About 300 people protested outside the City of Johannesburg Council Chambers in Braamfontein, yesterday, against the proposed renaming of Sandton Drive after Leila Khaled, a Palestinian activist who took part in plane hijackings in the 1960s and 70s and was linked with the massacre of Christian pilgrims in Israel in 1972.
The protesters, who included members of the ACDP, various political parties, the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) and the former mayor of Johannesburg, Mpho Phalatse, expressed concerns that the proposed street renaming conflicted with SA’s values of peace-building and national reconciliation.
SAFI handed a petition to the City Council on behalf of a broad coalition of concerned South Africans, including businesses, faith groups, cultural associations, and over 30 000 citizens who have voiced their objections through public participation site Dear South Africa.
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According to a report in Daily Maverick, Phalatse said an independent public participation process revealed an outright rejection of the City of Johannesburg’s motion [to rename Sandton Drive after Leila Khaled] by Joburg residents.
“Yet the city alleges that the motion enjoys the support of residents. This calls for an audit of the city’s process,” she said.
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“It’s polarising as opposed to uniting South Africans around fostering peace in the Middle East,” said the former mayor. “Who we celebrate will ultimately determine the kind of society we build.”
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said: “The city finalised counting the comments and a report will be prepared for council decision on the matter. It will hopefully start serving in the city’s committee system from early 2025. This is due to an unprecedented number of comments received,” reports Daily Maverick.
The renaming of Sandton Drive was initially motivated in 2018 by the Al Jama-ah political party which wanted to name it Ramallah Drive to strengthen ties with the Palestinian government. A coalition of the EFF, ANC and Al Jama-ah subsequently gained majority support over city council opposition, for a motion proposing that the road be renamed Leila Khaled Drive.
SAFI spokesperson Bafana Modise told Gateway News that the fact that “Leila Khalid is not South African and she has a history of terrorism” is one of the main objections of people who turned out to protest yesterday.
“So, that was the main issue to say: ‘This is not a character that South Africa should be glorifying.’ There is no other country in the world that actually has named anything after her,” he said.
“In South Africa we have water issues; we have bigger problems and the name Sandton Drive is not harmful to anyone. We should not allow South Africa to become a pawn in political games or rather a puppet of Iran to push this agenda.
“The move is reckless and it doesn’t really speak to South African people. If it needs to be, we can look at local heroes that we can emulate and glorify, rather than to glorify people who are so far disconnected from our people,” said Modise.
Meanwhile, South African Jewish Report writes that Tony Larroy, 80, of Arecibo Puerto Rico, a survivor of the Lod Airport Massacre in 1972, has written to the City of Johannesburg, urging it not to rename Sandton Drive after Khaled.
Larroy was wounded in the massacre, in which fellow Christian pilgrims, including his girlfriend, were among 26 people killed when three terrorists, recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine under Leila Khaled, opened fire on people at Lod Airport (now known as Ben Gurion Airport).
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