Board apologises for apartheid-era errors

NICOLA MILTZ

Zev Krengel, the National Vice-President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), showed intense remorse at the Gauteng Council conference held in Kramerville, Johannesburg, on 25 November.

“It wasn’t always our finest hour,” Krengel said of the community’s lack of support for those who fought in the struggle to end apartheid.

In front of Ramaphosa, ministers including Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, as well as members of the diplomatic corps, business leadership, and members of Nelson Mandela’s family, Krengel admitted that the community had “made a mistake”.

In recent years, the board has honoured Jews who fought against apartheid, at its conferences.

On Sunday night, the board honoured the Coleman family for the role it played in ending apartheid.

Krengel said that when he took up his position, he had invited struggle heroes to meet the board. Colin Coleman met communal leaders at a time when relations between the Jewish community and the ANC “had deteriorated terribly after Mandela left office”.

He said Coleman “used his personal contacts” to help the community to re-engage.

“He brought Secretary-General Kgalema Motlanthe to my house for Friday night Shabbos dinner… and that grew a friendship. I realised through Colin that we didn’t behave the best… we let down the people we should have supported,” he lamented.

He said it was not the board’s role to have fought apartheid, but to “have fought for every Jew who fought apartheid, and we didn’t do that”.

When Krengel met Colin’s parents, Max and Audrey, they told him that it was the first time they had met a Jewish communal leader since their sons had been put into detention without trial and solitary confinement in the 1980s.

“The anger and unhappiness they showed me showed that we had made a mistake,” said Krengel.

He thanked Colin for helping the community to re-engage, and for displaying forgiveness and a commitment to moving forward in rebuilding the nation.

Coleman said he was honoured to accept an award from the SABJD on behalf of his parents, and brothers, Brian, Neil and Keith, in recognition of the family’s contribution to ending apartheid and building a non-racial democracy in South Africa.

He said the relationship between the Coleman family and the Jewish community had always been “complex”.

“We are not a conventional family. We argue with each other about many things. We take our politics very seriously. We question. We interpret. In this way, we are a deeply Jewish family.”

Recalling the past, he said, “In our horror at the scourge of apartheid, and in our activism to end it, we were often disappointed by what we saw as the paralysis of much of the Jewish establishment in South Africa to stand up against this constant violation of basic human rights.”

It seemed at the time that the South African Jewish establishment “kept its head down” and “largely closed its ears and said little”.

“In this, the SAJBD failed its own mandate to protect all South African Jews. In fact, for us Colemans, at the time of greatest need, our telephone went silent, dinner invitations dried up, and friendships were deserted.”

The family, he said, found comfort among the broader community of freedom fighters.

He asked, “Does the SAJBD, in fulfilling its core objectives, see the protection and advancement of the interests of all people in South Africa as equal to its own?” and “Will the SAJBD now and in the future protect all communities who face repression, poverty and prejudice, not just its own?”

In accepting the award, Coleman, who has headed up Goldman Sachs SA for 18 years and who works closely with Ramaphosa, said, “It is time for the Jewish community to stand up for the voiceless just as the Jewish community in its darkest moments had the Schindlers to stand up for it.”

During the course of the evening, many members of the board pledged the community’s support to the democratic cause and to social upliftment in the country.

SAJBD Gauteng Chairperson Marc Pozniak said, “We have a responsibility to do everything we can to contribute more than we consume, to give more than we take. South African Jewry has much to contribute. We simply cannot be found wanting.”

Pozniak pledged the “unstinting commitment” of the Jewish community to assist wherever it could in addressing the problems facing the country.

He said that South Africa continued to be a deeply divided society, with one of the most divisive factors the prevalence of racism in the workplace, social media, schools, the political arena, and ordinary day-to-day interaction. He urged the president to address racism in all areas of society.

“It is particularly concerning that instead of setting an example by strenuously opposing these trends, numerous political leaders have increasingly been guilty of exacerbating the situation. The introduction of race and fear of the ‘other’ into our political narrative is something that must be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency, Mr President.”

He urged the Jewish community, likewise, to adopt a “zero-tolerance” approach to all forms of racism.

“As a community, we reject racism, but that is not enough. It is what we do as individuals that will have more consequence than what we ascribe to as a collective. What we teach our children about the ‘other’ is what will ultimately define our success in this regard.”

Pozniak said the community was encouraged by Ramaphosa’s recent statements reiterating the government’s continued support for a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine question, and for South Africa to find ways to help further that goal.

SAJBD President Mary Kluk thanked former Investec Chief Executive Stephen Koseff for his commitment to the community and to building the country.

“Your trademark for me is how in difficult times you are able to find the glass half full,” she said.

She thanked the president for his leadership, for looking after minorities in the country, for his continuous attempts to build bridges, and for his zero-tolerance approach towards any forms of prejudice, including anti-Semitism.

Kluk said she had heard Ramaphosa’s earlier rallying call of Thuma Mina (Send Me), the lyrics of the song of the late Hugh Masekela which have become a call to serve the nation selflessly.

“On behalf of the South African Jewish community, we want to expand on Thuma Mina, and say to you, ‘Thuma Nathi – send us’. We want to support you to build the South Africa we all dream of.”