A journalist who crosses the great divides

PETA KROST MAUNDER

And this 84-year-old knows what he’s talking about: he’s been deeply involved in both South African and Israeli politics.

He covered the truth behind apartheid from the late 1950s to 1985 in the now defunct liberal newspaper, the Rand Daily Mail. He brought the words of black leaders such as Pan Africanist Congress founder Robert Sobukwe and ANC struggle stalwart and former president Nelson Mandela – both close friends of his – to white readers’ consciousness. 

Pogrund lives in Israel now and has spent many years working at creating dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, Christians and Jews, and Jews and Jews.

Speaking about the overused analogy of Israel as an apartheid state by BDS, Pogrund says its members propagate this in the name of human rights, which is a cynical and manipulative move on their part. “It reveals their true attitude towards Jews and the Jewish state. Their aim is to eliminate Israel. That is what’s at stake when we allow the apartheid comparisons.”

And he is just as derisive of those South African leaders who accept BDS’s propaganda. “I am continually astonished by the ignorance displayed by elements in the ANC and trade unions, and the bile they pour out. There is also the extreme left and some in the academic sphere who simply lie their heads off to further their ‘destroy Israel’ agenda.”

Pogrund has never been one to mince words. He is not a politician nor even an activist, but a journalist in the true sense of the word – one who believes in the truth above all else, as painful as it may be.

He made his name in South Africa challenging the status quo, starting out as the African affairs reporter and ending up as deputy editor at the Rand Daily Mail. He worked on the paper for close on 30 years. And when it closed in 1985, he left the country because he found himself unemployable.

At the time, the Jewish community had little time for him and the only job he was offered in South Africa was running a Jewish old-age home.

Today, when he comes to visit from his home in Jerusalem, he is brought in to help communal leaders bridge divides between the community and black consciousness-oriented politicians.

“A range of South African are keen to meet with him,” says Charisse Zeifert, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies’ head of communications.  

“He uses his journalistic integrity in analysing the Middle East conflict from different perspectives and puts across fair and thoughtful analysis. He is one of the few commentators who avoids commentary based on ideology or sloganism. And for that reason, he is highly respected.”

Pogrund first left South Africa for England and then the US before finally settling in Israel. But, he says, his heart has never left South Africa and he comes back as often as he can.

He grew up in Cape Town and studied there before moving to Johannesburg in 1958 “for a woman [his wife, Anne] and a job at the Rand Daily Mail”. 

“I had the simple idea that the duty of a newspaper was to report on the whole of society,” says Pogrund. “But at the time, newspapers in South Africa were all white, from the staff to the readers and advertisers. They couldn’t give a damn about the black population.

“The only time black people featured in the papers were as criminals and victims of accidents, especially mine accidents. They were not even named.”

Pogrund crossed the divide and immersed himself in black politics and in the lives, issues and views of black people. He started attending ANC conferences and broke vital stories. People started paying attention because they had to.

“I smoked a colossal amount and ate badly because I was in the townships. In later life, I paid the price for this, getting ulcers and other health issues because of that wretched time. But I got the stories,” Pogrund says.

“People talk about me now as an anti-apartheid activist. I hate it. I was doing a job as a journalist. I was reporting. I did my utmost to report straight. I didn’t care who it was.”

Pogrund landed in prison and in the dock a number of times. This was a time when government did its utmost to ensure the populace didn’t know what was going on in the country – and Pogrund believed they should.

He speaks fondly of his relationship with Mandela.

“In 1961, Mandela ran the Republic Day campaign, comprising a strike in defiance of Republic Day celebrations, while in hiding,” says Pogrund. “I was one of the few journalists he saw. We would meet him at night in dark parts of Johannesburg. We had a system in which we used to exchange messages when we wanted to see each other.

“On the day of his strike, I was kept in the office to collate all the reports as we were going to run a special edition for the following day. The strike was not the success Mandela wanted it to be, but it wasn’t the failure the government wanted it to be. So, while I was collating the story, a sub-editor put out a piece quoting the government and municipality saying the strike was a failure. We came out with a banner headline: ‘The strike has failed’.

“As the Mail was held in high regard by the black community, and thousands of people had stayed home to see what would happen, when word got out about what we ran, it spread like wildfire and that ended the strike.

Sitting in my office depressed that morning, my phone rings and it is Mandela. I start stammering an apology. He said: ‘Benjy boy, I know it is not your fault.’ I loved the man forever more. That evening he gave me the first statement that they were going to turn to armed struggle. Imprinted in my life is his huge generosity of spirit.”

Pogrund speaks about how he would visit Sobukwe while he was in solitary confinement for six years in prison on Robben Island. Sobukwe wanted to try Jewish food, so Pogrund sent polony, challah, rollmop herring and schmaltz to him on the island.

Sobukwe wrote to Pogrund a while later, saying he never saw the polony as it may have been pilfered or seen as suspicious by the guards. He thanked Pogrund for the delicious challah and schmaltz, adding that he ate the rollmops only because of their friendship. Pogrund later wrote an acclaimed biography of Sobukwe.

“The Mail closing was devastating for me – it was my whole existence,” says Pogrund. “When it happened, we had been under such colossal pressure and meetings and warnings, though, that it was also almost a relief. But I was so identified with the Mail, which had been castigated so much, that no newspaper in South Africa would touch me. I had close friends in the Jewish community, but otherwise I was a pariah.”

So, he took his family and left to work on Fleet Street in London, on a tabloid called Today. But after working in South Africa, it was not nearly as exciting and “life was hard – I came down with a tumble”.

He says: “I was bored. After journalism in South Africa, I was doing a job. I hated it.”

Pogrund was drawn into working for a Jewish dialogue organisation called Yakar in London, and after a stint in the US as an editor, he moved to Israel to continue to work at encouraging dialogue.

Around the time of Mandela becoming president he tried to return to South Africa, but couldn’t find the right job.

From 1997, Pogrund was involved in starting the Centre for Social Concern in Israel and did dialogue work there for 12 years. “I worked across the lines and really got to understand the issues first hand.”

He has been brought to South Africa many times to speak at Israel Apartheid Week and other events. “Israel Apartheid Week is an annual cynical ritual in the guise of human rights, trying to capture the support of the unwary students with gross distortions and untruths to discredit Israel,” says Pogrund.

He commends the communal leadership in countering the anti-Israel elements by presenting facts and exposing untruths. “They have to deal with the openly anti-Semitic elements in the Muslim community and the ANC who mistakenly equate Israel with apartheid. I know apartheid. I lived and covered it. I am very clear that what is happening in Israel is nothing like what happened in South Africa, not even close.”

While he loves living in Israel, he says: “We have grown arrogant with our power and forget our history of suffering. I have yet to hear of any proposal for the future from the right wing that’s realistic and viable. Like most of the world, I believe the only answer is a two-state solution, with the details negotiated and agreed by both sides.”