Sandton Drive name change doesn’t promote goodwill

Will Joburg’s Sandton Drive be renamed after Leila Khaled? This is a test of the city’s ability to do the right thing or mock the rules to achieve a predetermined outcome.

Joburg residents are flocking to sign petitions and send e-mails. Don’t let them down. Give them a fair hearing. Restore their faith in legally prescribed public participation. Let this not be a tick-box exercise.

The process is flawed. The original motion on 29 November, 2018, was altered and should have been resubmitted to council’s programming committee. The 2018 motion was proposed by Al Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad, who later failed as mayor in 2023. His motion, seconded by the ANC’s Eunice Mgcina, proposed renaming Sandton Drive as Ramallah City Drive.

Two EFF councillors, Sello Tladi and Silumko Mabona, proposed an amendment, saying the road should be called “Laila Khalid” Drive. The name spelling changes throughout the city’s documentation. This may add to grounds for legal challenge.

The EFF amendment significantly changed the motion. Joburg had twinned with Ramallah City in 2015. Naming a prominent road after Ramallah would have been a less radical step than using the name of someone best known as a plane hijacker.

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DA councillor Nonny Sifumba, who was MMC for community development in 2018, pointed out this substantial change. However, the acting speaker did not exercise the right under the standing rules of council to, “disallow a proposed amendment if in his/ her opinion such amendment is so substantial in nature that it constitutes a new motion”.

The motion was passed by 128 votes to 104. The DA voted against it. A successful motion doesn’t automatically take effect. The city manager’s office must study financial and other implications. Six years later we have public participation. Let’s do it correctly.

Would this renaming of the road to Leila Khaled comply with the city’s policy? No.

The policy says: “Only in rare cases should people’s names be used.” There has been no motivation for a rare exception. The policy also states: “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”.

No-one has demonstrated how Khaled contributed to the development of Joburg. Rule 6 (iv) says “naming after living people should be avoided, because community attitudes and opinions can change over time.” Khaled is alive. Renaming is permissible “where the name change is desirable to promote the goodwill of people now living in the new South Africa”.

This name change doesn’t promote goodwill. Quite the opposite. It is divisive. The policy calls for “a strong degree of community consultation and support”.

The outcry suggests this change does not have such support. One poll shows 98% against. Any attempt to gloss over public consultation will face legal challenges, whose cost the city cannot afford. If the city had money to spend, it should go to service delivery, not street renaming.

Renaming Sandton Drive serves no purpose other than to antagonise significant sections of the community. And the US, whose consulate is on Sandton Drive. At the time of writing, President Cyril Ramaphosa is schmoozing in the US.

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