LETTER: The playground politics of renaming Sandton Drive

It seems to have passed the notice of the public that the proposal to rename Sandton Drive after Leila Khaled isn’t new. First mooted in the City of Johannesburg council in 2018, it was supported by the ANC, the EFF and Al Jama-ah. The choice of Sandton Drive was deliberate — as councillor Thapelo Amad pointed out, this was “due to the fact that US embassy consulate [sic] resides in the same street”.

In other words, it was a calculated rebuke to the US. From that perspective, the use of Khaled’s name was purposeful, as she was ferociously hostile to the US. Explaining the 1969 hijacking of TWA Flight 840, she said an American aircraft had been chosen because of US support for Israel, and because “we are against America because she is an imperialist country”.

Anyone familiar with ANC and EFF geopolitical rhetoric would understand the attraction. Khaled also represented an uncompromising, militant, “by any means necessary” approach to the Palestinian cause.

The choice of her name rather than, say, that of Yasser Arafat as a generic avatar of Palestinian nationalism (and with greater name recognition in SA), sent an unmistakable message too — an affirmation that a range of strategies are to be commended in confronting “imperialism”. It is a gesture calculated to give maximal offence (and promote extreme division domestically).

Ironically, this is happening as a high-powered SA delegation is in the US, attempting to mend fences and garner support for and investment interest in SA. What would this name change mean practically? Nothing, either the Palestinians or the place of the US in the world. American “imperialism” would not be rolled back a millimetre. Nor would it send US companies heading for the exit.

It would, however, be a gratuitous, reckless statement of hostility. It is the sort of thing that sends a not so subtle message that will probably be responded to in a not so subtle manner: if SA attempts to alienate the US it may find this to be successful. Getting a hearing in the US, as it is now, may become rather more difficult. And to what end? 

There is a boundless self-indulgence here — the equivalent of the Johannesburg council giving the US the middle finger, or dropping its trousers to expose its posterior. This is the politics of the playground. Unfortunately, foolishness on playgrounds can be hazardous.

Terence Corrigan
Institute of Race Relations

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