South Africa blackmailed on United States consulate in Johannesburg

South Africa could lose its United States consulate in Johannesburg if the city changes the name of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.

On Thursday, 13 March 2025, a motion to rescind renaming Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive was dismissed after a vote during a council meeting.

Many councillors claimed that the process of renaming Sandton Drive was fraught with problems, including questionable support from residents.

These councillors argued that the city should focus on service delivery instead of wasting money on vanity projects like name changes.

They added that thousands of residents and businesses in Sandton opposed the change and that it was highly controversial.

However, other Johannesburg councillors supported the name change, arguing that it shows support for Palestine.

Most of the City of Johannesburg councillors voted against the motion to rescind the renaming of Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.

Joel Pollak, the frontrunner to become the United States Ambassador to South Africa, warned that this name change could have severe consequences.

It will see the United States close its consulate in Johannesburg, which is located at 1 Sandton Drive in Sandhurst.

"The consulate will be closed and not be reopened. It will not be moved and go to another office. The United States will not do business with Johannesburg," he said.

Pollak added in a post on X, "Helpfully, the renaming would create another savings for DOGE: close the consulate."

Leila Khaled is a controversial freedom fighter for Palestinian rights and a former Palestinian militant and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Khaled gained prominence after her role in the TWA Flight 840 hijacking in 1969 and one of the four simultaneous Dawson's Field hijackings the following year.

She was imprisoned for the hijackings but was released in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages kidnapped by other PFLP members.

The ANC is an ally to Palestine. Since the 1950s, the ANC has enjoyed strong ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Last year, the ANC in the City of Joburg Council, supported by the EFF, proposed renaming Sandton Drive to Leila Khaled Drive.

The ANC's first deputy secretary general, Nomvula Mokonyane, was particularly keen on the name change.

She reportedly said, "We want the United States of America embassy to change their letterhead to Number 1 Leila Khaled Drive".

"We are sending a message that they cannot dominate us and tell us what to do. It must be in their face, it must be in their computers, in their letterheads," she is quoted as saying.

Should the name change go through and the consulate closes, as Pollak warned, it will greatly impact South Africans.

The United States Consulate in Johannesburg provides consular services in Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and North-West Provinces.

These services include helping Americans with emergencies and assisting them with documents like passports and reports of birth.

The Consulate helps non-Americans, mostly South Africans, with non-immigrant and immigrant visas to the United States.

South Africans will have to travel to Cape Town and Durban to get the services they currently receive from the United States consulate in Johannesburg.