The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg said it “vehemently” rejects assertions made by City of Johannesburg (CoJ) mayor Dada Morero that the party is responsible for the mooted renaming of Sandton Drive, saying it is pleased that the city is considering reopening the public participation process and bringing a motion to council to rescind what ihe DA calls the “frivolous” renaming of Sandton Drive.

“There is absolutely no truth to this. The renaming was proposed by Al Jama-Ah in 2018, and had it come to fruition, the street would have been renamed to City of Ramallah Drive. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) co-opted the motion and subsequently proposed the name of Leila Khaled Drive,” clarified DA Johannesburg Caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku.

In January the DA’s motion against the renaming was withdrawn from council. The motion in question, would have rescinded the 2018 decision to rename the road.

There are objections to the renaming of Sandton Drive after Palestinian liberation fighter Leila Khaled, who hijacked her first plane in 1969, particularly as South Africa faces tensions with the US and as the US Embassy is situated on Sandton Drive.

The council is now considering the possible diplomatic fallout from this name change.

Kayser-Echeozonjoku said Morero must not use the reopening of the public participation process as a stalling tactic due to the diplomatic sensitivity around it, but to rather do away with the motion in its entirety.

Echeozonjoku pointed out that it was in fact Morero’s own caucus that voted alongside the EFF and others in favour of the renaming.

Meanwhile, the EFF called on the CoJ to proceed with the renaming process “without compromise, apology, and fear”, saying delaying or abandoning the decision would be a betrayal of the country’s revolutionary principles.

The party said it firmly opposed the “cowardly efforts” by the Ramaphosa administration and the CoJ to halt the renaming process, particularly because the US embassy was on this road.

“South Africa, given its own history of colonial dispossession and apartheid, has a moral obligation to stand in full solidarity with the Palestinian people. Just as the world stood with us during our darkest days, we must continue to support those fighting for their dignity and liberation,” the party said.

The pointed out that Leila Khaled was not just a symbol of resistance, “she is a revolutionary who has, for decades, stood firm against the brutal occupation of Palestine by the apartheid state of Israel”.

The EFF said the US and “its imperialist allies” had always sought to “demonise” freedom fighters, labelling resistance as terrorism while turning a blind eye to the genocide, land theft, and daily atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians.

The party said it rejected the notion that renaming a street after Leila Khaled would "worsen diplomatic tensions" with the US, considering that the US had already targeted South Africa owing to its support for Palestine and its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“Trump has already expelled our ambassador to the US, and now has proposed a right-wing white supremacist as his choice for ambassador to South Africa,” the EFF said.

The party said South Africa must refuse to bow to foreign interests that seek to silence the truth and erase the legacy of those who stand against oppression.

It said the renaming of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive was not merely symbolic, it is an act of defiance against imperialism and a declaration that South Africa would always side with the oppressed.