By Thapelo Molefe
The resignation of Roedean School’s principal has intensified a row that Jewish groups allege amounts to antisemitism, after the Johannesburg private girls’ school cancelled a tennis fixture against King David High School earlier this month.
Roedean principal Phuti Mogale resigned with immediate effect, the school board said on Thursday, after the school issued an apology to King David for cancelling the 3 February match.
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The apology followed public outrage and claims from King David that the match was cancelled because some parents objected to playing against a Jewish school.
Roedean had initially told parents it could not field a team due to prior school commitments, including compulsory academic workshops, but King David said Mogale phoned its head, Lorraine Srage, the day before the fixture and raised parental objections linked to the school’s Jewish identity.
In a letter to the general director of the South African Board of Jewish Education, Rabbi Ricky Seeff, Roedean board chair Dale Quaker said the school “recognises that it is our obligation to ensure that religious and any other form of discrimination do not come into school sport”.
“We acknowledge that our actions which led to the cancellation of the match with King David were deeply hurtful to the Jewish community and sincerely apologise,” Quaker said.
He added that while “communication challenges… compounded this incident, these were not the cause of the cancellation of the match as Roedean originally understood and communicated, as has become clear from our ongoing independent investigations”.
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King David chair Alan Joffe said the school’s requests were “simple; that we receive an unequivocal apology for the antisemitic actions which resulted in the cancellation of the match, and a commitment to playing each other in the future”.
Mogale reportedly told Srage: “Parents are basically saying because of the stance that the government took [on Israel and Gaza], we are supposed to support that. I just needed to pick your brain about fixtures… because we are facing a bit of pressure from our community and our constituents regarding just not playing against King David.”
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) publicly condemned Roedean’s refusal to honour the fixture, describing it as “blatant prejudice” and a “discriminatory refusal to play” a Jewish school.
Roedean, meanwhile, has said it “unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all forms of discrimination or prejudice” and that both schools are committed to rescheduling the fixture.
“In the spirit that sport should unite rather than divide, we look forward to rescheduling the match for our girls,” Quaker said.
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