{"id":721004,"date":"2023-09-26T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=721004"},"modified":"2023-09-26T10:50:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T08:50:48","slug":"william-nicol-drive-closed-for-renaming-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/721004\/william-nicol-drive-closed-for-renaming-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"William Nicol Drive closed for renaming – what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Parts of William Nicol Drive will be closed today (Tuesday 26), affecting routes from Sandton Drive all the way to Diepsloot from around 10h00 to 13h00. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for the temporary closure is the renaming of the road, as the City of Johannesburg is officially changing the name of the well-known route from William Nicol Drive to Winnie Mandela Drive today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after the city council announced that it had initiated the process of the name change at the end of August 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is set to officiate the unveiling ceremony at the intersection of William Nicol Drive and Sandton Drive, with the official event being held at George Lea Park, situated on the cover of the intersection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to eNCA<\/strong><\/a>, JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla urged motorists to be aware of the traffic disruption this will likely create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that while some roads along William Nicol Drive and Sandton Drive won’t be completely closed, there are lane reductions, and he advised those who want to avoid any congestion to use alternative routes such as Jan Smuts Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fihla added that JMPD officers will be on-site in the affected areas to regulate traffic and assist in alleviating any traffic cognition. He further noted that motorists travelling to and from the Sandton areas can expect between a 15-minute to 20-minute delay in their travel time as a result of the closures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ANC formally started the process to rename the road in March 2021, with a public comment phase on the proposal running until April 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the city said the change was generally welcomed but \u201cnoted\u201d some negative sentiment around the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of the proposals, the late and former mayor of Joburg, Geoffry Makhubo, defended the move, saying that it was important to rename streets and places to remind residents of the history of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNames carry history. They say something about those whose contributions are deemed worthy of a public and multi-generational memory. These are by their very nature contentious, and that is why they must always be treated with the sensitivity they deserve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis renaming of one of the city\u2019s iconic landmarks is a result of the council\u2019s commitment to social transformation and cohesion. It symbolises the immeasurable commitment of Mama Winnie to the struggle for humanity and liberation of our country,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makhubo passed away in July 2021 due to complications with Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: SOE minefield in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parts of William Nicol Drive will be temporarily closed for the official renaming ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":478105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2016,853,18548],"class_list":["post-721004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-city-of-johannesburg","tag-south-africa","tag-william-nicol-drive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721004"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721020,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721004\/revisions\/721020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}