The City of Johannesburg recently announced that it was planning on renaming Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive who served in Palestinian liberation organisations and has caused a controversial response from South African and Sandton residents.
Image: ActionSA
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Two weeks ago, the City of Johannesburg announced that it would continue renaming key roads in the city, albeit with the most controversial yet. While name changes have generally sparked debate with the public and opposition parties calling for the expenditure to be used more strategically, ANC-backed politicians and organisations have stated that the trend of renaming key roads in the city is in the best interest of its citizens. Despite the local Muslim political party Al Jama-ah calling for Sandton Drive to be changed to Ramallah City Drive, a later amendment to the proposal by the EFF saw it changed to Leila Khaled Drive.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, speaking at a vigil for the lives lost in Gaza, added his support for the latest city endeavour to have Leila Khaled honoured in place of Sandton Drive.
“We are not changing Sandton Drive because we enjoy changing names, we are changing Sandton Drive because we are standing firm. We want to send a strong message that we are on the side of the people of Palestine. We will also change our symbols to register our support for the people of Palestine.”
This has further exacerbated and polarised the situation, with public rebuff growing and opposition political parties voicing their stern grievances. There are several reasons for this, chiefly that the proposal violates the metro’s 2017 street naming policy, which claims that renaming infrastructure should be done so for local significance, to foster unity and to build a cohesive community.
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Opposition parties and political organisations have stated that the life of Leila Khaled, who lived as a labelled terrorist and was embroiled in a civilian aircraft hijacking massacre does not abide by these policies. ActionSA Gauteng chairperson Funzi Ngobeni has lobbied all political parties in Johannesburg’s metro council to vote against Johannesburg city manager, Floyd Brink’s name change proposal.
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Ngobeni stated that water shortages, unemployment, housing shortages and crumbling infrastructure are faced by the city and that diverting scarce resources towards the name change is offensive and a demonstration of a tone-deaf administration. In terms of road infrastructure in Johannesburg, Ngobeni further added that City Power reported 81 000 dysfunctional streetlights and 1 000 new potholes reported every week with only around 4 500 repaired each month. The ActionSA representative has urged that these issues be prioritised for the residents of Johannesburg and vehemently called for the public to reject the proposal.
Residents who oppose this proposal have been urged by ActionSA to send their comments and submissions to the City of Johannesburg’s Dominica Masalesa at dominicam@joburg.org.za within a period of 28 days after publication of the notice. The deadline remains for the 15th of October.
While this has been the most controversial name change proposal yet, South Africa is in store for dozens more. Gayton McKenzie (Sports, Arts and Culture Minister) stated that the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) and the Provincial Geographical Names Committees (PGNCs) are continuing with their endeavours across the country with 66 applications currently in review.
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The post Public Rebuff Continues Over Controversial Sandton Drive Name Change Proposal appeared first on CAR Magazine.
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