One of the greatest statesmen of our time, Nelson Mandela, is famously reputed to have said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire and to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair”.
He was the servant of his own words, living by what he had said.
Although the independent probe’s preliminary findings state that the tennis match clashed with academic commitments at Roedean School, the principal who later resigned, Phuti Mogale, gave a flimsy and foolish excuse for the match being cancelled, which many people believed.
For those of us following the events unfolding between Roedean and King David school, the sequence of events and what actually transpired can be confusing. What does seem clear is that Roedean School actively discriminated against the King David tennis players.
The principal of Roedean, Phuti Mogale and the chair of the Board, Dale Quaker, have both subsequently resigned. Mogale was put in the centre of the events when a conversation between her and the principal of King David, Lorraine Srage, became public. Mogale was reaching out to find a solution to the fact that parents were pressuring the school to cancel a tennis fixture with King David because they didn’t want to play Jewish learners.
What is clear is that Mogale was being bullied by either the Roedean parents or the Roedean learners into taking an action that she wasn’t morally comfortable with. As the school’s CEO, she was simply communicating the position of the institution that she had been put to lead. It seems that she was then scapegoated by the same school. If that is the case, that is very sad.
For those who may not know, Roedean School is a highly respected school and continues to play a very important part in the education sector of this country by producing prominent individuals who have become leaders and managers in various sectors of our economy. It is too important an institution to be used as a battlefield for ideological warfare.
Roedean School must preserve its defining ideo-educational system, which is at the centre of Anglicanism and should not drift from its original, founding principles. There were attempts in 2023 by the Roedean’s management to involve the Ummar Heart which is widely seen as the sympathiser of Islamist causes such as Hamas, an organisation declared as a terrorist organisations by the likes of the European Union (EU), the US, Canada, Japan, UK, Argentina, New Zealand, Ecuador, Australia, Japan, Israel and Paraguay. It would not make sense for a prestigious school, like Roedean, to associate with Hamas. What contribution would they add to the good history of Roedean School?
It is also worrying that the school called in the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation to deal with divisions on this matter. This is the same foundation that has deeply aligned itself with the Palestinian cause, at the expense of Israel, and according to a columnist at the Institute of Race Relations, failed to properly condemn the Bondi Beach Jewish mass killings by Islamic fundamentalists. They are political players rather than independent actors in this situation.
It is well and good that the Roedean School has issued an apology. King David accepted in the spirit of maturity, which marked closure to this controversial incident. The incident must have been emotionally draining to both sides. The mix of politics and religion is always going to be explosive, and this case was no different. It has directly impacted the schools involved, the resignations being indicative of this.
Indeed, this case has been emotional for many South Africans who are reminded of the existing racial divisions and racism that they continue to experience regularly. It is also a reminder that we have to work extra hard as South Africans to be sensitive around issues of racism, antisemitism and all forms of discrimination. The strength of this country is in our social fabric, and we need to ensure that we live harmoniously in a country made up of a diverse group of people, tolerating one another.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/faces-of-the-world/51320902786]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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