Time to document unsung Jewish anti-apartheid heroes

JORDAN MOSHE

A political activist and researcher, Selebi wants to write about ordinary Jewish people who challenged the system as he has personal experience of the difference they made.

He has never forgotten the Radus family, who hid him as a youngster in their home while he was on the run from the police. “I remain very close to them,” he says. “I remember the Friday nights and Shabbat meals, and I cherish those memories.” 

With them in mind, he is determined to uncover the stories of ordinary Jews who did the extraordinary during the oppressive years of South Africa’s history. He began this undertaking in earnest in January this year, and is collecting accounts for his book, to be published next year.

“My interest lies in unearthing and sharing untold stories,” Selebi says. “I want to go beyond the famous names. There were attorneys who aided detainees, and doctors who treated black activists who’d been tortured and shot, without reporting them to the authorities.”

Selebi was born in Soweto in 1967, one of seven children in a politically active family. His two elder brothers were involved in subversive activity, and his uncles worked closely with underground movements.

“I remember from an early age the police were always coming into our home, kicking in doors, pointing guns, and searching for weapons or any incriminating material,” he says. “They often took my brothers away. The situation became unbearable, and they left the country.”

Selebi assumed the role of bigger brother to his younger siblings in his early teens. He also got involved in politics, taking part in youth movements. “I was always involved in civic politics. My parents discouraged me from doing so, and my dad’s involvement in the underground came to my attention only years later.”

Selebi was detained on various occasions in his late teens. His longest incarceration was in 1986 during the state of emergency. Upon his release in 1987, he enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he stepped up his political activity, bringing him into frequent contact with white activists, many of them Jewish.

“I was very involved in student politics, and although white and black students mobilised separately, we worked together,” he says. “At this stage, I realised that the bulk of the white comrades with us in the underground and in the open were actually Jewish. It struck me. I wondered why that was.”

Years later, Selebi began working at Afrika Tikkun (today known as MaAfrika Tikkun) alongside Jewish personalities like Herbie Rosenberg and Bertie Lubner, strengthening his links to the Jewish community.

Through the community, he spent a month in Israel in 1998 on a leadership development programme. His trip brought him into contact with Wendy Kahn, the national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), with whom he developed a good relationship. 

“Upon our return, Wendy and I met frequently to discuss various issues and projects I was involved in,” says Selebi. “At one of our meetings, I told Wendy that I had been thinking about documenting stories, and the fact that Jewish people are more inclined than any others in the white community to be on the side of the oppressed.”

Kahn encouraged him to write the book which he is now researching. “Now is the time to write the book,” he says. “A lot of the people I should speak to are ageing and passing away. If I delay, I’ll miss out on the opportunity.”

He related some of the other stories he has come across so far. One involves a Jewish family who drove from Johannesburg to the Swazi border in the dead of night to hide their uncle from police searching for him because he was a communist. Another concerns a Jewish doctor, based in the Cape, who would sneak out of army barracks at night to deliver medical assistance to activists in Gugulethu, and teach them how to treat gunshot wounds and teargas inhalation.

Selebi’s fact-finding mission has, unfortunately, caused friction between him and members of his community. Some question how he can interact with those who support the oppression of the Palestinians in Israel, while others accuse him of being overly devoted to Jews.

“It’s fashionable these days to go Jew bashing,” he says. “It’s a favourite pastime of many to blame the Jews for the ills of society, and because of my experience, I find this unfortunate.

“You can’t tar an entire community with the same brush. I know of many stories that show who the Jewish people really are, and [the fact that] their teachings have instilled an ethos of helping others. After what the Jews were subjected to in Europe and in South Africa, they still wanted to help.

“People in the wider South African community don’t seem to understand the role played by Jews during the apartheid years. I’m not saying that they’re all holy, I’m saying there are stories not told to people outside the Jewish community that they need to hear. I remain determined to uncover these remarkable stories.”