is not divisive and brings pride to all who live, work or drive down the street,” Kahn said.
DA's head of the Sandton constituency, Leah Potgieter, said their councillors have been engaging residents since the public participation opened through robot blitzes, online forums and direct engagement.
Sitting on 1 Sandton Drive in Sandhurst, near Sandton City, the US Johannesburg Consulate may soon find itself bearing Leila Khaled's name on its address, despite her association with PFLP, once considered a terror group by the US government.
“The DA Sandton constituency has facilitated the collection of 4,956 comments on the proposed renaming of Sandton Drive from private residents across Joburg. 4,652 (93.9%) have objected to the renaming, while 304 (6.1%) are in support,” Potgieter said.
City of Joburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the move follows a November 2018 council meeting where a motion proposing the renaming of Sandton Drive was tabled and debated.
He said the proposal was adopted to rename Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive, “to strengthen the signed twinning agreement and memorandum of co-operation with the Palestinian city of Ramallah”.
“This move was seen as an expression of the city's commitment to diplomatic relations with the people of Palestine,” he said.
Modingoane said all comments received will be collated and reported to a full sitting of council, where the proposed renaming will be considered and debated by political parties and elected public representatives, before a final decision is made.
Meanwhile, the Joburg council has approved the renaming of Main Street and the Westbury Recreation Centre in honour of late writer and journalist Don Mattera.
Modingoane said the public participation process for this proposal to commemorate Mattera will be launched soon.
Furthermore, at a time when Johannesburg needs investment and a boost to its economy, said Kahn, this narrow-minded move is nothing more than a mayor and his constituency shooting its city in the foot by unnecessarily antagonising those who contribute to building our city.
