{"id":92437,"date":"2024-10-16T23:08:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T21:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=92437"},"modified":"2024-10-16T23:08:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T21:08:35","slug":"renaming-sandton-drive-to-leila-khaled-drive-met-with-strong-pushback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/renaming-sandton-drive-to-leila-khaled-drive-met-with-strong-pushback\/","title":{"rendered":"Renaming Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled drive met with strong pushback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n16 October 2024 | 23:08 CAT
\n2-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The proposal to change Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive dates back to 2018, when Johannesburg City Councillor Thapelo Amad proposed renaming the road to Ramallah City Drive. While the proposal was supported by the African National Congress at the time, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) did not implement the change.<\/p>\n

Now, the city has renewed the proposed change in honour of Leila Khaled, a Palestinian activist and symbol of resistance, to facilitate the removal of symbols and names that reflect colonisation and replace them with symbols of renewal.<\/p>\n

The proposed renaming is part of a larger street-naming initiative by the CoJ.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process goes beyond merely changing signs; it represents Johannesburg\u2019s pride as an apartheid-free city, dedicated to the principles of justice, equality, and solidarity,\u201d reads a statement by the CoJ on X.<\/p>\n

The plan has been met with opposition from many parties, with the Democratic Alliance having submitted 5\u00a0500 official objections.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Martin Williams, the elected DA councillor for Ward 90, which encompasses most of Sandton Drive, said that most of the objections he has received stems from concerns over service delivery and the financial priorities of the city.<\/p>\n

Williams also said that Johannesburg\u2019s diversity makes such gestures contentious. In addition, he referenced a part of the city\u2019s policy that prohibits naming streets after living individuals and promotes choices that foster goodwill, then questioned whether renaming the street after Khaled would meet this criterion, given her lack of direct connection to Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Notably (or laughably), the planned change has been labelled as \u201cSouth Africa\u2019s latest pro-terror move\u201d in an article written by David May and published (ironically) on the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).<\/p>\n

This is not the only criticism levelled at the proposal, with the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) having condemned the proposal as \u201cmalicious\u201d.<\/p>\n

The South African Jewish Report published an article that describes Khaled as \u201ca member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an internationally designated terrorist organisation.\u201d The writer goes on to write that Khaled \u201cis known as the poster girl of Palestinian militancy for her role in hijacking TWA flight 840 from Rome to Tel Aviv in 1969, as well as many other terrorist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

An organisation that stands for liberation is designated as a terrorist organisation. A woman fighting for freedom for her people is described as a \u201cposter girl of Palestinian militancy.\u201d This must truly be a world gone absolutely, stark-raving mad.<\/p>\n

While doing research for this article, I googled \u20182018 renaming johannesburg\u2019 and was met with information that mainly focused on the objections brought against the planned rename, which raises concerns about the objectivity and variety of the information we receive.<\/p>\n

The renaming process is currently in the hands of the Department of Community Development, which is gathering input from residents. Once a report is compiled, it will be presented to the City Council for a vote.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 16 October 2024 | 23:08 CAT 2-minute read The proposal to change Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive dates back to 2018, when Johannesburg City Councillor Thapelo Amad proposed renaming the road to Ramallah City Drive. While the proposal was supported by the African National Congress at the time, the City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":92438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandton-drive.jpg?fit=678%2C346&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-o2V","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 22:46:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}